State representatives from the Upper and Mid Cape say it’s time for the MBTA to get moving on Cape Cod commuter rail.
Outside the transit station in Hyannis yesterday, Rep. Dylan Fernandes of Falmouth and Rep. Kipp Diggs of Barnstable gathered with supporters to announce that they were filing a bill to require the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to open commuter rail service from South Station to Buzzards Bay within a year of the bill’s passage.
Fernandes said the line to Buzzards Bay has the upgrades necessary to open any time.
“Because the tracks are already graded, because the platform’s already ready, the costs are minimal,” he said.
For now, the train would end on the mainland side of the bridges, as tracks on the Cape are not capable of carrying trains that move at 69 mph, the speed of commuter rail.
Tom Cahir, administrator of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, spoke at yesterday’s bill announcement outside the RTA facility. He said extending commuter rail over the bridges would require upgrades to the tracks.
“The existing rail infrastructure on the Cape is Class 2 freight,” he said. “It's for freight — slower speed trains — and therefore commuter rail, coming down here at 69 miles an hour like it does elsewhere in the commonwealth, is not feasible right now.”
But the bill (HD.4555) doesn’t stop at Buzzards Bay. If signed into law, it would require the MBTA to conduct a feasibility study of extending year-round, daily service as far as Falmouth and Yarmouth.
Fernandes said the Cape needs more than the seasonal Cape Flyer train from Boston. Commuter rail would open up job opportunities for Cape residents in more fields, he said.
“I see it as a way to make our community a more year-round place to live, in terms of unlocking different economic opportunities for people down here, who, like me, grew up here, love it here,” he said.
Diggs said a daily Cape train makes sense.
“We can … have more business, more opportunities to be able to go back and forth to Boston or, you know, to Bourne,” he said. “Instead of having to drive, you can take the train to Bourne.”
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, working with the Cape Cod Commission, published a study of Cape commuter rail in 2021.
