State Sen. Brendan P. Crighton and fellow Lynn state legislative delegation members are not going to be stopped in their quest to make the commuter rail “Environmental Justice Corridor” a reality.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors made, in our view, a short-sighted decision last month in not including electrification in the agency’s $9.4 billion, five-year capital investment plan.
Combining the Newburyport/Rockport commuter line’s electrification with more frequent stops in Lynn and fare reduction spells long-overdue relief for Boston-bound commuters.
MBTA rapid-transit lines branch out to Quincy and Newton and the Green Line extension through Somerville is only the first of two projects that will stretch the line out to Medford.
Blue Line rapid-transit ends in Revere, leaving North Shore commuters the choice of driving, or taking a bus or commuter rail to Boston. The commuter rail’s terminus at North Station is an unsatisfactory arrangement that leaves commuters blocks away from jobs in Boston’s Financial District.
But electrifying the commuter rail represents an environmentally-sensible upgrade that makes sense, apparently, to everyone but the MBTA’s leaders and Gov. Charlie Baker, who slammed the door shut on North Shore transit improvements years ago.
He commutes daily through Lynn but Baker’s silence is deafening when it comes to extending rapid transit through Lynn or electrifying the commuter rail.
As Senate chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, Crighton holds a big megaphone when it comes to transit and he has the ear of Senate President Karen E. Spilka.
The Senate adopted an amendment to its climate policy bill on April 14, filed by Crighton, requiring the MBTA to stop purchasing diesel-powered locomotive trains by the end of 2030 and transition to electric service.
The “Act driving climate policy forward” focuses on expanding the clean-energy industry and decreasing greenhouse-gas emissions from the transportation and building sectors.
The transportation sector produces 43 percent of carbon emissions, said Crighton. His amendment also requires the MBTA to complete detailed short-, medium- and long-term plans for each line of the rail system in order to make the system more productive, equitable and decarbonized and take immediate action along the Environmental Justice Corridor, which includes stretches of the commuter rail from Boston to Everett, Chelsea, Revere, Lynn, Salem and Beverly.
It’s time for the MBTA to get on board with electrifying the commuter-rail line and grasping the full implications of transportation policy in light of critical climate-change concerns.
This proposal still isn’t as beneficial as extending rapid transit to the North Shore. But until we have a governor who grasps that concept, electrification is our best option (unless the long-discussed connector linking the commuter rail at Wonderland to the Blue Line becomes a reality).
