🔒Report pitches $84M for Worcester, Fitchburg, Franklin train lines

A new report released Thursday is arguing for $503 million worth of relatively straightforward projects for the MBTA to improve Commuter Rail service, including three projects pitched for the Worcester, Fitchburg, and Franklin/Foxboro train lines. The report was produced by the nonprofit, nonpartisan MassINC Policy Center and the advocacy group TransitMatters. Together, the groups classify the $503 million as “no regrets” investments to improve service and service options regardless of future changes in rail technology. Some of the projects, including the one in Worcester, are already underway. For the Worcester Line, MBTA is investing $20 million in two new interlockings, which are intersections where signals and track switches work together to let trains move from one track to another. The CP44 interlocking in Worcester, combined with Union Station's new center island platform, would reduce conflicts between arriving and departing trains, according to the report. Secondly, the Mile Post 16 interlock, which is in the Natick-Wellesley area, will allow express trains to pass local trains. This project is already underway and funded, and the report estimates it will allow for service on the line every 30 minutes. Work is expected to be complete in 2027, according to the report, and is not included in the $503 million total. Another area of interest is the Fitchburg Line, specifically concerning commuters who would use the train to go to other internal stations, rather than traveling from one end of the line to the other. Thursday’s report makes the argument for a $14 million turn track at Kendal Green station in Weston. Doing so, the report says, will allow for 30-minute service to stations inside Route 128/I-95. This project, which was reportedly pitched by the MBTA Rail Modernization team to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s transportation improvement program committee in March 2024, is not fully funded and is only at the proposal stage. The report discussed adding a third phase to an ongoing Franklin Line double-track project, which, if completed, researchers said would allow service every 15 minutes to Walpole and every 30 minutes to Foxboro/Forge Park, compared with the current 45-minute schedule. This project is still in the planning stage and is projected to cost $50 million for the third wave of new tracks. MassINC Policy Center and TransitMatters said in their report they used total estimated project costs, projected service and ridership benefits, and geographic equity to determine which projects to include. Monica Benevides is a correspondent for Worcester Business Journal.