Friday morning rail news:
Mass Coastal shut down as sinkhole swallows 300 feet of track
Mass Coastal Railroad service to Cape Cod has been interrupted after some 300 feet of rail line was swallowed up by a sinkhole last week. The Cape Cod Times reports the sinkhole was reported on Oct. 27, allowing the railroad to stop a train about 5 miles before it reached the sinkhole. “It could have been really bad,” Chris Podgurski, the railroad’s president and chief operating officer, told the newspaper. “… It is in a location that if [the train] had come along and not seen it in time, it could have been a catastrophe.” Emergency repairs are under way bo the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and are expected to be completed by Nov. 20 or 21. In the meantime, Mass Coastal’s shops are cut off from the rest of the railroad. The route is used by the seasonal CapeFlyer passenger train as well as Mass Coastal freight traffic.
Boston city council asks MBTA to delay planning on service cuts
Boston’s city council is asking the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to hold off on planning for service cuts, voting unanimously for a resolution requesting a delay in decision-making “until there is greater clarity regarding federal resources available in 2021.” Boston.com reports that council member Michelle Wu, the lead sponsor of the resolution, said the discussion should wait until the makeup of the new federal government is known. “This is an issue that will require federal conversations,” Wu said, “and we should not act in a short-sighted way.” In preliminary planning, the Fiscal and Management Control Board, which oversees the MBTA, has identified ferry and commuter rail service as the most likely target for cuts [see “Digest: U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear case over Brightline bonds,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 6, 2020]. The agency has said it will announce proposed service changes on Nov. 9, and is soliciting feedback online and has announced meetings on the plan.
Miami-Dade commission, in final meeting, will vote on Brightline fee for commuter service
Miami-Dade County commissioners will vote Monday on a proposed $12 million annual track access fee that would be part of the effort to launch commuter rail service on Brightline’s route between downtown Miami and Aventura, Fla. The Miami Herald reports the non-binding resolution, in the final meeting by the commission before a new mayor and five elected commissioners take office, would set the terms for a deal that the new administration would have to approve. The $12 million a year, plus a one-time upfront payment of $50 million, would represent a significant savings over the $29 million access fee that was part of the original $350 million proposal reported in May [see “Brightline negotiating to operate Miami-Aventura commuter service,” News Wire Digest, May 27, 2020].
