(The following editorial appeared on the Worcester Telegram & Gazette website on February 21, 2010.)
WORCESTER, Mass. — When most of us go to a big-box store and buy a big-box item such as a wide-screen TV, we’re thinking about getting it home — not how it got to the store.
The people at CSX Corp., along with public officials and others, think long and hard about that part of commerce, connecting the dots of track, time, commodity and cost to get freight hauled from one rail hub to another, where trucks can take it the rest of the way.
With a huge and promising rail deal for Worcester in the works, “freight” is something area residents are probably going to be hearing and thinking a lot about in the coming weeks and months.
The city is positioned to become a major freight rail hub. People who never thought they were curious about such things are likely to find themselves getting quickly up to speed on such terms as “double-stack container cars” and “intermodal transport.”
Commuter rail is where area residents come aboard the blueprints in a big way. The freight portion of the plan is a CSX operation, while passenger trains are run by the state. But they share rail. Plans aim to clear the tracks between Worcester and Boston of much of their current freight use, freeing them for commuter trains.
CSX will be negotiating with officials in Worcester, Westboro, East Brookfield and West Springfield about shifting freight operations from the Beacon Park yards in the Allston section of Boston to freight yards in those communities.
The focus is on Worcester’s yard, along Franklin Street just east of Interstate 290 and not far from the center of downtown.
The yard would be expanded and upgraded to handle an uptick in rail and truck traffic related to freight. CSX officials who met with the Telegram & Gazette’s editorial board Thursday said the $100 million project is designed to be community-friendly as well as environmentally so. Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien and others involved in the plan also attended the meeting.
CSX would buy several privately owned commercial parcels in order to enlarge its footprint by about 28 acres, primarily to the south. The entrance to the yard would be on Grafton Street instead of Franklin, giving trucks easier access to the interstate. CSX would also construct an overpass on Franklin Street so that the movement of trucks and containers wouldn’t interfere with traffic on that street; and would install landscape buffers to mitigate effects on neighborhoods.
Raising bridges between Route 128 and New York in order to allow for double-stacking of freight cars is another key part of the plan, creating efficiencies for CSX and freeing up more rail time for commuters.
According to Mr. Murray, a longtime proponent of commuter rail, the net effect of the freight changes CSX is seeking will, in time, bump the number of daily commuter trains running in and out of Worcester from the current 12 round trips to perhaps double that.
The project, which will be reviewed by the federal Surface Transportation Board, also involves state purchase of the property rights to the Boston-to-Worcester rail line from CSX, and state takeover of dispatching and maintenance of that line.
The city manager will present the plan to the City Council Tuesday night.
As a freight rail hub, jobs would assuredly come to Worcester, state Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey B. Mullan and others told reporters last week. There would be construction work at first; eventually, with all the freight loads headed in and out of the city, various transportation-related jobs would result, such as at trucking operations and distribution centers.
Officials also point to other benefits that would ride in with the deal, including invigorated development efforts in downtown Worcester because of heightened use of commuter rail nearby.
Last week also brought the announcement that commuter-rail improvements are in motion for the Fitchburg area.
This is a lot for area residents to think about.
It would almost be easier to lay down tracks across the old Western frontier than to have gotten the talks to this point, with interests from various factions needing to be sorted out. Negotiation breakthroughs of the last year-and-a-half cleared the way.
Officials from both the private and public sectors say that, in short, the current plan is a modernization effort offering real benefits locally. They ardently want to get the deal to the delivery ramp.
Worcester residents in particular will need to study the changing picture for the city as proposed. So far, the signals suggest this is a productive, indeed exciting, crossroads for Worcester and the region.