SALEM — On Tuesday, the city of Salem held the first of what is expected to be many neighborhood meetings regarding the proposed South Salem Commuter Rail Stop project that would create a new train stop near Salem State University on the Newburyport/Rockport line.
The project would offer a much needed boost in public transit in a highly congested area, taking hundreds of cars off the streets and helping meet emission reduction goals, public officials say.
However, abutters and other Salem residents are raising concerns about a lack of parking for the new station, outdated ridership numbers, and not enough detail on plans for October at the height of Halloween tourism in Salem.
If created, the station would be the second train stop in Salem, which already has the busiest commuter rail station outside of Boston. Thanks to federal funding secured through Congress by U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, the city brought back AECOM, the Texas-based engineering consulting firm the city hired for a 2016 survey, to revisit the study and update plans.
With many constraints to consider, including existing track infrastructure, rock walls, regulated wetlands, new bike paths, and residential/commercial abutters, project engineers have determined the most feasible location for the stop would be between Canal Street and Jefferson Avenue.
“Since 2016, the need for alternative public transit in South Salem has become even greater, especially with the closure of Union Hospital in Lynn and the consolidation of those services to Salem Hospital,” Mayor Dominick Pangallo said.
“Salem Hospital and Salem State are the two largest private employers in our community, and both located on opposite sides of the city from our train stations. This forces employees, patients, and students to have to drive to get there. Between Salem State, Salem Hospital, and the new Amazon facility, nearly 6,000 employees are commuting to this area every day. and their only real option, to be realistic, is to take Highland Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, and Canal Street by car.”
All current design alternatives propose two 600-foot-long side platforms with pedestrian access up and over the rail to allow people to safely switch platforms when necessary. However, different alternative designs are being considered to determine how to best create such pedestrian access.
Option one would be for two elevators with a main pedestrian bridge crossing over the three tracks and down to the bike path. On the Ocean Avenue West side of the platform, there would be a sloped walkway down to the inbound platform, and then stairs and elevators down to the platform level on the bike path side.
The second alternative does away with the elevators, which would require ongoing maintenance, with less costly ramps that would in turn affect a larger piece of land.
With the new electrified rail, the MBTA is also looking to modernize and improve frequencies of trains. The first improvement planned is that the Haunted Happenings timetable for weekends in October, which is two trains an hour, will stay throughout the winter. While operational details are still to be agreed, the MBTA intends to get times down to 20 minutes from Beverly to Boston, and 40 minutes on other branches.
Abutters and other Salem residents raised concerns at the neighborhood meeting including the lack of any on-site parking (with Canal Street being the closest nearby option), the last related MBTA ridership survey being nearly 25 years old, and a lack of specific planning for mitigation in the month of October when the line will reach its maximum congestion.
The concept of adding another stop to Salem has been periodically considered for more than 30 years, being put aside for many years as the city and state focused on other priorities, such as a new MBTA garage and train station off Bridge Street. After the garage opened in 2014, the city refocused on the project with an updated feasibility study, site analysis, and other work that led to the Salem City Council and then-Mayor Kim Driscoll to sign a resolution supporting “the creation of the South Salem commuter rail station” back in February 2020.
The project is now at the 15% design level, meaning that many aspects of the project such as alternative design preferences, construction timelines, and other important details have not yet been decided.
While there is no funding on hand to advance the design process any further, the city says it is waiting on a RAISE (The Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant by the end of June to complete the much more extensive 100% design. At that point, the city will finalize its analysis of alternative design options, coordinate with community stakeholders, and be ready to submit a final conceptual design and estimate by November.
“A station at this location would give residents in the area quicker access to Boston and all the points on the Newburyport/Rockport line,” Pangallo said. “It will provide safe access over the tracks at a location where dangerous and illicit crossings are currently occurring.
“But the most tangible and positive impact for our community overall would be the ability to remove hundreds if not thousands of cars from our streets, lessening our congestion and in combination with the electrification (of the new line), help us meet our emission reduction goals.”
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202
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