Foxboro Commuter Rail Extension

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

One step closer to possibly maybe: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/foxboro_ ... 95ab3.html

By a vote of 4-1, with Ginny Coppola dissenting, the board of selectmen voted once again to back a pilot program that would run daily commuter rail service during the work week from Foxboro to Boston. This pilot program would involve a partnership between the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the Kraft Group and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Tuesday’s meeting was attended by Kraft Group Representative Dan Krantz and Ryan Coholan, chief railroad officer at the MBTA. And it was Krantz who made the most persuasive pitch to skeptics, including selectman Jim DeVellis, who worry about a future layover station on Kraft property behind North Street homes.

“Jim, all of Foxboro,” said Krantz. “Trust in us, we’re going to do the right thing.”

Kraft going all-in certainly increases the chances of this pilot actually happening...equipment availability be willing.

[rethcir]

Regularly scheduled service to foxboro would be a boon to all. If there were frequent trains in and out, there would be less of a "drunk tank" effect for people coming and going, traffic would improve on Route 1, and Kraft would make even more money.

[Balerion]

Here's the presentation from yesterday's FMCB meeting:

http://www.mbta.com/uploadedfiles/About_the_T/Board_Meetings/G.%20%20Final%20Foxboro%20Pilot%20Service%20Presentation%202%2024%202017.pdf

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

FCMB presentation materials from Monday's meeting on the Foxboro CR pilot:

Town of Foxboro presentation on advantages of service:

G2. Foxboro Presentation - Town of Foxboro(1).pdf

(816.47 KiB) Downloaded 414 times

MassDOT presentation on service details of pilot: http://www.mbta.com/uploadedfiles/About ... wzedit.pdf

Town of Foxboro has its act together on the sales pitch, as well as last-mile connections. They've already negotiated with GATRA a simultaneous pilot for a new intra-town bus route linking downtown Foxboro with the station & Patriot Place to make the pilot much 'stickier' and more immediately useful to town residents. Excellent example of multimodal planning. Their support list is also very impressive. So much of the coverage of this extension has thus far been slanted by the loudest East Walpole NIMBY's complaining about trains on the Framingham Sec. This shows just how much a minority those dissenters truly are in the grand scheme, and the erroneous media talking points that this is somehow just a big giveaway to Kraft Group in a bubble. We can put that distortion to rest, as it's now demonstrated what a HUGE and diverse coalition of municipal, business, and trade interests are endorsing this pilot.

[charding]

...actually, don't you mean 'South Walpole' vice East Walpole? Being from Walpole, puts my favorite station in the catbird seat...although I am not sure that the plan for the Gillette extension envisions a stop in Walpole...but for train-watchers, will make the station a great place for train-watching...what we do need is a plaque on the station building now that it is on the National Historic Registry...look forward to the operation of the 'Kraft Line'...hope that it will be well received...

[rethcir]

I certainly hope that the projection of 160 passengers is low. I for one would certainly take advantage of this more for attending concerts and games at Gillette. That is the service that everyone wants but does not seem to be accounted for in this proposal.

[jonnhrr]

Where will they find the equipment for this, given that the T is already short of CR equipment?

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Read the linked MassDOT slides. These will be extensions of existing Fairmount Line trains, with one additional trainset required to float the schedule. Note that by the time the pilot starts the base contract of OOS F40PH-2C locomotives will have been rehabilitated and returned to service, the Delaware Car inspections backlog contract for coaches will be complete, and accident-damaged cab car 1812 will be repaired and returned to service (by Delaware Car tacked onto the inspections contract). There will be no additional strain over today on equipment availability, which is a big reason why the pilot was rated so favorably on impacts.

[BandA]

How do you spell Foxboro? Foxborough? "Foxboro Station" doesn't look right. Note 4 trains inbound & 5 trains outbound...

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

They're both correct. "Foxborough" is the official name of the town. "Foxboro" is the official name of its postal code. One of those quirky "...but we've always done it that way" Massachusetts regionalisms that makes the complete opposite of sense but has stuck since the 18th century.

"Foxboro Stadium" is still technically the correct placemarker for the station, since that was the official name of the old stadium and is still the official name of the land the new stadium/lots/associated amenities sit on. But I'm sure they'll update the station signage to "Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place" for better wayfinding to match the signage in the parking lots now that it's being used for Boston commuting park-and-riders instead of exclusively for game-day reverse commuters.

[Backshophoss]

Is there a plan to setup a layup track to store the set at Foxboro,or does everything wander back to Walpole?

[BandA]

So the station should be called Foxborough, unless the railroad spelled it the other way before. "Boston Landing" really should be Brighton, but since the developer actually paid for the station, naming rights are okay. Bob Kraft is partially subsidizing the pilot service, and Proctor and Gamble d/b/a Gillette is not providing any money and their local presence is much diminished - wonder what the stadium will be called next! If Kraft pays for a full station they can call it what they want for 20 years!

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Is there a plan to setup a layup track to store the set at Foxboro,or does everything wander back to Walpole?

Not for the pilot; they're just reversing direction. All of the full-build options in the Feasibility Study include layovers because they'd be running as a full Franklin-size 16 round trips per day. Three potential sites, all bordering the stadium.

The pilot's also just using the existing mini-high station verbatim with no modifications, not constructing a full-high with freight passing track like the full-build Alternatives would.

[TomNelligan]

So the station should be called Foxborough, unless the railroad spelled it the other way before.

Just as a historical note, both the New Haven and Penn Central identified the station as "Foxboro" when they owned the line. Football specials began running there in the early 1970s under PC.

[Bill Reidy]

During much of the latter half of the 1800s, when the railroad was established on the Cape, timetables from early on referred to Middleborough as Middleboro'. Toward the 1890s, by the time the New Haven took over the Old Colony, the apostrophe had been dropped, leading to Middleboro.

The incorporated name of all Massachusetts "*boro*" towns in ends in "*borough", with the exception of Attleboro, which was incorporated as a city in 1914 -- that new city adopted the newer style spelling.

With the restoration of commuter rail on two Old Colony lines in 1997, the MBTA referred to "Middleborough," although the agency is not consistent. Take a look at the mbta.com website now. On the first page you'll find a link to the "Middleborough/Lakeville" commuter rail line. Click on that link and you'll find the stations list includes "Middleboro/Lakeville."