BOSTON — It may be too soon to tell if a new administration in the corner office will help or derail a planned MBTA Fall River/New Bedford commuter train, the Taunton Gazette reported.
Unlike his Democratic opponent Shannon O’Brien and his three Republican predecessors, Gov.-elect Mitt Romney did not commit to the $670 million project during the campaign.
But Bridgewater Democrat David L. Flynn, whose district includes two communities fighting the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s plan, believes it is doomed under any administration because of a lack of money and lack of ridership.
Romney will be forced to move it onto the back burner “simply because of economics,” Flynn said, referring to the $1 to $2 billion state budget shortfall.
“He will never be able to justify a project that has soared from $300 million to $670 million,” Flynn said.
Mitigation to help abutters with the train’s adverse impacts have not been figured into the final cost, he added.
“I think they will like my Silver Express,” he said of his proposed $24 million express bus between Boston and the South Coast.
The rail project has received permit approval from Environmental Secretary Robert Durand and is undergoing state and federal review.
Construction has begun on the final lap of the line, south of Cotley Junction in Taunton to downtown New Bedford.
Raynham selectmen are taking a wait-and-see approach to a commuter rail project they have been battling on environmental grounds for three years.
The tri-town coalition against the train will have to bring the new state secretaries of transportation and environment up to date on the their concerns after they settle into office, selectmen said.
Selectman Gordon Luciano, who represents the town on the MBTA advisory board, said the “T’s” finances are in poor shape. One third of its operating budget is used to pay off past debt and the agency cannot afford to operate existing lines, he said.
The project was slipped into the Transportation Bond Bill in the final FY 2003 budget in order to avoid adding it to the MBTA’s five-year capital plan.
But the legislature did not address what previously-approved projects would have to be bumped to pay for the train, Luciano said.
Selectmen Chairman Ray Platt said the departure of New Bedford Democrat Rep. George Rogers, who lost in his bid for re-election in the primaries, might have a more immediate bearing on the train’s future than a new governor. Rogers served on the House and Joint Ways and Means Committees.
Platt, a Republican, supported O’Brien, partly because of her south shore ties.
To Romney, who lives in Belmont, Platt has extended an invitation. “Come on down,” he said.