64 photos of Track 61

most commuter rail and amtrak go through back bay, which doesn't even touch the "Connection Needed" part. From what I can tell, trains from South Station that go along that route would end up on an overpass over the current tracks if they want to go anywhere south of the city. The needed connection is just the fact that currently is no way without going up to south station to switch tracks.

Track 61 is going under the tracks the Red Line uses on the surface to reach the repair yards near Broadway just before this crossing, so I don't think it will be practical to build anything going over these tracks (grades would be too steep). So the line is going to have to go under the Red Line yard lead tracks, cross the Old Colony line tracks at grade, cross the access tracks to the Southampton Amtrak storage yard at grade, go around the loop tracks, briefly merge with the Fairmount Line tracks at grade, take a left at the single-track wye track towards Back Bay (near the former Herald plant site), possibly have to cross some of the tracks between Back Bay and South Station at grade (depending on which platform the use at Back Bay) and then occupy one of the tracks at Back Bay station while the train unloads/loads and changes ends to return.

I don't think the article said anywhere just how often this would run, but in the rush-hour, they would be lucky if they could even run it every 30-40 minutes with all the obstacles it will encounter from other trains. That might be the plan though, have a few select trips specifically timed to avoid conflicts with other trains while getting people to their convention. If that's the case, it might not be as exciting an idea as first thought.