HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2558        FILED ON: 1/20/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2655

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Jerald A. Parisella

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to preserve the right of way for the North South Rail Link.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Jerald A. Parisella

6th Essex

1/20/2011

Steven A. Tolman

 

2/1/2011

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

1/31/2011

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.

34th Middlesex

1/31/2011

Alice K. Wolf

25th Middlesex

1/26/2011

Martha M. Walz

8th Suffolk

1/25/2011

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

1/31/2011

William N. Brownsberger

 

1/21/2011

Lori A. Ehrlich

8th Essex

1/21/2011

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

1/28/2011

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

1/31/2011

Geraldine M. Creedon

11th Plymouth

1/31/2011

Christine E. Canavan

10th Plymouth

2/3/2011

James B. Eldridge

 

2/2/2011

Peter V. Kocot

1st Hampshire

2/1/2011

Byron Rushing

9th Suffolk

2/3/2011

Martin J. Walsh

13th Suffolk

2/3/2011

Susan C. Fargo

 

2/3/2011

Antonio F. D. Cabral

13th Bristol

2/4/2011

Cleon H. Turner

1st Barnstable

2/4/2011

Carolyn C. Dykema

8th Middlesex

2/4/2011

Michael Dukakis

85 Perry Street Brookline, MA 02446

 

Jay McCaffrey

Sierra Club, Director 10 Milk Street, #632 Boston, MA 02108

 

Daniel Lauzon

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 7 Highland Road Rockport, MA 01966-1216

 

George J. Newman

2 Ferry Street Jamestown, RI 02835

 

Wayne Davis

Box 4869 Portland, ME 04112-4869

 

Brad Bellows

87 Howard Street Cambridge, MA 02139

 

John Businger

National Corridors Initiative, Vice President 33 St. Paul Street Brookline , MA 02446

 

Richard J. Arena

Association for Public Transportation, President 82 Nedshire Drive Middletown, NJ 07748

 

Michael Cooper

Association for Public Transportation, Co-President 51 Mather Street Dorcester, MA 02124

 

James RePass

National Corridors Initiative, President 59 Gate Street South Boston, MA 02127

 


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2558        FILED ON: 1/20/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2655

By Mr. Parisella of Beverly, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2655) of Dykema and others for legislation to preserve the right of way for the North/South rail link Joint Committee on Transportation.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 3227 OF 2009-2010.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

An Act to preserve the right of way for the North South Rail Link.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 161C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding after the last sentence the following sentence:–

Furthermore, to carry out the purposes of this section, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall preserve intact the right of way for the proposed North South Rail Link.  This right of way is extremely vulnerable to the impact of development and redevelopment around the existing rail tracks and terminals.  In addition, rail projects already in planning and construction phases will exceed the capacity of the South Station terminal. Preservation of the right of way for the North South Rail Link will assure that rail transportation can be enhanced or expanded in our region.

SECTION 2.  Chapter 161C, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after section 7 the following section:–

Section 8. This section requires the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through its executive office of transportation and construction, in consultation with the Massachusetts turnpike authority, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to perform a study to specifically identify and map the necessary right of way to allow for the construction of the proposed North South Rail Link connecting North Station to South Station.  This study must include particular reference to the Major Investment Study/Draft Environmental Impact Report (EOEA#10270), prepared under the aegis of the executive office of environmental affairs which was concluded on March 31, 2003.  A plan to preserve said right of way, once identified, shall be determined and implemented immediately.