MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING STATE FREIGHT AND RAIL PLAN CENTRAL REGION MEETING NOTES

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1 MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING STATE FREIGHT AND RAIL PLAN CENTRAL REGION MEETING NOTES LOCATION OF MEETING: DATE/TIME OF MEETING: Union Station Worcester, MA April 1, 2010, 1 p.m. MEETING ATTENDANCE: Public attendees who signed in: Robert Bentley, Mass Central Railroad Dorthea Simmons Jessica Strumkin, 495/ Metrowest Partnership John Reed George Bell, East Brookfield & Spencer Railroad Walter Bonin P. Scott Conti, Providence & Worcester Railroad Jo Hart Kristin Wood, Office of Congressman Olver Joe Rutkierwicz George LaConte, A&A Antique Ron Petro, UPS Dave Rutkowski, Providence & Worcester Railroad Paul Tullo, UPS D. McKeehan, No. Central MA Development Corp. Bruce Card Paula Brouillette, Selectman, Town of Douglas Tim Burros George Kerxhalli, GHBA Grafton Hill Bus Assoc Jeff Howland Marilyn Wellons, Boston MPO Freight Advisory Committee Mary E. Lynch Colin Pease, Housatonic Railroad Company John Reed Steve Cotrone, Intransit Container Corporation Dawn Clark, CCMPO Advisory Committee Brook Blodget, CCMPO Advisory Committee Christopher Bruce, Amalgamated Transit Union Frank DiMasi, Boston MPO Freight Advisory Committee George Russell, Northern Middlesex Council of Governments Richard Rydant, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Sujatha Mohanakrishnan, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Sen Shalini, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Mary Ellen Blunt, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Bill Moisuk, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Larry Adams, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Mary Ellen Blunt, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Jonathan Church, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission MassDOT Staff: Ned Codd, Office of Transportation Planning, Study Project Manager Paul Nelson, Office of Transportation Planning Jamey Tesler Consultant Team: Ronald O Blenis, HDR, Project Manager Jill Barrett, Fitzgerald & Halliday 1

2 HANDOUTS: Summary of highlights of the draft Massachusetts State Freight and Rail Plan PURPOSE/SUBJECT: This was one of four regional public stakeholder meetings that were held in March and April 2010 to provide information on the Massachusetts Freight and Rail Plans that were developed and to receive input from stakeholders about key recommendations and findings. BACKGROUND: The MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the Commonwealth s freight and rail transportation systems, their operations, and effects on economic development and quality of life. The evaluation concluded with the publication of two separate documents - a State Freight Plan that is multi-modal (includes air, rail, truck and maritime transport) and intermodal (transportation by more than one mode, e.g. truck and rail) in its scope, analysis, and recommendations. The second is a comprehensive State Rail Plan that includes a detailed analysis of all rail infrastructure and operations, both freight and passenger. The study began in the spring of 2008 and will conclude in the spring of Welcome and Introductions Ned Codd, MassDOT project manager of the Mass Freight & Rail Plan welcomed attendees. He said the purpose of the meeting was to present draft findings, hear what the public had to say and incorporate public comments into the final plan. Ned noted there were really two closely related plans that were developed a multimodal freight plan (includes air, rail, truck and maritime transport) and a rail plan that included both freight and passenger rail. The state needs to have a State Rail Plan in place to utilize federal funding. The Mass Freight & Rail Plan examined the condition of infrastructure, trends, policies, issues, and opportunities for improvement. The cost/benefits of five investment scenarios were assessed and recommendations were made in the area of land use policies, the regulatory environment and funding and financing. Ned Codd said cost/benefits had to be considered in relation to other state policies such as reducing emissions and smart growth. He also said future freight planning should not exclusively rely on highway expansion as the highway system is a very expensive system to maintain. Mr. Ronald O Blenis, Project Manager for the HDR consultant team, made a presentation that covered the topics of freight movement and trends, truck freight, maritime ports, airports, freight rail and passenger rail, cost/benefit analysis, study findings and recommendations. The scenarios developed show total cost. The costs shown were developed without regard of who would provide funding. It is anticipated that investments will be made by both the public and private sectors and some projects would be funded under a public-private partnership. He noted a copy of each regional presentation would be posted on the study website: Summary of Public Comment and Questions [Please note questions or comments made by members of the public are in italics. Responses to the questions were made by Ron O Blenis and Ned Codd unless otherwise noted. ] Was the east-west freight traffic you describe basically domestic? The data used for the analysis did not separate domestic from international freight volumes. 2

3 One of problems we have with double stack railcars now is that CSX routes traffic through Syracuse to avoid Selkirk Yard. With double stack, will they be able to come directly up from New Jersey? The planned bridge clearance projects along the CSX rail line in Western and Central Massachusetts will allow CSX to bring maximum height double-stack rail cars to Worcester and Westborough. The slides about passenger rail are misleading because there are no north or south trains; trains only go east except for one train a day that travels west. How many bridges would need to be fixed for the northern tier improvements? For the Northern Tier there are a total of 42 bridges that require improvements to meet maximum height double stack clearances: 6 from Worcester to Ayer, 25 Mechanicville to Ayer, and 11 Ayer to New Hampshire. There is some thought that shippers from the NY/NJ area would be interested in short sea shipping to New Bedford/Fall River to help bypass the highway congestion in the area around New York City. Did you consider this? The improvements included in the Southeast Mass. scenario, such as the New Bedford harbor dredging and the reconstruction of the Route 6 bridge would clear the way for larger vessels to serve the port. The benefit-cost ratio for this scenario is below 1.0 which means that the freight benefits do not justify the investment. The study team will take a second look at this scenario to ensure that the results take into account all the appropriate costs and benefits. Has anybody thought about working with New York State to get trains across the river by designing freight capacity into the new Tappan Zee Bridge? Some of the plans for the Tappan Zee Bridge include a rail connection for the commuter rail system. To see any freight benefit from these new tracks, significant work would be necessary to connect these tracks to the existing freight rail lines that feed into Massachusetts. Freight would still have to go to Albany for those rail connections. So there is potential for such a connection, but it would be fairly long-term and of limited value. Shouldn t you be talking to them now because it won t happen otherwise? Massachusetts will continue to coordinate its freight and passenger rail planning closely with surrounding states. What are your recommendations for the Grand Junction railroad spur which runs through Boston and Cambridge? The freight and rail plan does not make recommendations on that spur specifically. As a statewide freight plan, the focus has been on the large lines but the assumption is that the short lines will continue to provide movement of trains. The Grand Junction freight connection will remain in place and provide freight use. At UPS we know that outbound freight is less. As you want to make trains bigger with heavier loads, what does this mean for timeliness of rail deliveries? That is an operations question that the railroads will have to answer. We have focused on constraints in the system that will support improvements in operations. 3

