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On April 29, 2016, the Rail Users’ Network (RUN) held a conference in Boston with the theme: “Who’s Looking Out for You? The State of Rail Advocacy in New England.” At that conference, I moderated a panel on the topic of “Why Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ was a highway-only project and efforts under way to correct it.” One of the members of the panel was former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who was also the Democratic candidate for President in 1988, and who had called for expanding Amtrak and rail transit as part of his campaign. We all know that George H. W. Bush defeated him, but I asked him why he did not get the rail link into the Big Dig project. He blamed the Reagan Administration, saying that they forced his state government to accept the project without a rail component. Of course, there is still no such rail component. Much like Philadelphia before SEPTA built the Center City Commuter Connection tunnel that linked the previously separate regional rail systems built and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Railroad, Boston today has two separate rail systems that never meet, except by transferring to at least two MBTA subways. The Northside system originates from North Station and comprise five lines that were once parts of the Boston & Maine Railroad. Amtrak’s Downeaster trains to Portland and Brunswick, Me., originate from there, too. There is also the Southside system, which originates at South Station in the commercial center of downtown Boston. Southside service has three components. Trains on the Boston & Albany line, once part of the New York Central system, go to Framingham and Worcester. The Massachusetts section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited uses that line, going all the way to Albany, and then through Upstate New York and as far as Chicago. There are plans in the MassDOT East-West Passenger Rail Study to run more service to Springfield and Pittsfield, in Western Massachusetts. Trains on the Old Colony lines, which were part of the New Haven Railroad, run southeast of Boston. They go to Greenbush, Middleborough/Lakeville, and a location near Plymouth, and there’s a seasonal summer weekend train, the Cape Flyer, to Hyannis on Cape Cod. The lines to Fall River and New Bedford are under construction for new service, slated to start soon as South Coast Rail. In between are several lines from the historic New Haven Railroad, including part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC), although Massachusetts owns the segment of the line within its borders. Southside service includes trains to Providence and further into Rhode Island on the NEC, as well as on several branches elsewhere within Massachusetts. Those trains also stop at Back Bay Station, on the border of the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods. Amtrak trains to New York, Washington, D.C., and beyond stop at Back Bay and South Stations. North and South Stations are not close to each other. I have been able to walk between the two in about 40 minutes on a good day. There was a one-seat ride available on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated Line, which served both stations, but it existed only from 1901 until 1938. SBUI/Wikimedia Commons There is a local bus between North and South Station at certain times, but there is no direct rail connection on the local transit operated by the MBTA, otherwise known as the T. One way to get there is to take the Red Line subway two stops to Park Street and a northbound car from there to North Station. Another way is to take the Red Line one stop to Downtown Crossing and catch the Orange Line, another subway line, to North Station. If you’re not carrying a heavy bag, Downtown Crossing is only a few blocks from South Station, so that’s a way to get a one-seat ride on rail. Still, it’s not easy to get between the stations, especially for the uninitiated. When the Big Dig project got onto the drawing board in 1982, it seemed like a natural idea to include a couple of tracks for trains on the T to connect the two stations. There has never been a scheduled train between any point south of Boston and any other point north of it. Until the early 1960s, there were trains between New York City and Portland, Maine, but they bypassed Boston by going to Providence or New London, then to Worcester, and then on lines of the New Haven that bypassed Boston and ended up on today’s Downeaster line at Haverhill. Scott Spencer of AmeriStar Rail has proposed running trains from Springfield toward Boston, then on a circumferential connecting railroad for freight through Cambridge called the Grand Junction Railroad (below), over to the Downeaster Line and into Portland. That connection between the North and South Sides is used for occasional equipment moves, but it has never been used in revenue service. Scott Spencer collection According to Karl Haglund in Inventing the Charles River (2003), a scholarly work about the river that flows through Boston: “Early in 1983, the new State transportation administrator approved two critical revisions in the plans for the depressed artery. The roadway was widened by one or two lanes in each direction, and the North Station/South Station rail link was dropped. Widening the road … also meant a deeper, mechanically ventilated tunnel, with no room for the rail link at the same level as the road. The locomotives used throughout the state’s commuter rail network were still diesel-powered, and ventilation in the revised tunnel design would have been extraordinarily expensive” (at 316, footnote omitted). So many Bostonians and, especially advocates for better rail service in the region, were aggrieved by the situation that money would be spent on a tunnel megaproject, while transit riders would receive no benefit. They did not give up, and there were more proposals for a North-South Rail Link, but none have gotten anywhere yet. After the Big Dig tunnel opened in 2007 and even after the conference where Dukakis had blamed the Reagan Administration for the lack of a rail line connecting North and South, there were further efforts to revive