I just found a scrapbook I'd been keeping back in the 1990s that has stories concerning the North/South Rail Link among all the other articles I kept.
In order...
2/1/93 - Boston Globe - Amtrak Tries High-Speed Train [The X2000]
2/1/93 - Boston Globe - MBTA officials say they'll consider expansion north [plan call for a new Blue Line branch north of Airport and, get this, possible extension of the Revere terminus all the way to NEWBURYPORT]
4/21/93 - Boston Globe front page - Artery Rail Link proposal expected [says it will cost "up to $1.6B"]
5/6/93 - Boston Globe page 16 - TaskForce: Link stations [article says it'll take 20,000 cars off the road, full plan includes electrifying all commuter rail which would balloon the cost to $3B]
5/8/93 - Boston Herald page 9 - Few changes needed to tie artery, rail link [$93M in engineering changes to the Big Dig will allow for the rail link, Kerasiotes says he won't do it if it slows down Big Dig construction]
5/16/93 - Boston Globe page 21 - Full color proposed map of how the MBTA's commuter rail will be restructured with "run through" lines - Fitchburg to Lakeville, Lowell to Soughton (with arrows to Concord NH and Fall River/New Bedford), Haverhill to Providence (with routing via the Wildcat Junction), North Wilmington to Needham Heights, Newburyport to Worcester, Beverly Depot to Forge Park/Franklin, Rockport to Plymouth. Only the Greenbush and Readville lines don't go beyond South Station. Accompanying story says Gov. Weld appears to want to "go slow"
5/17/93 - Boston Globe page 14 - Centray Artery rai link feasible, federal study says [Federal Transit Administration says it's "technically feasible", meaning there aren't any technical showstoppers]
That's all I have in the notebook but it's an interesting look back.