“mad at every level”

Grab a seat and watch the unfolding of backroom deals and political corruption crafted on Beacon Hill to subsidize the Kraft/Wynn deal in Foxborough at the expense of Massachusetts taxpayers.

Transportation heads: Gillette rail plan through Walpole 'not a focus'.
By Veronica Hamlett and Dave Eisenstadter
Walpole Times


WALPOLE — The MBTA is still mum on any plans to increase commuter rail service to Foxboro via Medfield and Walpole.

In the midst of a $161 million budget and the possibility of increasing fares and reducing services, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey and MBTA acting general manager Jonathan Davis said at a Wicked Local editorial board meeting last Friday that their focus is on current projects and contracts, even though customers are calling for more.

“The MBTA has a problem that every company in America would want in that customers want more of us but we can’t deliver,” Davey said. “People want more or expanded service.”

The MBTA is working on securing a new contract for its current commuter rail services. Its contract with Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail expires in June. Davis said the MBTA could entertain talks with a private entity willing to expand service.

“Thinking of longer term projects, perhaps we could give the opportunity to whoever the service provider is to invest their own capital and experience,” he said.

The Green Line extension to Tufts University and a South Coast rail line will continue as planned, as both are state obligations as part of the Big Dig, but neither will be paid for by the MBTA, according to Davis.

Worcester-based law firm Mirick O’Connell drafted a proposal for regular rail service from Boston to Foxboro on the Franklin line through Medfield and Walpole. The pilot program would still operate at a deficit of $1.4 million.

Local legislators are trying to prevent said expansion by amending the state budget. The senate passed an amendment last Friday 31-3 prohibiting the MBTA from expanding capital projects that would operate at a fiscal deficit. It also requires the MBTA to do a cost analysis study for any and all rail service expansion and to not proceed if the results come back unprofitable.

“This is an extremely important issue to Walpole and for the Commonwealth as a whole,” Sen. Jim Timilty (D-Walpole) said in a statement. “I share the concerns of an overwhelming number of constituents who have contacted me for months now, urging that we act appropriately on this matter. This is an issue of fiscal prudence, and it has to happen in a timely manner so that we do not add another generation of debt to our public transportation.”

Davis would not comment on the new legislation, which must now earn House approval.


“We’re committed to the green line and to South Coast rail and will not add to the debt burden the MBTA currently carries,” he said.

The MBTA is considering two proposals with different levels of fare increases and service reductions to close its $161 million budget gap. The first scenario would eliminate 60 bus routes and increase fares by an average of 43 percent. The second eliminates more than 200 bus routes, reduces the length of 11 others and would increase fares by an average of 35 percent.

The second plan eliminates the 34E bus from Walpole to Dedham.

Both plans discontinue all ferry routes, suspend all weekend trains and service after 10 p.m. on commuter rails and eliminate weekend service on the Mattapan line and Green Line E branch.

Neither plan is inevitable, but are instead being proposed to gauge what level of fare increases or service reductions customers are willing to endure, Davis said. The most drastic estimates predict a 17 percent reduction in ridership, or 94 million rides annually.

A series of public hearings are being held to gather feedback about the two proposals, including one in Framingham on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at Town Hall, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Read more: Transportation heads: Gillette rail plan through Walpole 'not a focus' - Walpole, MA - Wicked Local Walpole http://www.wickedlocal.com/walpole/news/x1672347278/Transportation-heads-Gillette-rail-plan-through-Walpole-not-a-focus#ixzz1khAtwi7Q



State Sen. Timilty rails against expanded train service in MetroWest
Senator Timilty talks about plans to expand the rail lines.

By Marc Filippino/Correspondent
Wicked Local Walpole
Posted Dec 23, 2011


WALPOLE — State Senator James Timilty is “mad at every level” at plans for a proposed commuter rail that would run through his home town of Walpole, and is looking to do everything in his power to stop it.

Timilty led a small group of reporters on a walk of the rail line near the South Walpole Post Office on Summer Street Tuesday. Along the way, he ripped the MBTA for its history of debt and questioned its ability to responsibly manage the finances of a proposed commuter rail expansion into Foxborough, Walpole, Medfield and throughout the MetroWest region.

Timilty cited a proposed pilot project’s projected $4 million annual operating loss as a sign that the project is doomed to fail.

“If [the MBTA] were a private sector agency, they’d fire everybody,” Timilty said. “30 percent of their operating budget goes to debt, and they’re thinking of spending upwards of $10 million to activate a line? They have some monumental challenges they need to deal with now.

