Study Sees Boston Rail Link As an Engine for Growth
BOSTON -- With the Big Dig more than halfway done, is it time to start on Big Dig II?</br></br>A five-year, $4 million study nearing completion by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority says yes. The study found that drilling beneath downtown Boston and connecting North and South stations with a 1.1-mile, four-track train tunnel would yield huge transportation benefits and could even pay for itself.</br></br>Perhaps the most shocking conclusion of the report so far is that the cost of linking Boston's primary train stations has actually gone down since the first study of the project was completed in 1993. The study has the project's price tag at $3.68 billion, which, after adjusting for inflation, is 35% less than the 1993 figure. That's mostly because new electric-diesel locomotives significantly reduce the number of tracks that need to be electrified for the project.</br></br>"Everybody should get down on their knees and pray that it happens," says Bob O'Brien, chairman of a citizens advisory committee that is reviewing the study.</br></br>For the project to proceed, the full report needs to be published and subjected to comments from the public and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Finally, the project backer -- which could be the MBTA, Amtrak or another entity -- would issue a proposal with specific plans.