the concept of the North-South Rail Link. In June 2018, MassDOT released its “North South Rail Feasibility Reassessment” study (download below). The study noted that the City of Boston, the State Legislature and the railroads had contemplated a tunnel to connect North and South Stations as early as 1912, and that there had been two studies during the 1990s. Referring to the 1912 proposal, the advocacy group North South Rail Link said: “A plan was developed to purchase property between North and South Stations, demolish the buildings, build a rail link one level below grade, and then construct a beautiful new boulevard on the surface. Two World Wars and a Great Depression intervened.” North South Rail Link also agreed with what Dukakis had told the RUN conference in 2016: “In March 1987, President Reagan vetoed funding for the Central Artery Project, specifically citing the inclusion of a rail connection. In the battle to overturn this veto and secure funding for the project (by just one vote), the rail link was sacrificed.” Gov. William Weld, a Republican, also supported the concept and commissioned a study in 1993: “In 1993, Weld commissioned a Central Artery Rail Link (CARL) Task Force to find a way to reintroduce the rail connection into the project. The CARL Task Force developed a plan to build a rail tunnel directly below the Artery highway tunnels, using the Artery slurry walls to simplify construction. This was released in March 1993. A month later, the U.S. Senate approved funding for a more detailed engineering and environmental study, which took place from 1995-2003.” At that time, Republican Gov. Mitt Romney suspended the project. Weld and Dukakis later jointly authored a commentary that reaffirmed their support for a rail link. North South Rail Link also credits them for their support and efforts: “Citizens for the North South Rail Link is a volunteer organization brought together by former Governors Michael Dukakis and William Weld, and a coalition of advocates from across the region in support of better and more effective, efficient and sustainable transportation policies.” According to the 2018 MassDOT proposal, a tunnel boring machine (TBM) would be used, with two-track and four-track options proposed for the Central Artery at 125 feet deep. The former would have two stations, while the latter would add a central station. Trains on the Fairmont Line (to Dorchester) would continue to use South Station at grade under the two-track plan, and Old Colony Lines would have gone there under both plans. Two other alignments under Congress Street were also proposed, with a single tunnel or two tunnels. Stations in all plans would be moved underground, a block or two from the existing North and South Stations, although Amtrak and some local lines would continue to use the existing South Station. Service would be interlined on both sides of the tunnel link, and it could accommodate 17 or 21 trains per hour, depending on the alternative. The study considered risks, such as six minutes to get to a place of safety in an evacuation. It also considered ridership and auto travel effects, including environmental pollution, for each alternative. There were also proposals mentioned for electrification and for South Station expansion, which did not necessarily preclude the North-South Rail Link (NRSL) proposal. There were also cost estimates for a 2017 Harvard study, and MassDOT studies from 2002 and 2018. Despite the lack of progress since the 2018 study was announced, advocates for NSRL have not given up. North South Rail Link believes that such a link would be a necessary “bold investment.” Its pitch begins: “As Boston approaches its 400th anniversary in 2030, it is worth considering the legacy of bold and wise investments we have inherited from prior generations. Many of the treasures that make Massachusetts special and prosperous are remarkable not just for their enduring value, but for the sheer boldness of their original conception. When we built the longest rail tunnel in North America to link our economy to western markets, filled the Back Bay, founded our great universities and built the first public library and subway system in America, we were not just keeping up with our peers, we were leading the pack, and much of our current prosperity has its roots in that legacy of leadership.” Referring to the city’s first subway line, which opened in 1897, the site said: “New Yorkers also watched with wonder and envy as Boston’s subway opened years ahead of their own, and our traffic disappeared.” The Central Artery, the often-hated elevated highway that was built during the heyday of urban highway expansion at the middle of the previous century, was removed in 2006, but Boston’s traffic has not “disappeared” as was alleged to have happened in 1897. It is still there, and there is still no rail link between the North and South sides of the city’s regional rail network. There is still talk of building a North-South Rail Link today. In an article headlined Will Boston ever build the North-South Rail Link? reporter Chloe Courtney Bohl of the Boston Globe speculated on March 22, 2024 about that possibility and said: “An underground track connecting North and South Station could unify public transit up and down the New England corridor. But are Massachusetts lawmakers ready for another tunnel project? To traverse the one-mile distance between the two stations, commuters must walk 25 minutes or take a 15-20-minute subway trip on two different lines (the Red Line and the Green or Orange Line)” (parenthetical in original). The North-South Rail Link—a 2.8-mile tunnel connecting North and South stations—would bridge the north/south divide, allowing trains to run interrupted across the region. Advocates say the benefits are clear: Building the link would facilitate faster commutes into the city from farther away, easing pressure on Boston’s choked housing market and taking cars off congested highways. Better regional transit is good for economic growth, they say, and for the climate.” Apparently, cost was a big issue. After naming some of the project’s well-known and highly respected supporters, Bohl noted: “But building another tunnel beneath downtown Boston would be complicated and expensive. In 2017 a Harvard Kennedy School cost analysis estimated the Rail Link would cost between $3.8 and $5.9 billion in 2025 dollars. The price range reflected different build options: two vs. four tracks, different routes beneath the city. The year after the Harvard study came out, Gov. Charlie Baker’s Administration released its own ‘feasibility study.’ This time, the Rail Link was estimated to cost a hair-raising $12.3 to $21.4 billion. (For reference, the infamous Big Dig ended up costing about $24 billion)” (parenthetical in original). According to MassDOT, though, there was no new study planned as of that writing. Congressman Seth Moulton (D-6) is a strong rail and transit supporter in the House. Bohl’s report quoted him as saying: “We say people should use transit, but we only invest in our highways and airports. I don’t buy the argument that fixing our rail network is too hard or too expensive. If we make smart, transformative investments like the North-South Rail Link, they will pay for themselves in economic benefits many times over.” Bohl also reported that Jared Johnson, Executive Director of TransitMatters, a not-for-profit transit advocacy organization, “pointed out that the 2018 feasibility study only looked at costs—not benefits or value created.” Bohl also mentioned the South Station Expansion project in her report, saying: “The South Station Expansion would add 10 new train tracks (alongside the current 13) and a new bus terminal to the downtown transit hub at an estimated cost of $4.7 billion. The plan involves purchasing and redeveloping the adjoining U.S. Post Office site to make space for the new tracks.” She also reported that MassDOT said that the station is at capacity, although a through-running operation would relieve any capacity constraint at that facility. Bohl quoted Moulton as saying that, too. From what we have learned in covering through-running projects in other cities, the conditions must be right for such a project to succeed. Philadelphia seems to have done the best so far, because the money and the political will were there, and the former stub-end terminals were close enough that a tunnel could connect them relatively easily, especially without having to run under a river to do so. The primary operational benefit for the railroad seems to be that trainsets can be turned easily and quickly, without the need to take the time required to get out of a stub-end track after pulling in, letting passengers off, boarding riders for the outbound trip and waiting for a slot to become available to exit the station. There are always major capital costs involved when building tunnels. That drives the cost of a project like the North-South Rail Link up. Would the project generate enough of an operational benefit with its improved equipment utilization and enough of a ridership benefit to attract sufficient riders to a new destination to justify the expense? As always, that’s a question for managers, as guided by the elected and appointed officials who watch over the taxpayers’ money. In the case of South Station, it seems unclear that expanding the station would be necessary due to capacity constraints, because there are fewer trains running at peak-commuting hours today than there were before the COVID-19 virus hit nearly five years ago. Arrivals during morning commuting-peak time cause the greatest stress of the day on station capacity, and the level of traffic into South Station at that time seems lower than it was then. In addition to Gov. Maura Healey and MassDOT officials, MBTA head Philip Eng will probably have something to say about the agency’s plans. Eng did well at the Long Island Rail Road before coming to the T, and he has earned high marks for restoring service that was severely reduced during the COVID pandemic, and for bringing the system (especially rail transit) into a state of good repair. It might be up to the voters, too, someday. Will they decide that the benefits of the proposed link with its tunnel and relocated stations is worth the cost, or will they decide that the regional rail and local transit systems are good enough without the new link to connect Northside and Southside trains? Another caution about Boston and its government (and maybe Massachusetts generally) comes from Jake Berman in his 2023 book The Lost Subways of North America. Berman describes the history of transit in Boston, including the subject matter of this article. In his concluding paragraph, he said: “Reforming the MBTA bureaucracy should not be an impossible task for a wealthy, successful metropolis. In decades past, Boston knew how to deliver public infrastructure quickly and at reasonable cost. Recreating this capability in the 21st century requires Greater Boston to invest in developing functional institutions of government” (at 316). Now it seems to be up to Gov. Healey and her Administration. As we reported, two former governors, one from each party, endorsed the project. Will Healey follow suit and follow through this time? That remains to be seen. Bohl concluded her report by saying that “[Linda] Bilmes and her team at Harvard are working on a cost-benefit analysis comparing the two projects. Results will come out later this year.” She means the North-South Rail Link and the South Station Expansion Project, which are not mutually exclusive. We’ll be watching, too. Most regional rail systems in the U.S. and Canada are small, only one or two lines, and not all of them operate a full span of service. Thus, the issue of through-running does not pertain to them. Chicago’s Metra is a large system, augmented by NICTD’s South Shore Line into Indiana, but city geography and placement of the stations in Chicago are not conducive to through-running. I have also been informed that Metra, Chicagoland’s regional railroad, has not suggested such an operation. The other large system serves New York, where Metro-North, the LIRR and New Jersey Transit all send their trains. The prospect of through-running there has been debated for decades. We will begin to examine through-running for regional trains there in the next article in this series.

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