Walpole Residents and Officials Promise to Fight Commuter Rail Station at Gillette Stadium

Some residents and elected officials in Walpole promised to do whatever they can do to stop the MBTA from setting up a permanent commuter rail stop at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough during a Walpole Selectmen meeting Tuesday night.

A standing room only crowd was at Walpole Town Hall as Massachusetts Department of Transportation planning director David Mohler explained the proposal to members of the Walpole community.

Like the Foxborough Selectmen, the Walpole Selectmen and their state delegation were left in the dark on the proposal to buy $23 million in freight lines from CSX until a few weeks ago. According to Mohler, talks with the Kraft Group about daily commuter rail service to the stadium began in January.

“This is sneaky, deceitful and wrong, and completely irresponsible!” selectwoman Nancy MacKenzie said according to WFXT.

Many in attendance did not believe the plan was beneficial to Walpole with State Rep. John Rogers vowing to stop trains from coming through Walpole.

“We should have been notified at the very beginning, but we weren’t,” said Rogers. “And they knew we would fight tooth and nail to kill this project. And we will kill this project.”

The proposal from the MBTA calls for five round trips from Foxborough to South Station. There would be two trains in the morning, one near midday, and two more in the evening. Trains from Gillette Stadium would go through Walpole before continuing on to Boston on the Readville line. The train would not stop between Foxborough and Readville.

According to MassDot, daily trains at Gillette Stadium are still at least two years away.