Framingham Secondary Rail Line
How quickly people forget the transportation disaster of the 2015 Winter. Here are a couple of quotes regarding the MBTA purchasing additional rail real estate.
On February 12, 2015.... in the early days of the MBTA winter debacle:
?Why is the MBTA purchasing rail beds when it has issues with its preventive maintenance program on existing tracks- Charlie Baker asked. ?From where I sit, I think it?s pretty clear we should be making the investments in existing tracks and not buying new tracks.?
?Given the current $768 million deficit and the challenges experienced by the MBTA, Governor Baker wants to work with Secretary Pollack and the MBTA to address the current maintenance issues causing unreliable service and find a solution to restore operations for commuters that depend on the T to get to work or school before dedicating resources to a new rail project,? spokeswoman Elizabeth Guyton said.
Source...thesunchronicle.com
124 days later on June 17, 2015.... in a Press Release, the MBTA announces...
Today, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced it had completed the acquisition of the Framingham Secondary Rail Line, a 21-mile segment of rail that connects Framingham and Mansfield. The line was purchased from CSX Corporation for $23 million.
"After careful consideration of the agreement to purchase the Framingham Secondary Rail Line from CSX, MassDOT concluded that acquiring this rail asset supports our goals of increasing use of freight rail, which takes trucks off our highways and reduces greenhouse gases by consolidating the movement of freight," said MassDOT Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack.
Source...MBTA Press Release
The MBTA must have considered that $1 million a mile was not going to distrupt existing maintenance issues related to last years winter storm.