THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION and officials representing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft pushed the MBTA’s oversight board on Monday to approve a pilot project extending weekday commuter rail service to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough that would attract an estimated 110 new riders a day.
Members of the Fiscal and Management Control Board took no action on the Foxborough pilot project, and raised a host of questions about both the proposal itself and how proposed service expansions should be evaluated. The board members are worried about expanding T service at a time when the transit agency is struggling to provide existing service. In addition to the Foxborough project, the T is also reviewing pilot projects for overnight service, commuter rail to Bourne, and ferry service to Lynn.
Jay Ash, the governor’s secretary of housing and economic development, testified in support of the Foxborough project, predicting weekday commuter rail service to the municipality southwest of Boston would open about 24 parcels to development along the Route 1 corridor from Walpole to Wrentham to Plainville. “I see tremendous opportunity for growth,” he said, while acknowledging no definitive project is currently pending.
Ash said he has held discussions with officials from the Kraft Group about potential development projects near Gillette Stadium that could include office, lab, retail, or housing. But he denied the pilot commuter rail service is being pursued to primarily benefit the Kraft Group, which owns Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium.
To entice the state to launch the pilot project, the Kraft Group has offered 500 parking spaces at Gillette Stadium for the commuter rail station and would allow the T to pocket any parking revenue collected from commuters. Kraft has also offered an operating subsidy of up to $200,000 during the life of the nearly year-long pilot.
Dan Krantz, the vice president for construction and development at the Kraft Group, said the project was not being driven exclusively by his company. “This is a program for people of the area and the region, not a single entity,” he said. Krantz declined additional comment and did not return phone calls.
Brian Earley, general manager of Patriot Place, said new development in the area would “absolutely require” bringing people from Boston out to Foxborough doing what planners call a reverse commute. Earley said 54 businesses at Patriot Place employ 3,400 people, but he said 130 of those jobs are unfilled right now.
As service expansions go at the T, the Foxborough pilot has a lot going for it. The MBTA already owns the track, the trains, and the commuter rail station that would be needed. Kraft would provide the T with parking spaces and help cover any losses for at least a year.
The MBTA currently runs passenger service to an existing commuter rail station at Gillette Stadium that is used when the New England Patriots are playing. The proposed pilot service would expand that service to weekdays, with three trains in the morning, three in the evening, and an undetermined number in the middle part of the day.
The service would operate out of South Station, running along the route of the Fairmount Line to Readville and then on the Franklin Line to Walpole, where it would head south to Foxborough. The proposal pilot service would stop at all the Fairmount Line stops, but it is unclear whether it will stop at any of the Franklin Line stations. The route between Walpole and Foxborough would run along track used by freight trains that is currently being upgraded.
Kate Fichter, a top aide to state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, said the weekday service to Foxborough would attract an estimated 190 passengers, but only 110 would be new to the system, with the rest coming over from other commuter rail lines.
T officials estimate the service would attract 59,400 new riders annually at a cost of $950,000, primarily for fuel and additional labor. After collecting fares and parking revenue from new passengers, the T estimates the service would run a deficit of $539,000, or about $9.07 per passenger. The Kraft Group has agreed to pay any difference between the per-passenger subsidy on the Foxborough route and the average overall commuter rail subsidy of $6.56 per passenger. Using current projections, Kraft’s subsidy would be $149,000 a year, but the company has said it will cover up to $200,000 in losses.
Even though only an estimated 80 passengers would be diverted from other commuter rail lines, Fichter said the pilot could ease pressure on parking spots at nearby commuter rail stations in Walpole, Franklin, Norfolk, and Sharon.
Foxborough supports the pilot project, while Walpole opposes it. A number of regional business groups voiced support for the pilot project on Monday, saying it would spur development in the area. Fichter, in her presentation to the board, said Schneider Electric, Foxborough’s second-largest employer, believes commuter rail service is crucial as it seeks to recruit employees to fill 500 to 700 job slots opening over the next decade due to retirements.
Joseph Aiello, the chair of the Fiscal and Management Control Board, and other board members asked Fichter for a lot more information on the Foxborough proposal and brainstormed about how proposals for service expansion should be evaluated. “I am quite paranoid about our ability to sustain added serviced over the long term,” Aiello said.
Brian Lang, a member of the Fiscal and Management Control Board, said a vote in favor of the Foxborough pilot would be tough for him, given the projections of relatively few new riders and the absence of any development project on the horizon. “If it’s just for 110 rides a day, I don’t think it would fly,” he said.
Transportation Secretary Pollack didn’t come out and endorse the Foxborough pilot, but she came pretty close. She said it takes time for commuter rail stations to catch on with riders and even longer to attract economic development. She cited Yawkey Station as a station that had few riders initially but is now very busy.
“We need to look at all of the costs and all of the benefits. But we are in the subsidizing travel business and we are in the economic development business here at the MBTA and at MassDOT,” she said. “I don’t think it is realistic to say that while we spend the next 10 to 15 years to 20 years fixing the core system we can completely ignore people’s travel needs.”
It would appear that a very careful analysis has been done AND that Robert Kraft is willing to cover the costs above and beyond whatever is the regular subsidy cost per passenger served by MBTA Rail service, provide free parking and so on. As such, cost issues are pretty much not an issue unless someone can show otherwise.
That and host community Foxborough is up for the proposal.
Walpole, however, isn’t EVEN If the proposal would take a load off of existing stations along the line, including its station.
Hmmmmm….
I bet Walpole isn’t in favor of it for the same reason that most suburban neighborhoods aren’t in favor of commuter rail expansions even if it benefits their communities. All they see is the possibility of bringing “unsavories” to the neighborhood. I guess they reason that they’d rather sit in I-95 morning traffic.
