South Coast Route

More interesting than the uninspiring NIMBYISM of the 2 Middleboro Selectmen, Patrick Rogers and Steven Spataro, is the following fact based justification for the rail route --

Study: Stoughton rail route would draw most new riders

FALL RIVER —
A study of the proposed South Coast transit line to Boston released this week shows that a route through Stoughton, criticized by some groups for its potential environmental impact, would attract the most new riders.
South Coast Rail, the state project planning the transit line, gathered census information, other data and studies to find where people live and work and how they travel. It concluded that an electric-powered commuter train on the Stoughton route would attract 6,300 riders a day, almost half of whom would be people who otherwise would have driven to Boston.
The Stoughton line would extend through Easton, Raynham, Taunton and Berkley, where it would split into two lines ending in Fall River and New Bedford.
Such a trip would take 73 minutes from Fall River to South Station in Boston, a shorter commute than expected if the rail line went through the existing Attleboro or Middleboro lines.
A trip from Fall River through the Middleboro line would take an estimated 87 minutes. An express bus trip, another option under consideration, would take about 62 minutes.
Trip time was a main factor in figuring how many commuters would ride, said Christina Egan, the South Cost transit manager. The study also considered how many cars each option would take off highways.
Electric trains on the Stoughton route, for example, would remove an estimated 241,900 miles driven by cars each day. Electric-powered trains are faster than diesel, attracting more potential riders, Egan said.