Beacon Park Yard
Rail deal: Worcester Line could go to North Station; Harvard to get vast new amounts of land to do nothing with
By adamg - 6/16/10 - 8:11 amThe Globe updates us on the deal between the state and CSX to move freight operations from Allston to Worcester and for the state to take over the tracks between here and there.
Among the interesting tidbits: State officials say the deal could mean Worcester service from North Station. And Harvard, which techically owns the land under the Allston yards, will be able to develop the land - or just let it sit there until surrounding neighbors get old and die.
CSX, state agree to move freight cars out of Allston, improve Worcester Line service
By adamg - 9/23/09 - 9:03 amLt. Gov. Tim Murray announced this morning the state and the giant railroad have resolved the last stumbling block to a massive deal that will, among other things, clear out the Allston freight yards and give the MBTA complete control over the train line to Worcester.
Under the agreement, the state will buy the Worcester Line, potentially leading to reduced delays now caused by CSX dispatch rules - as well as a freight line from Beacon Park Yard in Allston through Cambridge to East Boston from CSX, and a freight line to Fall River and New Bedford.
The Beacon Park Yard move, expected to be completed in 2012, will clear the way for the addition of commuter-rail service to Allston/Brighton, possible help enable the long-fabled Urban Ring project and give Harvard, which already owns the yard, more cleared land that it can then let sit fallow.
