(The following article by Meredith Goldstein was posted on the Boston Globe website on August 12.)
BOSTON — The bad news for those who live near the Bradford commuter rail station in Haverhill is that trains will continue to spend the night at the T stop, at least for now.
The good news is that the trains should sleep more soundly this winter.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority told Bradford residents who live near the commuter rail T stop at a meeting last week that they hope to cut down on the noise of idling trains by at least 50 percent.
“It’s not what we would like to hear,” said Mary Zappala. “But I think there has been some progress.”
Zappala and her neighbors, who live near the commuter rail stop at the intersection of Railroad and Laurel avenues, have done their best for decades to cope with the noise caused by the idling trains. They say there have been many sleepless nights. The trains begin running at 4:30 a.m. to warm up for the morning commute. After making their last trip from Boston, they run until about midnight to cool down.
During the winter, the MBTA has run the trains all night when temperatures drop severely. The MBTA’s director of railroad operations, Anna Barry, has told residents at multiple meetings that idling all night in extreme cold is necessary to keep the trains working.
This past winter, during a cold spell, residents did their best to sleep despite hearing the rumble of the trains all night long for days at a time.
For years Zappala and her neighbors have requested that the T either move the layover stop or run the trains less frequently. After multiple meetings and piles of letters, Zappala heard some good news last week.
The MBTA said that in years past, it ran trains throughout the night when the temperature reached 10 degrees or below. Representatives said that this year, they’ll drop the temperature limit to zero degrees in Bradford as a test.
“That would cut the idling days roughly by 50 percent, looking at some old weather data,” said Tom Natario, a state Department of Environmental Protection engineer who has been working on a compromise with residents and the MBTA.
If the test is a success in Haverhill, the MBTA would drop the temperature limit at other layover stops, as well, Natario said.
Natario said the DEP also has asked the MBTA to investigate whether there is an existing technology that would be able to eliminate the need to idle a train all night.
“We’ve asked them to look into any alternative devices,” Natario said.
The MBTA has 11 layover stops for commuter rail trains around the state. Layover stops are where trains stay for the night before beginning their daily trips.
Senator Steven A. Baddour, who represents the Bradford section of Haverhill, said he still hopes for a better solution to the train problem. On the best days, those who live near the stop only get four hours of quiet during the night.
Baddour and other local legislators support building a T stop in North Andover near the Lucent Technologies plant.
“It would be huge for economic development,” he said.
Neighbors and legislators have said that if a new stop is built, it could possibly serve as the layover station for the trains.
“There’s no neighborhood around the Lucent facility,” Baddour said.
Earlier this week, Governor Mitt Romney declined to veto the transportation bond bill that includes $250,000 for a feasibility study for a T stop in North Andover. Baddour said the money indicates the state is considering the concerns of residents.
“I understand if they feel they’ve been studied to death,” he said. “But I feel the MBTA is really making an effort to solve the problem.”
Baddour said the change in temperature limits should significantly improve the noise problems for residents this year. He said all communities with layover train stops deal with similar complaints, and that if the zero-degree limit works in Bradford, there could be relief for other layover communities around the state.
“And what the T said is look, if the trains are fine at the zero-below, they’ll go even lower if they can,” Baddour said. “I think the T is trying to strike a balance of being a good neighbor and operating the train.”