By Pete Stidman
Special to the Reporter

Two completely renovated Fairmount Line commuter rail stations at Morton Street and Uphams Corner will host ribbon-cuttings early next year and design on a new station is already underway for Four Corners. But before the vision put forth by advocates as the "Indigo Line" comes to be, there are many more milestones to pass.

Now that Deval Patrick has won the State House, some say there is a possibility that the markers will slip by at faster pace. A goal of Patrick's "Moving Massachusetts Forward" policy paper, distributed during the campaign, is investing in subway and rail expansion. He also mentioned the Fairmount Line improvements at public speaking events as an example of good transportation, according to advocates, but hasn't said exactly when or how better service might be accomplished.

"Obviously I'm not sure," said Spencer DeShields of Mattapan Community Development Corporation, one of a coalition of local CDCs that has pressed for new station stops. "But I'm ever hopeful that he's going to be supportive and get some of that money released and get some of these things approved,"

The Fairmont/Indigo Line Coalition (FILC), which includes Mattapan CDC, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. and Dorchester Bay EDC, neighborhood associations and non-profits like the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), has asked for a total of five stations, more frequency of service and even special Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains. But the T has approved only four new stations, and only the design of the proposed Four Corners station has been funded. On frequency and DMUs, the T won't commit.

The coalition is advocating for designing all four proposed stations at the same time, but the Romney administration has not released $42.5 million in matching funds already approved by the state legislature in the 2004 Transportation Bond Bill. The MBTA is spending $35 million for the Uphams Corner and Morton station renovations and other improvements, as well as $600,000 for the Four Corners design.

Governor-elect Patrick could change all this on his first day in office by releasing the state funds and the MBTA expenditures could serve to match them. Such a move would undoubtedly please Congressman Michael Capuano, who will soon be getting a taste of power as a senior member of the majority in the House.

"I'm hoping they understand the value of matching funds," he said of the new administration in a Reporter interview. "Enhancement of the Fairmount Line is my number one priority. It's the best bang for the buck of any project on the table. I've talked with [Patrick], but not in specifics. He's very busy right now."

The state's Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) has also proposed substituting the Fairmount Line for other projects originally promised as part of the Big Dig/Central Artery Tunnel project in the State Implementation Plan (SIP). The proposal doesn't change where the money comes from, and opinions are split over whether it could affect the timing of the project. Carrie Russell of the Conservation Law Foundation said it couldn't hurt.

"Being in the SIP makes it legally mandatory for the project to go forward," said Russell. "It just prioritizes it. The funding could come from the same place, the Transportation Bond Bill. That funding was not released, but it still could be. The legislature already cast its vote, it's up to the executive to release the money."

An important marker was reached Wednesday, when the Conservation Law Foundation and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts settled a lawsuit in an agreement that will guarantee a state commitment to several public transportation projects, the effort to bring additional stations and improved service to the Fairmount Line.

The settlement is the culmination of a suit that the CLF filed in 2005 charging that the Commonwealth had fallen behind on a number of projects that were promised transportation improvements to offset the impact of the Big Dig.

A new Transportation Bond Bill is also looming on the horizon, perhaps hitting the legislature sometime next year. It is there that improvements beyond the four new stations could be funded, such as greater frequency, faster trains and one of Patrick's campaign mantras: affordable fares. 

Fare restructuring

The MBTA-approved fare restructuring includes combining Zones 1a and 1b along commuter rail lines. When it goes into effect, all stops except Readville on the Fairmount line will be in Zone 1 and go up from $1.25 to $1.70 per trip. Readville, still in Zone 2, will go from $3.50 to $4.75.

 "We had hoped that the whole line would be the subway price," said Marvin Martin of the Four Corners Action Coalition. "That was one of the reasons we were able to get the support of the folks from Readville."

Patrick first voiced his opposition to the fare hike back in June. But given the T's $8 billion debt load, rising health care costs and fixed income from the state, it will be a challenge to turn it around.

Finances at the MBTA have been tight ever since the legislature altered its aid to the agency in the 1999 Transportation Bond Bill. Up until that time, the state would cover costs of state-approved T projects. After the bill passed, the T was put on a diet. Called "forward funding," the T now receives a fixed percentage of statewide sales taxes and a levy from the towns and cities it serves.

The new Transportation Bond Bill may present an opportunity for Patrick to influence significant changes to this set up. More funding from the state and perhaps the federal government will be needed to acquire new vehicles and higher frequency; elements of the full Indigo Line vision.

Frequency and DMUs

"From Readville it takes a long time to get to South Station even now," said DeShields. "As historians know, it wasn't too long ago that all these stations were open and operating. In other cities, this close to downtown there are rapid transit rail that can get you downtown in under 10 minutes." "If it doesn't come reliably every six to 10 minutes, it isn't serving the function of rapid transit," said Jeff Rosenblum. As executive director of LivableStreets, a citywide transportation advocacy group, he believes the goals of the Indigo Line are interdependent. "If you don't have enough stations, you don't have enough people. If you don't have the [frequency], then you don't get the riders, and it spirals downwards."

Rosenblum, the CLF, the FLIC and other advocates propose the use of Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains to make more frequency possible. The engines on DMUs are within each car, making for a lighter vehicle.

"The (Executive Office of Transportation) is doing a study for the Fairmount Line for using DMUs," said Russell.  "Vermont [may be testing] some, South Florida's Tri-Rail uses some and Dallas Fort-Worth is looking at them. I think it's catching on, and for the Fairmount line it makes a lot of sense. You can stop and start more quickly so the people along the line have the same quality of service, even with the additional stations." Currently, only one company makes DMUs that meet federal standards, Colorado Railcars, and transportation departments around the country are closely watching their performance.

For its part, the MBTA seems to be clinging on to the idea of using their existing equipment. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said one reason is other commuter rail trains use the Fairmount Line to access the Stoughton and Providence lines.

"The MBTA is currently doing a service study which will identify how we may be able to increase service using our existing equipment more efficiently," wrote Pesaturo in an e-mail to the Reporter.  "No timetable for implementation has been generated yet."

Which stations where?

New stations have been approved by the MBTA for Newmarket (next to the South Bay Center), Four Corners, Talbot Avenue (near Codman Square), and "Blue Hill" (between Blue Hill and Cummins Highway) close to Mattapan Square. DeShields said that the name Blue Hill is a new one, created by the T, and the stop should properly be called Cummins Highway.

According to a feasibility study commissioned by the T, Four Corners will bring in the greatest number of new riders per day, an estimated 1,400 (with all four new stations built), or 1,850 with greater frequency of service. The other three stations combined are expected to add 875, but almost double that number with extra trains on the schedule.

The study also showed lower revenue increases per rider with higher frequency of service, because many who are projected to use the service will be leaving bus service behind, not cars. In other words, the plan is estimated to generate few new customers for the MBTA.

At a Nov. 16 meeting, the MBTA presented options for locating the Four Corners station to the community. Only one was halfway acceptable to those present, according to Martin.   

"One option that they push is having staggered platforms, inbound between Washington Street and Geneva Avenue, outbound on the other side of Geneva," he said. "Inbound worked, outbound didn't. One person asked: 'Is there any way to have the outbound platform in the center of the tracks?'"

 For now, the T is chewing on that idea. More community meetings on the design will be scheduled after the holidays. A list of MBTA public meetings can be found at mbta.com/contact_us/publicmeetings.asp.

"The community is behind these efforts," said DeShields. "We've just got to get it executed and get the money so we can go forward with the plan. It's that simple."

-Patrick McGroarty contributed to this report