Would commuter trains help Main Street revitalization?

By Paul Gately / pgately@cnc.com
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Impact on Buzzards Bay debated
Often a romantic notion, the idea of restoring commuter rail service to Wareham and Buzzards Bay as well as Cape Cod was on the front burner again last week. Advocates tried to stoke the engines of urgency. For them, there would be no need for Casey Jones to hang from the brake cable.

The Bourne Committee of the Canal Region Chamber of Commerce put on a forum at the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in which state, local and county officials, along with rail industry representatives and other businesspeople, said they want service restored.

When that question was asked, their hands shot into the air. When they were queried about liking railroad tracks in front of their homes, however, no hands went up.

The abiding sentiment seemed to embrace the notion that if Cape rails on either side of the canal can accommodate the trash trains to SEMASS and back, they can also handle commuter rail cars.

Bourne Selectwoman Carol Cheli said commuter rail restoration to Buzzards Bay from Lakeville/Middleboro is "an excellent idea." She was not sure, however, how Bourne would find the money to pay an annual assessment to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Wareham is already paying each year given the neighboring train stop in Middleboro/Lakeville.

James Sullivan, chairman of the Bourne Local Comprehensive Planning Committee, said he likes the idea at least of establishing John Kennedy's feeder rail service between Hyannis and Buzzards Bay with a parking lot established along the village bypass.

It was unclear at the forum whether Bourne would face an annual MBTA assessment should the trains come to Buzzards Bay. There was sentiment suggesting there would be no charge if commuter service were linked to Kennedy's excursion and feeder service. There was also sentiment to the opposite.

John Greene, vice-president of the Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway Co., said T commuter rail service is a long way off. The siren call at this point, he said, centers around arguments about rail service re-establishing economic vitality in Buzzards Bay.

"That's what the people are looking at," he said. "When they look at the numbers, they'll see something else."

Greene said MBTA service, should it extend to Buzzards Bay, would likely prompt an annual assessment against Bourne, something that might also extend to the contiguous communities of Sandwich and Falmouth. He said early data indicate ridership would be subsidized at nearly $40 per rider.

"We don't get a subsidy," Greene said of P&B. "We'd like to get $40 per rider."

Kennedy remains optimistic about his feeder service idea and how it might mesh with the return of passenger rail service to Buzzards Bay. His company owns six old Buddliners with another being rehabilitated in Canada. The operation would need a subsidy as well.
"We have the best Budd cars remaining on the continent," he said.

Returning commuter rail service to the Cape is not a new idea. Former Gov. Edward J. King flirted with the idea of throwing his administration behind passenger rail restoration. Former Gov. Michael Dukakis was a rail enthusiast years ago and still is.

The trains left Buzzards Bay village for good in the early 1960s. Main Street enthusiasts say the area died when they departed. They say the street will flourish again only if the commuter trains come back.
Brewster Fire Chief Roy Jones, a member of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, said the time has arrived to act on the idea. He says The Cape Codder service provided by the New Haven Railroad of old could be restored if local groups pressure state legislators. He said the Amtrak experiment with passenger service to the Cape in the late 1980s was successful to a point.

James Howe, transportation chairman of the Buzzards Bay Village Association, is even more enthusiastic.

"One of the main assets of the village is the railroad," he said. "It's a draw. It's like an anchor [store] at the mall. Buzzards Bay flourished with trains. It died when they left. Let's learn from history. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We've got to get Buzzards Bay moving. Rail will help promote local business."

Rhetoric, enthusiasm and nostalgia aside, there were doses of reality administered in lighter touches. Thomas Cahir, assistant secretary of Transportation and Construction for Massachusetts, said rail restoration can be costly. Before it evolves, he said, accurate ridership projections out of Buzzards Bay and the needs of commuters must be documented.

He said "costs into the future also have to be figured, though he added the point that many rail restoration opponents cite such costs as a measure of opposition to the idea. He said MBTA costs are not that "draconian."

Wareham Selectwoman Cindy Chamberlain said her board has been pressing the MBTA about passenger service extension out of the Middleboro/Lakeville stop. Frustration mounts in her town, she said, and her board is trying to leverage the commuter rail return by seeking support in Bourne and on the Cape.

Chamberlain said Wareham is the hub of any such operation. She pledged her town's support for any measures in Bourne and Wareham designed to extend the service beyond the Cohasset Narrows.

Bourne Town Planner Coreen Moore said she generally favors Kennedy's feeder proposal but does not like commuter rail restoration to Main Street.

"We'll just be a parking lot," she said. "Those people coming and going just to get to and from work. They won't spend money here. The feeder at least would bring day people; Buzzards Bay might become a destination."