Acton To Not Miss The Train

“I don’t care if the station is purple or neon,” said Acton resident, Clare Siska, speaking at Monday nights Selectmen meeting. “What I care about is that we do not lose everything that we fought for the last year. We cannot afford to not have double tracking. There are communities beyond Acton that are relying on this.”

The Board of Selectmen, the Historic District Commission, the South Acton Train Station Advisory Committee and a nearly packed crowd of residents met at the Town Hall in the Faulkner room Monday night to discuss the progress of the South Acton Train Station redesign project.

According to a recent memo from Sen. Jamie Eldridge, of Acton, there is a great risk that the Massachusetts Transportation Authority (MBTA) could cancel the South Acton Train Station project because of the town's inability to agree on the station's design.

According to the MBTA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Fitchburg Commuter Rail design package must be completed and submitted to Congress by March. According to Sen. Eldridge, the MBTA and the FTA will not provide any additional money for the recommended changes made by the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHC).

Click here to read a list of letters written by concerned citizens and commuters about the South Acton Train Station project moving forward.

“I really do think we can work toward finding some mutual changes that can be made that they (MBTA) think they can do within their budget and that we think are acceptable,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman, Lauren Rosenzweig Morton. “I am a strong believer that we are better off in good faith sitting down and coming up with something that really looks nice and has beautiful landscaping and is an asset to Acton.” 

Monday night, the Board of Selectmen voted to have the HDC send a design team to meet with the architects of the MBTA and have them come to an agreement and bring back some sketches for the HDC to vote on.

“I know that nobody trusts the T, but I think they are very motivated to have this project move forward and we are very motivated to have this project move forward and I really do think that if they have a meeting of the minds that they will be honest about what they can free-up for changes and what they cant,” said Morton.