4 Going to Syracuse [with freight] adds eight hours, if we could have double stack delivery it would be more efficient. It is expected that improvements to CSX mainline in Massachusetts will facilitate improvements to CSX system routes that connect to Massachusetts. The work you ve done is excellent. I am intrigued by the recommendations to improve the northern tier. Right now there is heavy truck traffic on I-495 and Route 128 but the improvements to the tracks seem to be stopped north of Worcester. Is there a way to bypass I- 495? Yes. There are opportunities to divert to rail products coming from Maine headed to points west and south through Ayer. You have done a good job of cataloging the system, but I would have liked more emphasis on the Berkshires. One role of the plan may be to describe the cost of maintaining highways and who pays for it. The Plan attempts to take a larger view. It seeks to answer the big questions such as: Where is freight trying to move? What are the system constraints? How can we improve the freight system? There is recognition in the plan of environmental and infrastructure impacts of the state s heavy reliance on trucking. It has characterized public benefits of the freight system rather than just looking at benefits to the carriers/shippers. We believe this plan can inform and start a dialogue and may have an impact on making policy changes. When you did an aggregation of cost/benefits, I understand you assumed the cost of diesel at around $3/gallon. Why do you not have an alternative scenario for increased cost of fuel? In the economic models fuel costs for all modes were escalated based on projections of fuel cost trends. However, we plan to do a sensitivity analysis to understand the impacts of higher fuel costs. Do you have any estimate or a goal for the amount of tons you would want delivered by rail rather than by truck? Shouldn t you be aiming towards a number? We recognized the dominance of truck and, with the projected future increases in freight, it becomes imperative to move more freight to other modes. Even if we make the shift, the percentage carried by truck will still be extremely high. The increase in travel mode share will increase without a shift in the current freight movement trends. It s going in the right direction, but I m not sure it will have a big impact. What kind of consideration is there in the plan for commuter rail in the Commonwealth? The Commonwealth has undergone extensive expansion of the commuter rail system in the last ten years. Old Colony, Newburyport, and Worcester extensions and the proposed CSX transaction will result in a dramatic increase in Worcester to Framingham segment of the line. Would you clarify the base year of the mode share used in your analysis? The base year for the analysis is

5 The trend shows the years in your slides. Is this still accurate given declining economic conditions? Yes, the economic downturn may decrease the overall freight growth slightly be we do not expect the mode shares to change dramatically because of the type of freight that is carried. Using the word corridor shows prejudice as corridors usually refer to highways; you should be talking about freight networks. No one is considering pollution. We should be looking at freight networks beyond our borders. There is a New England vision that recognizes what you are talking about. In recent years there has been an increase in multi-state focus on improving the freight and passenger rail network. The scenario analyses address pollution by quantifying the changes in emissions. If you are to achieve the goals of this plan you must work in cooperation with planning boards. Moving people is equally important to moving freight. We need to move people better. When will there be more trains coming to Worcester? [Jamey Tesler, MassDOT] Given current development of planning for the CSX expansion in Worcester, more trains should be up and running by Are the areas you identified for land development public land? No, the sites identified are a combination of public and private land. We simply identified where large parcels exist just to get an idea where there are opportunities for distribution & manufacturing. We used the MassEcon database; MassEcon is a quasi-public entity that helps private businesses find development sites. You haven t touched on Massport s intention to take over Worcester Airport. We ll have more information when the ongoing study of Worcester Access Study is complete. It is a very good thing to include in this plan a focus on preserving land for industrial expansion. A lot of regional railroads don t have dollars to invest in this area. We ve seen large, good sites in Worcester lost to other uses. It doesn t do any good to increase capacity on rail lines if there isn t land available for distribution facilities. The plan is very forward looking. Can you tell me how the number of employees correlates to the size of industrial facilities? There is no correlation. Some are more automated than others. I would like to congratulate Ned Codd and the planning team. We haven t had a freight plan since The public/private partnerships described such as the IRAP would be good, especially for the short lines. There is precedent in MA for public funds being spent for economic development. Do we need to get our message to the legislature? We also have precedent for land preservation areas but right now local zoning regulates land use. We really don t have a strong representative for freight at the table at MassDOT. Will there be a group to support multimodal freight? MassDOT plans to take several steps to better include freight in the planning and project identification process. The MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning will have a Freight 5

6 Planning Coordinator who will work closely with the MPOs and other established interest groups to prioritize projects that affect freight flows in the state. We haven t had plan. It is well timed, provides knowledge and a foundation to build on and will spur conversation. We recognize how powerful double stack rail can be. The information in this plan will be very helpful for planning. We can advocate in our local plans and MPO reports (TIPs and RTPs). 6