In Battle Over Sudbury Rail Line, Opponents Get Warren, Markey Support

SUDBURY, MA — There's a new legal showdown on the horizon in a seven-year battle over a long strip of defunct railroad — and its future as a link in the Mass Central Rail Trail — in Sudbury and Hudson.

In recent months, a group of local residents opposed to an Eversource project that would bury electric lines under a former MBTA rail line have enlisted federal elected officials — U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Reps. Katherine Clark and Lori Trahan — to urge a federal rail agency rule on the status of the rail line. The Eversource project would create a new pathway that the state would pave to create a new section of the Mass Central Rail Trail, picking up where the trail ends in Wayland.

The project opponents, aligned under the group Protect Sudbury, want the federal Surface Transportation Board to declare the MBTA line as either abandoned or active. With a ruling in hand, members of Protect Sudbury say they could proceed with a Land Court case that would determine ownership of pieces of the rail line.

Meanwhile, Eversource has already started work on the transmission line project. On Wednesday, workers began clearing vegetation and preparing to remove rail ties in Sudbury.

The project is moving ahead because Protect Subdury has previously been overruled in the state Supreme Court and in front of the state Energy Facilities Siting Board. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) in February struck another blow, saying Protect Sudbury has no legal standing to petition the STB because the group does not have an interest in operating railroads.

Since that ruling, Protect Sudbury have asked local federal elected officials to push the STB to rule on the MBTA rail line status as either "active" or "abandoned."

"Our constituents seek an official [STB] declaration on the present state of the rail line, as such guidance could determine which rights and regulations may apply regarding use of the right of way," Markey and Warren wrote in a September letter to the STB. "We ask that the Board gives the petition fair and full consideration and issues a determination in a timely manner."

Andrew Fischer, an attorney working on behalf of groups in favor of the rail trail, says Protect Sudbury has used the Eversource project as cover to stop the path from being built. Fischer has written to Markey, Warren, Trahan and Clark on behalf of the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail Coalition, East Quabbin Land Trust and the Rails to Trails Conservancy asking them to withdraw support for an STB ruling.

"I suspect if they knew that this is really about the rail trial and not about power lines, they wouldn't have taken the position they've taken," Fischer said.

Each letter sent by the members of Congress to the STB references concerns the Eversource project could unleash toxins buried under the old railway. Fischer said the project will do the opposite: while burying the power lines, Eversource will be cleaning up waste and removing old rail ties contaminated with chemicals like creosote. The utility will pay an estimated 80 percent of the $10 million cost to build the Sudbury-Hudson section of the trail, he said.

Protect Sudbury President Ray Phillips says the group is only concerned with the Eversource project. He listed a host of safety issues with the transmission line, from the release of arsenic from the ground to potential excess electromagnetic radiation.

"It's a dangerous situation and there's no need for it," he said Thursday of the transmission line.

The group filed a Land Court action over the summer on behalf of a few rail line abutters that would get a boost from an STB ruling. If the STB rules the MBTA line is abandoned, those abutters could make the case that they should get the land back. Asked why the landowners would want to take possession of an old, contaminated rail line, Phillips said they would ultimately allow the land to be used for a rail trail.

"The abutters we're speaking with are in favor of a rail trail and not in favor of a transmission line," he said.

Phillips said the group has met with aides for Markey, Warren, Trahan and Clark about the issue, which is why the elected officials agreed to send the letters.

A Trahan spokesperson said the Congresswoman is a big supporter of rail trails, and has previously secured federal money to build them in Massachusetts. The letter to the STB was just her trying to help local residents working on a federal issue.

"Our office takes our responsibility to assist constituents navigating federal agencies seriously. The letter sent to STB simply elevates the public comments of constituents to ensure they’re heard — it does not endorse any request or extend support one way or another. As always, Congresswoman Trahan’s office continues to be a resource to folks across the 3rd Congressional District in need of help with a federal agency — whether it’s the IRS, VA, STB, or others," a statement from Trahan's office said.

Neither Markey, Warren nor Clark's offices replied to a request for comment about the issue.

Seven years into the battle, Phillips said Protect Sudbury isn't going to drop the issue — even after losses, and after the town of Sudbury dropped its challenge. According to records provided to Patch, Sudbury spent close to $$1.34 million in legal fees between 2018 and 2022 fighting the transmission line. Phillips estimates Protect Sudbury has spent about $500,000.

If the STB fails to rule and the Land Court tosses the latest case, the group will put Eversource under a microscope to make sure the utility adheres to regulations governing the project. If that slows the project down, so be it, Phillips said.

"That's where our energy would be spent," Phillips said of future action. "We'll take it as far as we can to the very end."

Correction: An earlier version of this story under-estimated the amount Sudbury spent to fight the transmission line. The figure has been updated from the original $860,000 to $1.34 million.