Who owns those 24 parcels that would be open to development?
The reverse commute argument is a red herring. Patriot Place is a mall with restaurants and retail. The last train out of Foxborough will be 6 o’clock and that will not work for most of the employees. Many people choose public transportation due to the lack of parking in Boston and the resulting high price. One thing Gillette has plenty of, is parking.
And without the state subsidy these parcels will not be developed?
This is an express train to South Station from Gillette Stadium. I want to meet the 190 new riders who apparently currently drive into the Financial or Seaport District because they feel that the Walpole, Sharon, or Mansfield stations are just too inconvenient.
Richard Davey and Deval Patrick purchased this line in the waning days of their administrations without consulting any of the communities. They bought it to help prop up the Olympic bid. Davey went on to head up Boston 2024 and Patrick was set to receive $7500 a day in consulting fees. Now this program only benefits the owners of Gillette Stadium. What is in their plans, Super Bowl bid, casino? This is a boondoggle of Olympic proportions.
In determining whether a new project is feasible the per rider subsidy is compared to other commuting solutions. Their best case scenario already has it as a loser compared to other stations. There is no need for the pilot. Under the criteria they profess to apply, it would not become permanent.
Some Patriots workers reverse commuting are all that are sought.
That and what about “Schneider Electric, Foxborough’s second-largest employer, believ(ing that) commuter rail service is crucial as it seeks to recruit employees to fill 500 to 700 job slots opening over the next decade due to retirements?
Plus, we are bacsically talking but upgrading service a bit and adding a stop, not something huge and costly such as the multi-billion dollar Green Line extension into Medford.
You did not correctly read what Ms. Kate Fichter stated. She projected a 190 riders using the proposed new Foxborough stop and 80 would be riders that currently use other stations but would find Foxborough more convenient. FYI: that opens up parking for as many as 80 spaces at the other stations.
Do you not realize that there is no interest by the Krafts at this point to build a casino nor – as I recall – an available casino license in MA at this point. And as for a hosting a Super Bowl bid, all that would be essentially an extra game for which the Commuter Rail would provide rail service.
Most projects are conservation. Plus, Kraft is proposing to cover the nut for any cost above the current rider subsidy. As start-up costs are negligible, what’s the problem? After all, if things don’t pan out, service can be discontinued at a future date.
In the meanwhile, and again, the host community is said to be FOR adding the service.
The rail line currently used for the Patriots train is a freight line. The maximum speed on this line is 15 miles per hour. The train takes more than 20 minutes for the 5 mile ride from Walpole to Foxborough. There is only one track. That is not going to cut it for a big event at Foxborough with a lot of people trying to get from hotels in Boston. It is not even sufficient for the pilot as they are asking to spend $20 million to upgrade line to passenger standards.
So you are saying that there are only 110 new users of the T and the rest are displaced. That even makes it a worse argument for expansion. Even If we need more spaces, which is debatable, it is cheaper to build spaces than to spend $20 million on track upgrades. read the report here http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/t_projects/default.asp?id=20111
Start up cost is not negligible it is $20 million dollars. Read the feasibility study here, they already know it is a losing proposition which will require greater subsidy than current ridership. http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/t_projects/default.asp?id=20111
Did you miss this line? “The route between Walpole and Foxborough would run along track used by freight trains that is currently being upgraded.” If the track is ALREADY in the process of being improved, such would appear to ding your $20 million cost argument.
110 more riders now, a viable potential for passenger growth down the tracks AND Kraft willing to subsidize the cost of this new service have merit.
Next, and again, did you miss this line?
“The route between Walpole and Foxborough would run along track used by freight trains that is currently being upgraded.”
Upgrading the track is already in process and the cost to do so already committed.
Finally, the MBTA report you cited is 7 years old AND most of its plans are already rolling down the tracks.
The article is incorrect. The upgrade needs a allocation of $20 million dollars for the pilot study. The seven year old study is the one they are using to support their plan. I am going to end this discussion with this as I do believe that no one else is reading this. thanks for your great questions though.
I gave the seven year old report a brief look but couldn’t find $20 million as a start up cost. I found Infrastructure costs at $50.1 million or $84 million or $63.2 million depending on the option chosen. I guess I don’t understand how the MBTA makes decisions on what projects should be undertaken and who pays for them. Why are Somerville and Cambridge being burdened with tens of millions of dollars in costs associated with a stripped down Green Line Extension decades in the making that the state was legally obligated to finance but this Foxborough and beyond project has marginal public benefits with huge costs and the Kraft is offering a token contribution?
The original plan in the study had the line extending toward Mansfield and Providence as well which accounts for the higher cost. The extension toward Boston is all that they are proposing at this time because it affects ZERO Foxborough residents. If they went the other way they would have had residents upset about the 5 grade crossings through town and the abutting property owners would have been upset. They are waiting a few years for that part of the proposal. THEY’LL BE BACK.
The article is incorrect. The upgrade needs a allocation of $20 million dollars for the pilot study. The seven year old study is the one they are using to support their plan. I am going to end this discussion with this as I do believe that no one else is reading this. thanks for your great questions though.
Thanks for the context. One more good reason taxpayers should keep a close watch on what’s going on at the MBTA.
If the article is incorrect as regards spending on the track improvement as you assert, show how with bona fides AS WELL AS ask Commonwealth to effect a correction.
Again, if the article is incorrect as regards spending on the track improvement
as you assert, show how with bona fides AS WELL AS ask Commonwealth to
effect a correction.