MBTA Lease Boosts Peabody Rail Trail

The MassDOT Board today approved a a 99-year lease with the City of Peabody for a 2.7 mile segment of the former Newburyport Branch line. The City plans to build a multi-use trail along the unused rail corridor.

The lease agreement transfers maintenance of the property to Peabody, which will also dispose of the existing rail and ties.  The MBTA reserves the right to reclaim the corridor should it be needed for a future transportation use.

The T has entered into 26 similar agreements with local cities and towns, resulting in nearly 100 miles of trails.  The agreements enhance local environmental and recreational benefits while preserving rights of way for the Commonwealth’s future transportation needs.

Comments

[Denise Prince]

Peabody needs this rail, it is an important part of this rail system. My opinion is this should be prepared immediatly for use. I have read the "T-Projects" on the website and i was mostly interested in the "Peabody-Danvers via Salem Commuter Rail. If this was to go to the North Shore Mall, It would be heavily used due to increasing gas prices. Your trains would be full, this was formerly used by B&M. This rail line will increase ridership for the MBTA and will gain money gradually thorugh time. I have been to the North Shore Mall myself and the mall is packed with people every single day, no matter what. If you were to proceed with this, i would think you would be making a good choice. These tracks have been unused for years, such as the "Greenbush" line before it was overhauled. I was not so sure about the "Danversport" option because it was so close to Beverly Depot. I was told by my Mother and Father that those were in service when they were kids and that they used to walk those bridges from time to time. I have looked at the terms for this project and it was prepared to be marked as Mid-Term which was 11-20 years as of 2001. I think that this should be put to Short term, 0-19 years, as well as putting bi-level cars on these lines, due to strong ridership. Bridges will be rebuilt such as the one that burnt down over Porter River in 1985, and a bridge that's right behind MASS GENERAL NORTH SHORE. This will provide trimendous service through out the Peabody Danvers Line. The North Station lines are growing fast and are reaching high demands for new projects, in the long term i think that this wll pay off, the line will not be shut down for a long time. This needs to be done immediatly due to the recession. If you do this people will reward you by riding the MBTA. Please take my points into consideration

Thanks,

Denise

[RalfLippold]

Excellent, that is how to get money back from unused tracks and property. Prepare for the future and enable new business models outside own world.

http://thehighline.org in New York is a cool example what this can lead to.

We have started something similar -use of unused railway property (not yet own or lease of it- here in Dresden, http://afb-media.de/lokschuppen/ (more on http://mindbroker.de/wiki/LockSchuppen).

What is your advice to bring such a project in railway property forward, especially getting the owner interested?

Thanks so much and looking forward to come to Boston again next summer.

Cheers, Ralf