BOSTON — We are now less than two weeks from the first World Cup match at Foxboro’s Boston Stadium, AKA Gillette Stadium, and the issue of how to move 20-thousand soccer fans over the MBTA’s commuter rail system is still not settled.
A major issue is how to accommodate thousands of fans at South Station who will wait to board Foxboro-bound trains
At a Thursday MBTA Directors meeting, they acknowledged that they knew back in March, just before a friendly match between Brazil and France, that they needed much more room.
“With about 17-hundred people to accommodate, we found out quickly that the sidewalk was unable to accommodate the crowd, so that accelerated the conversation about the need to have an additional footprint,” the MBTA’s Rod Brooks told the Board.
The MBTA’s proposed solution is to close busy Summer Street, right in front of Boston’s South Station, for up to ten hours before each of the seven World Cup matches.
The MBTA filed for a permit for the Summer Street closure on May 15th and revised it on May 22nd, but Boston officials are opposing the idea.
DOT Interim Secretary and MBTA General Manager Phil Eng told the board that he’s sure something can be worked out.
“I’m confident that ongoing dialogue that we have with the city. We will find a resolution to how to balance the needs of our riders, the visitors. The enhanced service that we intend to ride,” MBTA General Manager Philip Eng said.
Meanwhile, in Foxboro, finishing touches are being placed on the platform that will be Foxboro Station, the destination for all those World Cup-bound commuter rail passengers.
The MBTA says it’ll hold a ribbon-cutting at Foxboro Station next Tuesday, just 11 days before the Matches begin
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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