WALPOLE, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Some Walpole residents cried of back door deals on Beacon Hill in a meeting on Tuesday night, promising to kill plans to bring full-time commuter rail service through to Gillette Stadium.
The MBTA's hope to build a commuter rail station at Gillette Stadium seemingly got derailed at the Walpole selectman's meeting.
It was standing room only, as Massachusetts Department of Transportation planning director David Mohler explained that talks with the Kraft family to bring daily commuter service through Walpole to Gillette began months ago.
"In probably about mid-January we sat down with the Kraft Group to discuss the potential of extending commuter rail service to Gillette Stadium," Mohler said.
The trouble is, town officials only found out about it a few weeks ago, after the MBTA committed to spending $23 million to buy an old freight line.
"This is sneaky, deceitful and wrong, and completely irresponsible!" selectwoman Nancy MacKenzie exclaimed during the meeting.
The proposed extension would carry passengers directly from Readville on the Franklin line to Gillette. It wouldn't stop in Walpole, but up to five commuter trains a day would pass through on the new line.
Many at the meeting did not believe the proposal would benefit Walpole.
In the end, Walpole's Beacon Hill delegation promised to stop these plans right in their tracks.
"We should have been notified at the very beginning, but we weren't," said State Rep. John Rogers. "And they knew we would fight tooth and nail to kill this project. And we will kill this project."
Tuesday night, Mass. DOT said it would take two more years before the Gillette rail stop could ever be opened. But after the community meeting, there is now doubt that might ever happen.
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