Chance of Commuter Rail coming back to Medfield. (Boston, Worcester: 2009, house)

[kcebelak]

Does anyone know what the chance of the Commuter Rail coming back to Medfield is? From what I've heard there has been talk about bringing it back but it has been quickly shut down in town meetings. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[lrfox]

I don't know much about the specifics of that proposal/idea. However, I do doubt it's likely to happen in the near future. Though I'd like to see it happen.

There are a number of reasons I feel this way:

1) Current state of the MBTA (the organization who operates Mass's commuter rail). It's in shambles. It's operating over budget and needs serious restructuring. I doubt they'll be taking on new projects until some serious work has been done.

2) The amount of dedicated effort and money in existing MBTA projects is too great to accomodate another project. As it stands right now, the MBTA is just about to obtain funding (don't worry, much of it will be stimulus and federal funding) to extend the commuter rail to Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford in a $1.4 Billion dollar project called the "Southcoast Rail Project"... this much-needed project is underway and is expected to be complete by 2016. They are wrapping up an expansion from Providence to T.F. Green Airport in Warwick which will be operational by next year. There is a long-proposed Blue Line expansion as well as a Green Line expansion set to take place in the near future. This doesn't include the vast number of station upgrades still going on as well. Also, the final phases of the Silver Line are still in progress. These projects are all ahead of Medfield in terms of the MBTA's priority right now.

3) Necessary future projects (proposed, not yet approved/ fully backed). This would include a tunnel connection for the Blue Line from Bowdoin to Charles/MGH to make a Blue/Redline interchange. Also, the urban ring is a necessary (and MASSIVE) expansion (would have to be done in phases over time) that would create a subway ring around the core of the city connecting all of the subway lines. There's also a proposal to extend the commuter rail out to Cape Cod (or at least Bourne).

I see these taking priority over Medfield even though a reconnection to Medfield would be relatively affordable and easy to do which COULD make it happen sooner rather than later. Other than that, I haven't heard much about it. Anyway, it's a good idea and I'd love to see it.

[seamusnh]

Given that you can just drive over the line to Walpole and get a train, I doubt it...

[missionhill]

Aren't there some inner-city/suburb equity issues at play here? Some say that MBTA has put millions into suburban rail service over last 20 years (benefiting people who already drive everywhere) while letting people in the central area (who depend on pub trans), particularly Rox-Dor-Mattapan, get by on uneven bus service. The MBTA has extended the Ipswich line to newburyport, the Framingham line to Worcester, and restored service on the Old Colony RR routes to Plymouth, Greenbush, and (what's that other southern terminal--Middleborough?) The Orange Line relocation from Washington Street left lots of Roxbury and South End people outside of convenient walking distance of subway service; same with the north end relocation; where you once got on right at City Square or Thompson Square, now the Townies have to walk on the prison point bridge to Comm College station. Nothing has ever been done about an inner-belt line to connect up the spokes in the subway system, also the E line to Arborway was cut back to Heath Street and the A line to Watertown gone altogether. And the CAT project (big dig) could have incorporated a train connecting North and South stations but that didn't happen either. The Silver Line helps, but it really is just a bus, and rather than running it through Dudley up to Grove Hall, Franklin Park, Morton Street, and Mattapan Square (which would serve a whole lot of people who could use the service) it stops at Dudley. So one could argue that it's the inner city's turn for major investments and let the exurbanites in Medfield make do as best they can with their three or four cars per family.

Not sure I agree with this class conflict viewpoint but it's at least an issue to be considered.

[CaseyB]

I'm not familiar with the proposal that the OP is referring to. I do know that at one time Medfield had passenger service, with a station in the center. I imagine that line has been gone for many, many years. The problem with restoring these old lines is that in the interval, so much has been built up around where the tracks once were. Some people have an interest in making them into bicycle paths and even that has faced a lot of resistance.

I think there is a freight line that runs through Medfield, maybe it has something to do with adding passenger trains there?

The train service to Worcester hasn't been added in the last 20 years, it was there long before that.

