LYNN — Frustrating. That is the word used by state Sen. Brendan Crighton and Mayor Jared Nicholson when talking about the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s presence in the city.
“I do not think that the [MBTA] is properly serving Lynn residents,” Nicholson said.
Even if the Lynn Commuter Rail station was open, the city would still not be properly serviced by the MBTA, he said.
The city’s Commuter Rail station shut down on Oct. 1, 2022 for a $72 million renovation project. The public announcement of the shutdown came only two weeks prior.
Under the current project timeline, the temporary platform is set to be completed by September 2024. The entire renovation project for the station is set to be completed in 2030.
That temporary platform’s target completion date is “unacceptable,” according to Crighton.
“September 2024 would be a failure,” he added.
MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, who was appointed by Gov. Maura Healey in March, said he is working on expediting that timeline.
“I know how important the Commuter Rail station is to a downtown, I know how people rely on those, and what I can say is I am looking at those schedules and I’ll have more information hopefully in the future,” Eng said.
Soon after Eng’s appointment, former Lynn Mayor Thomas McGee was named to the MBTA Board of Directors. He also recently joined the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors.
After Eng’s and McGee’s interview with The Daily Item on June 5, MBTA Director of Communications Joe Pesaturo told The Item that the design for the temporary platform had been officially completed June 6.
Pesaturo also confirmed that the MBTA is now in the process of obtaining a contractor for its construction.
Nicholson said that back in January 2022, when he took office, he was made aware that there was an upcoming renovation project at the station. Then, early that summer, he was notified that it would be shut down with no mitigation plan.
“That’s when we really pushed back,” Nicholson said. “Our position is we do need a new station, we want a new station, but we can’t just shut it down, there needs to be a plan and we need to be able to continue to serve the riders that depend on this.”
During summer 2022, the MBTA wanted to shut down the station to begin the renovation project, said Crighton, who also serves as Senate chair on the Joint Committee on Transportation.
“Speeding up the timeline from our end was not something workable for our riders until we got a temporary platform or ferries or some other service,” Crighton said.
The city’s state delegation at the time and Nicholson welcomed former MBTA General Manager Steven Poftak and engineers to come to the station that summer to determine if it was a safety risk or if it could remain open.
It was deemed that the station was safe, according to Crighton.
“They did say to us when they approved the station staying open that at any point when they deemed it no longer safe or too big of a risk, they could come in and close it,” Crighton said.
The delegation, along with Nicholson, then pushed for the MBTA to provide shuttle buses from Lynn to the Swampscott Commuter Rail station until a temporary platform was built. At first, the MBTA refused to provide shuttle services and have fares reduced, according to Crighton.
Shuttle services did end up getting approved, but both Crighton and Nicholson said it is still not an ideal situation for riders.
“There is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to improve our system, to improve the service, improve reliability, and just to make sure that as we continue to deliver service, we’re doing it in a safe manner,” Eng said.
Having an “open dialogue” with local leaders is something Eng has been trying and will continue to do, he said.
McGee echoed Eng’s sentiments, stating that if they want to be successful, all of the involved parties have to work together.
“We’ve really appreciated the conversations that we’ve been able to have with General Manager Eng so far,” Nicholson said. “We have a lot of work to do to align on the plan for what we want to see with the Central Square station.”
Before the Healey-Driscoll Administration took office in January, state and local leaders had been trying to have conversations with the MBTA about Lynn. Efforts to prepare for the closure of the Sumner Tunnel began more than a year ago, Crighton said.
“We’ve been pushing the [MBTA] for a long time to provide mitigation for our passengers, for drivers, and the folks living downtown, we weren’t making any progress, we were fighting them,” he said. “There was nothing on the table from the previous administration, it was tremendously frustrating.”
In January, the current delegation went to Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll to express that the North Shore was not ready for the Sumner Tunnel closure.
“Within a week, they took our suggestions,” Crighton said.
The Sumner Tunnel closure was originally supposed to be for four months but was cut down to two, he said.
Other responses to the tunnel closure include reduced fares, higher frequency of subways, and a newly-reintroduced ferry service from Lynn to Boston. The ferry opened on June 26 and has already seen a high passenger count.
The ferry will be staying in Lynn long after the Sumner Tunnel reopens, Crighton said.
The Blue Line is free for the summer and almost every speed restriction that was placed on the line in the spring has been lifted, according to Eng.
“We are running under six-minute headways during the peak hours right now,” Eng said.
However, the Blue Line only reaches as far as Revere, meaning passengers trying to get to Lynn must also take a bus.
What Nicholson and Crighton really want to see, not just in Lynn but across the state, is a transformation of the Commuter Rail into a rapid-transit network called Regional Rail. Bringing rapid transit would support equity and environmental justice, Nicholson said.
“We have a really compelling vision for how this can all come together,” he said.
Nicholson added that seeing the temporary platform built would help inform the vision for the Regional Rail.
“One of the ideologies that I feel like has plagued this whole project is the idea that, ‘Well, the trains aren’t running on time now, so why should we bother with this bigger idea?’” Nicholson said. “It’s exactly the opposite. If we want to get the trains to run on time you have to create a system that works, and electrification is quicker, it’s cleaner, it’s more cost efficient, and it’s more reliable.”
But the temporary platform is still more than a year away.
“Being a former legislator… I understand their frustration about some of the things that happened, particularly on the closing of the station,” McGee, who also served in the state Senate, said.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done with the MBTA in general and in Lynn, Eng said.
“That goes to a much longer discussion on how we got here and the disinvestment that has happened in the past, and now how it’s all coming to fruition,” he said.
Nicholson and Crighton said they are witnessing how it is all coming into fruition in Lynn.
“It’s an incredible inconvenience to residents who still rely on the T,” Nicholson said. “It’s certainly affected the development conversations for the downtown.”
Having to change the way one commutes is “difficult,” Crighton said.
“No one wants to get into a shuttle to drive back against where they’re going,” he said in reference to the Lynn-to-Swampscott shuttles.
To the people of Lynn, Nicholson said he wants them to know that they are doing everything they can to fix short-term issues.
“It’s important that we acknowledge the inequity of the status quo,” Nicholson said. “We’re also pushing as hard and as swiftly as we can on trying to get the bigger picture to come together so that the region will be well-served by transportation.”
McGee said he is glad to be on the MBTA and Department of Transportation boards to advocate for Lynn.
“But more importantly, hopefully to move more things forward, to meet the vision that we really have for what we believe is a great opportunity in our city and in the region,” McGee said.
