(The Braintree Forum published the following story by Robert Aicardi and James Russell on its website on September 17.)
BOSTON — The MBTA’s recent $3.9 million purchase of 1.5 miles of track in East Braintree from CSX Corporation of Florida, one of the largest freight railroad companies in the United States, is a key development concerning Greenbush, the $479 million commuter rail project which would extend 17.5 miles of track through Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate.
“This is a section of track that the T needed to acquire for the Greenbush project,” MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in a Sept. 12 interview. “With this purchase, the T now owns the right of way for the entire Greenbush corridor. It’s the final piece of the puzzle, if you will.”
The land acquisition took place during an executive session of the Aug, 7 meeting of the MBTA Board of Directors, Pesaturo recalled.
“CSX can still use it (the track), but they no longer own it,” he said.
Pesaturo explained why this purchase is considered to be critical to the Greenbush project.
“It’s important that the T owns the entire right of way,” he said. “The alternative would have been a costly long term lease with CSX without a fixed cost. Now that the T owns the property, it will make it much easier to go forward with Greenbush if that’s the final decision that’s made.”
In various planning stages since 1984, construction started last year on the controversial Greenbush train line, only to be halted in February when Gov. Mitt Romney chose to review the cost feasibility of all transportation initiatives.
Pesaturo emphasized that land acquisition was not part of this moratorium.
“The moratorium was placed on construction, which meant that a shovel wouldn’t be put in the ground, but it was made clear that work on design issues, land acquisition, permits, and mitigation would go on,” he said.