“We were the first subway in America, and in an urban setting, we’re probably the worst,” he said. “Their systems are old and faulty, and if you’ve ever gone through Park Street, it’s a disaster.”

The controversy began in October when the Westborough-based law firm Mirick O’Connell proposed a pilot commuter rail expansion project, dubbed the 495 Rail Study, that focused on enhancing train service to Foxborough. The pilot program called for utilizing existing rail equipment, while seeing whether a long-term plan was feasible.

Walpole residents were immediately up in arms. Walpole is where the Foxborough spur splits off from the Franklin Line, and residents opposed having to bear the brunt of the constant noise from a high-speed train and the construction that would be associated with building a new rail line and station. Town officials even contacted John Mirick to register their complaints.

On Dec. 2, in a strongly worded letter to Jody Ray, director of railroad operations for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Rep. Dan Winslow objected to expanded commuter rail service to Foxborough on the grounds that it was a taxpayer giveaway to billionaire casino gambling interests.

Winslow called for a halt to any further discussions or planning until the impacts on surrounding towns of such a service increase could be assessed, and warned, “Not one thin dime of limited public money should be spent for the private benefit of billionaires in a private transaction.”


Timilty objected not only to the Foxborough pilot project, but to the entire notion of explanded commuter rail service in the MetroWest area.

He sees the plan becoming dangerously long-term and compared commuter rail expansion to the problems that plagued the “Big Dig” project in Boston, but on a smaller scale. The pilot project alone would cost an estimated $84 million, with $6 million more annually to operate it, according to the MBTA’s 2010 Foxborough Commuter Feasibility Study Report.

With projected stops in several Norfolk County towns including Medfield, Timilty said the construction would devastate local property values, repel businesses from the area, and damage the overall quality of life.

“The American dream is have control over your own property, and for the state to take it for the greater good, there needs to be a significant cause for that,” Timilty said, referring to the possibility that Massachusetts would acquire land needed for the expansion through eminent domain.

“I have to see what happens to these communities when you have these trains,” he said. “It’s not what we need and it’s not what we can afford.”

Currently in Walpole, freight trains traverse a one-track, north-south rail twice daily. Timilty sees this single track turning into a double track, which would bring the 40-mile-per-hour commuter rail through Walpole 16 times a day, disrupting residential areas and small businesses.

Brickman Group Landscaping is located on Summer Street in Walpole, no more than 25 yards from the tracks.

Kelly Page, an employee at Brickman, said she understands the usefulness of commuter rail, since all Brickman employees must now commute by car. But she also understands the frustration of Walpole citizens. When she was living at home in Northbridge, she said, nearby train traffic disrupted the household several times a day.

“When you have a property right next to a railroad,” she said, “it’s extremely annoying, especially if you have small kids and you’re trying to get them to go to bed at night. My daughter was only five years old when the railroad was going through Northbridge and that was only a couple of times a day.

“It was loud and it shook the entire neighborhood. We had cracks in the walls and cracks in the ceilings and damage to the house, so I can see why residents would not want it.”

Still others are not as stridently opposed to expanding commuter service as Timilty.


“The MBTA has been discussing this for a number of years,” said Paul Matthew, executive director of the 495/MetroWest Partnership, a public-private collaborative that encourages development in the region. Mirick O’Connell brought the 495 Rail Study to Matthew’s group for feedback and regional input while it was being developed.

Matthew said the casino issue raised by Winslow is a red herring. “I think the discussion started long before the casino proposal and will continue long after the casino proposal,” he said. He also said casinos usually attract a more affluent crowd, which is not dependent on public transportation. [but the low wage workers are dependent on less expensive public transportation at great cost to Massachusetts taxpayers]

Matthew said this public discussion is good for the community, since towns such as Walpole will be affected the most. However, he noted the outlines in the pilot program are not permanent, and that it will take decades before the 495 Rail Study is likely to become a reality.

Timilty put it more bluntly.

“It’s a pie in the sky idea,” he said. “If it was built 50 years down the road, it may not have any impact, but right now? Can we afford it? Is it necessary? On both accounts, I offer the most vehement ‘no’ I can get out.”


Read more: State Sen. Timilty rails against expanded train service in MetroWest - Walpole, MA - Wicked Local Walpole http://www.wickedlocal.com/walpole/news/x1980198478/State-Sen-Timilty-rails-against-expanded-train-service-in-MetroWest#ixzz1khBza7Mh