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

The train service to Worcester hasn't been added in the last 20 years, it was there long before that.

Well, all these lines were once far more extensive than now--the Framingham Worcester line, for example, is the old Boston & Albany RR with service to Albany and from there west to Chicago via the New York Central system. But in the '60s and '70s there were only a few passenger trains a day into Boston in the morning and out again in the evening and none went beyond Framingham (this doesn't count long-distance Amtrak service--I think there's still one train a day back and forth over the B&A route between Boston and Chicago--the "Lake Shore Limited".) Don't know if anyone here remembers the state of the "purple line" service around Boston 30 years ago--broken down Budliners operated by the bankrupt Boston & Maine RR, South Station a dingy shell of its original self, B&A trains to Wellesley and Framingham with straw seats and open windows for air-conditioning... The revival of the commuter railroad since then is really spectacular.

[CaseyB]

I don't remember the straw seats. I remember the guys from Worcester used to flip down the bench seats to make a card table and play poker on their way home to pass the time. You are right about the air conditioning, that train was HOT.

[lrfox]

Mission Hill, I agree with you about needing to spend some serious time and effort on the interior network. I know they've added some nice new Blue Line cars, but the Orange Line trains and many of the Green Line trains are out of date.

The Orange Line (West of Back Bay Station) actually runs along land that was proposed and cleared to be a freeway extension of I-95 from where it meets 128 all the way into the center of the city (thankfully, that it never happened). This is a good reuse of land, but it unfortunately means that it's not convenient to many pedestrians. There is no reason it couldn't be extended out all the way to 128 via Hyde Park. A spur of that Orange Line Branch could run along Blue Hill Ave from Mattapan, cross along the Northern edge of Franklin Park (it'd be nice to have a "zoo" stop) and join back in around Jackson Square (which could be an excellent city square neighborhood with some work- a major subway junction could help).

The Blue line needs to make the short connection over to the Charles/MGH stop to have a real Red Line/ Blue Line combination stop. Also, the Blue Line needs to extend to the center of Lynn. Having rapid transit can do great things to an urban neighborhood with raw potential like Lynn... for proof, look no further than what the Red Line did for Porter and Davis Squares. You could also make a case for a spur of the Blue Line being needed to connect to Chelsea.

The Green Line is supposed to be connected to Malden/Medford soon (I believe this is in progress). The E branch could be extended a bit further, but the other branches have reached the furthest potential as far as light rail goes. Same goes for the Red Line South to Ashmont and Braintree.. it would be hard to argue for further expansion; maybe better connecting Ashmont to Mattapan, but that's about it. It could be extended as far North as Burlington/128... people would ride that route frequently.

An urban ring (the "rim" to the hub and spoke system we have in Boston) is a must. It's too massive a project to be built at once, so it would need to be done in phases. But they should start by connecting Harvard Square (Red) to either the Allston Street or Griggs Street stop on the B of the Green Line. This connector should have stops at the intersection of Cambridge Street and North Beacon Street, Everett Street and Western Ave, and at Soldiers Field. Much of this portion of Allston is proposed to be developed by Harvard anyway, stops would probably play into its development, but that's where it should start (IMHO) and continue on outward from there.

a fun site to look at is Vanshnookeraggen's "Future MBTA" maps : theFutureMBTA

[LizBee]

Our first house was in Medfield in the 1960s within walking distance to uptown. And yes it was "uptown" in Medfield, not downtown. I loved hearing the freight trains go through town. Part of my walk to junior high was on the tracks and I remember flattening pennies on the tracks at Main Street. There was no passenger service then and I really don't when it was last available in Medfield. It's really amazing how better served by public transportation most Massachusetts towns were in the past. At least Medfield still has active tracks. As much as I think bike paths are great I still have mixed feelings when tracks are discontinued and a bike path is built since the revival of travel by rail would be a good thing.

[jayrandom]

Maybe with this:
Rail-Pod hopes to use empty tracks for small rail cars - Mass High Tech Business News
(although I wouldn't hold your breath)