Foxborough Starting Pilot For Commuter Rail Service To Boston

FOXBOROUGH, MA — An 11-month pilot program for commuter rail service between Gillette Stadium and Boston will begin this spring, following an unanimous vote from the board of selectmen.

Currently, the only train services offered at Gillette Stadium are during Patriots' home games and major summer concerts. The agreement approved at Wednesday night's meeting, allows commuter rail service to begin on May 20. According to Town Manager William Keegan, there will be seven trains running per day. Three of those trains will be in the morning, one in the afternoon, and another three at night. All will travel to South Station.

The agreement, which was approved by the MBTA's financial control board over a year ago was managed in a joint effort by the town, the MBTA, MassDOT, and the Kraft Group which owns Gillette Stadium. Over that span of time, specific concerns residents had such as noise, trains blocking roads, and sitting idly overnight were addressed. According to the board, many concerns from residents spawned from reported issues of CSX freight trains blocking intersections in town and making noise early in the morning.

With noise, baselines studies will be conducted before, during and after the 11-month pilot program. According to Dan Krantz from the Kraft Group, this allows all parties the ability to quantify the impact of noise.

"A number of considerations have been made by this board," Keegan said, "As part of the conditions, a number of those have been addressed."

As part of the agreement, trains cannot park in Foxborough overnight and there will be no at grade train crossings with roads. There's also no additional fees for the town. All of this was put in writing in a letter from the state.

"The town has very little responsibility in the agreement," Keegan said. "We don't own the rail, we don't own the trains, and we don't own the parking lots."

Before approving the agreement, the Board of Selectmen wanted to make sure their voices will still be heard throughout the process. Selectman James DeVellis had concerns about train vibrations and diesel odors bothering residents. Both Keegan and planning board director Paige Duncan assured the selectmen they have a seat at the table.

"I think the pilot is relatively innocuous,"Duncan said. "As we get to the six-month point, I think that's when I think you want a voice at the table."

Selectmen chair Christopher Mitchell asked Krantz if he knew what the plan was for full service if the pilot is successful. Although Krantz didn't have a definitive answer, he was optimistic there wouldn't be any periods of no service.

"I think the expectation is the pilot would probably continue until a full service schedule could be created," Krantz said.

Krantz imagined the pilot would continue until a permanent agreement is reached. He estimated an agreement would take six-to-12 months.

Photo by Dan Libon