Critics: $10-$28B Commuter Rail overhaul could be a ‘New Big Dig’

The MBTA is moving forward on a plan to spend $10 billion to $28 billion on Commuter Rail updates — a “New Big Dig” in the making, critics caution, and top officials aren’t saying how they will pay for it.

The T Fiscal & Management Control Board on Monday approved a raft of resolutions directing the T to get rolling on a massive overhaul of the Commuter Rail, calling for electrification of main Commuter Rail lines and trains running every 15 to 20 minutes all day, rather than the current status quo of a handful of trains headed into Boston in the morning and then back out in the evening. The most expensive option, at nearly $30 billion, includes a tunnel linking North and South stations. The plan is intended to get cars off the road by giving commuters an alternative — by 2040.

“The time is now to say let’s do it,” said MBTA T Fiscal & Management Control Board Chairman Joe Aiello. Aiello, who drew up the Commuter Rail resolutions that passed during the meeting, took a couple of questions from the media after the votes — but smiled and slipped away into a back room when asked about how the T could pay for it.

Gov. Charlie Baker, when asked whether the money will come from taxes, tolls, fares or all three, would only say, “There’s a lot of work that has to be done to figure out exactly which pieces and when would be pursued under this.”

Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said he suspects the answer could lie in high gas taxes  — and added that the state doesn’t have the appropriate controls in place to make sure this scale of spending is done properly.

“This is the new Big Dig for the next generation to pay,” said Craney, referring to the notoriously out-of-control, over-budget and problem-plagued highway megaproject that burned through money in the 1990s and 2000s.

Transportation watcher Charlie Chieppo of the Pioneer Institute said that while electrification on the main lines and higher frequency at rush hour would be welcome investments, planning for all-day frequent service doesn’t make sense.

“That is just madness to me,” Chieppo said. “I find it really hard to look taxpayers in the eye and tell them they need to pay for that.”

The FMCB, which oversees the T, set out the ambitious goals and ordered MBTA general manager Steve Poftak to return in February with a staffing plan for an office to oversee the massive conglomeration of projects and a timetable for two years of work. The board told the T to prioritize $1.5 billion in work on the Fairmount and Lynn lines that would essentially turn them into subway-style services.

A Commuter Rail task force has spent nearly two years mulling six options for the system’s future, ranging from a $1.7 billion facelift to a $29 billion gigantic overhaul that includes the North-South Rail Link between North and South stations. The board members said they’re eyeing what amounts to a “5.5” — a major overhaul of the system, but with no mention of the rail link or some other changes included in option six. Option Five, which includes this type of overhaul, is estimated at $10.6 billion.

Matt Moran of the Boston Transportation Department told the board that City Hall isn’t backing any specific option, but he called for a “large scale project” like Option Six.

The resolutions approved don’t set any immediate projects in motion or allocate any money.

Mass transit advocates who spoke before the board pushed for the big project and even to go further, touting the “option six” with the rail link.

TransitMatters said in a statement, “We look forward to a close collaboration with the T and other stakeholders to keep this critical initiative on track.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2WEPxgu