Cape & Islands News

Could travel by train be returning to Cape Cod?

Kennedy of Cape Rail envisions commuters, visitors leaving their cars behind and riding the rails

   Cape Cod Central Railroad train stops at MBTA's Middleboro/Lakeville station on its way back to Cape Cod. Photo courtesy of Cape Rail, Inc.

By Gerald Rogovin

Commuter trains from Boston to Cape Cod? It has been 50 years since regular passenger service between the two points ended in 1959.

It could resume within the next few years.

John F. Kennedy believes it could happen by 2014. He is chief executive officer of  Cape Rail, Inc., and he's trying to bring it about.

A return to riding the rails?

"We're at the inception of a return to passenger rail traffic," he said. "I've no doubt it's going to happen nationwide, now that Warren Buffett has purchased two major railroads, and combined them.

"Buffett's investment is based on his awareness that the U.S. manufacturing and agricultural industries need improved shipping to grow. He's been right so often before, I'm certain he's right this time.

"We can do a lot better, carrying many more people more comfortably without sitting in traffic on both sides of the Sagamore Bridge." - John F. Kennedy

"Cape Cod is a microcosm of the U.S. in this instance," Kennedy insisted. "When the pass-
enger trains disappeared in the '50s, we got Route 3s and Route 128s. Bumper-to-bumper
road traffic in southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape. We can do a lot better, carrying
many more people more comfortably without sitting in traffic on both sides of the Sagamore Bridge," Kennedy observed.

A veteran of 30 years in the freight-moving industry, Kennedy was a co-founder of the Cape Cod Central Railroad in 1999. Now a subsidiary of Cape Rail, it operates the dinner and scenic excursion trains out of Hyannis to the Cape Cod Canal.

From freight to fine dining

The dinner train has won the praise of gourmet diners for the excellent cuisine prepared in its state-of-the-art kitchen. "That's not bad for preparing meals in a rolling, sometimes bouncy atmosphere," Kennedy remarked.

A second subsidiary, Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, hauls freight between Braintree, Attleboro and Falmouth. Those trains connect with others moving from Boston to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Kennedy's  firm agreed in November to buy operating rights to 33 miles of track from Taunton to New Bedford and Fall River. When the deal is expected to be completed next May, Cape Rail will be able to increase its rail cars substantially from the present 2,000 total. The purchase was made from CSX Transportation, a Jacksonville, FL company. The state helped to underwrite the purchase.

Cape Cod Central Railroad's "Sandy Neck" passenger train stands at MBTA Middleboro/Lakeville station, having arrived from Hyannis. Photo courtesy of Cape Rail, Inc.

A three-way affair

The deal is a three-way affair. Massachusetts Coastal will own a permanent freight ease-
ment it bought from CSX Transportation. The state bought the real estate, which it will own.
The freight rail rights will belong to Massachusetts Coastal in perpetuity.

"Our good relationship with the Commonwealth is very important. Not only to us," Kennedy pointed out. "But also in terms of the future with respect to resuming commuter trains. We have a good partnering relationship."

Battling bridge woes

A proposal that Cape Rail is putting together at the request of the Canal Area Regional Task Force - it was established in response to the traffic tie-ups caused last summer and fall by repairs to the Sagamore Bridge to find some solutions when work resumes next spring - will probably call for operating several passenger trains at morning and evening peak hours between the MBTA's Middleboro/Lakeville station and Sandwich while repairs continue.

The service is expected to be a forerunner of future passenger service. The MBTA has long considered extending service to the southeast part of the state, and major construction at Middleboro/Lakeville is contemplated to handle the anticipated traffic.

Kennedy said that his firm "will accomodate construction of those lines for high-speed passenger service, allowing higher speeds." But, he said, the MBTA is the designated operator of "true commuter rail service in our state." Cape Rail is primarily a freight-hauling business, he noted.

Not just for commuters

But he anticipates a future schedule of Cape Rail trains moving passengers onto Cape Cod from Middleboro/Lakeville and back in the middle of the day for non-commuting purposes, including shopping, visiting, medical appointments, among others.

Kennedy envisions scheduling Friday evening trains to Hyannis and Sunday evening trains back to Middleboro/Lakeville.

"Think of it. Five trains a day from Sandwich to Middleboro, maybe two from Hyannis - travelers getting to the Cape without their automobiles in the middle of the summer!" Kennedy declared.

"Think also of what this could mean to the Cape's economy. A shopping mall in Sandwich on Route 6A, I think it's called Merchant's Square," Kennedy said. "It and other businesses in the area would likely experience a great deal more patronage from passengers stopping a block away as an example," he added.

The Cape Rail proposal is among others solicited by the task force to mitigate traffic problems on both the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges in conjunction with an Environmental  Impact Statement being prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Smaller cars, less need for parking

Kennedy said that Cape Rail has determined that self-propelled "Budd" cars that use their own small diesel motors for locomotion will be used. Their capacities of 80-90 passengers
are smaller than the bi-level coaches originally considered. Those would seat 300 on a two-car train. But the smaller capacity trains eliminate the need to locate and build more parking.

"The lower demand for parking while still removing hundreds of cars from highways and
bridges essentially creates that ghost Capers allude to, the third bridge," Kennedy said.

"Well,we have a third bridge; the Cape Cod Canal railroad bridge. It's been in place since 1935, and was completely rehabbed seven years ago, he said.

Gerald Rogovin began as a journalist in 1948 in dailies, weeklies, radio and magazines; and in the past 9 years back to weeklies and magazines. In between, for 36 years, he headed his own public relations firm in Boston. He lives in Yarmouth Port with a skepticism confirmed by 60 years in the inky trade.