(The following story by Lindsey Parietti appeared on the MetroWest Daily News website on May 10.)
BOSTON — Mass. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and other state officials weren’t shy about laying blame for inadequate commuter rail service during a statewide rail summit yesterday.
Murray criticized railroad company CSX Corp. for holding up the state’s effort to purchase right-of-way on the Framingham-Worcester rail line. CSX currently gives right-of-way to freight trains.
Stalling negotiations, Murray said, is the corporation’s insistence on a no-fault liability policy, under which the state’s insurance would have to cover any damage to its own trains and passengers, regardless of the cause.
“Simply put, the no-fault concept as demanded by CSX in this transaction is bad public policy,” he said, detailing CSX’s Fortune 500 status and 2007 earnings as well as the flow of cash that the state has invested to improve the privately owned line.
“Despite CSX’s apparent indifference to the public interest, we are not dissuaded in our efforts to expand rail in Worcester and in other parts of the state,” said Murray, who quickly exited after his speech, leaving CSX representative Lisa Mancini to field angry questions from the audience.
Mancini, the company’s vice president of strategic infrastructure, participated in a panel along with James Repass, president of the National Corridors Initiative, and Jody Ray, director of railroad operations for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
“We are happy to sit down at any time, as to when it will be resolved, I’m not sure,” Mancini told an audience member who asked when the two parties would find a solution. “I wasn’t expecting to negotiate this here in such a public forum.”
CSX favors the no-fault policy because it allows for quicker payment of claims and avoids finger-pointing and lengthy lawsuits to determine how much responsibility each party should assume for an accident, Mancini said.
Like the state, CSX would be responsible for insuring its own assets, and the company has also offered to contribute toward the state’s insurance premium.
“I understand the corporate impulse to want to get the best deal, the most generous deal, even if it’s overly generous,” said U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-3rd, during his remarks. “But I, and the mayors and city councilors have an obligation to the taxpayers.”
After the three-hour event, Mancini, who is directly involved in negotiations with the Executive Office of Transportation, said she has never met either Murray or McGovern, but that their remarks did not reflect the relationship between CSX and the state.
“I was a little surprised, but I know it’s an issue that’s important to them,” she said.
In an attempt to smooth things over, Deputy Transportation Secretary Thomas Cahir said, “I know the folks in Worcester and Central Massachusetts don’t feel this perhaps, but we have made progress in these very complicated negotiations.”
Cahir, Murray and other state officials said the MBTA is working toward adding three daily outbound trains, Boston to Worcester, and four inbound trips in the not too distant future.
Former Gov. Michael Dukakis, who also spoke at the event, joked, “I apologize for not coming out by train, if you had enough trains I would.”
Dukakis described a recent trip with wife Kitty Dukakis to Norway and Sweden, where infrastructure, he said, is in mint condition.
“It’s 2008, it’s the 21st Century. It’s the United States of America, and when you come back from the experience like the one that Kitty and I had, you just have to kind of shake your head and wonder what’s going on in this country,” he said, stressing the urgency of improving rail lines and offering to mediate negotiations.
Walter T. Bonin, chairman of the Marlborough Mayor’s Transportation Task Force, said he was glad to see the state reinforce its commitment to improving and promoting both passenger and freight rail use, but that the forum left some questions unanswered.
“It might be more effective to leave CSX alone to own the line and take the money we would use to add more capacity (trains) and eliminate the conflict between the freight and passenger service,” said Bonin, who also serves on the transportation sub-committee of MetroWest Growth Management Committee.
“CSX was kind of taken over the coals, especially by the lieutenant governor, but that probably reflects his frustration and I’m sure they’ll reach an agreement.”