The Olympic dream is finally dead: MBTA buys Widett Circle for a train yard

The MBTA announced this morning it's completed its $255-million purchase of the 24-acre Widett Circle to store and maintain trains on South Station routes - both current and planned future routes to Fall River, New Bedford and Pittsfield.

Widett Circle, which few had ever heard of before our failed Olympic bidsters proposed making it the center of the 2024 Games that Will Never Be, is a mile south of South Station, near an existing Amtrak yard. The T says the area is critical to expanding capacity at South Station and reducing traffic on the Fairmount Line, on which trains needing storage between rush hours or maintenance have to be driven nine miles to a rail yard in Readville.

Trains that come in during the morning rush will be stored at Widett Circle for the evening rush, the T says, adding Widett Circle will also get facilities to do the sort of maintenance now down at a facility in Readville. The T adds that by having a nearby storage yard, it can reduce the amount of time empty trains need to sit at South Station - critical to increasing capacity there since the state has so far failed to convince the Postal Service to vacate its giant facility next door so that it can be torn down to make way for more tracks.

Currently, the MBTA’s yard in the Readville neighborhood of Boston is the layover facility closest to downtown Boston, located nine miles away from South Station. As a result, trains that are not in passenger service must travel back and forth along the Fairmount Line creating a burden on resources including train crews, additional costs associated with the use of fuel, as well as the potential for creating congestion along the line. A central location for a layover yard will allow trains to begin and end service from each corridor more efficiently. By adding a layover yard that is only one mile from South Station, the MBTA will be able to reduce its “deadhead” miles by more than 50,000 miles per year, reducing operating costs by shortening trips to and from the layover yard and increasing capacity for trains in passenger service.

The T bought the parcel from a concern controlled by CrossHarbor Capital Partners, which, after the demise of the Olympic bid, bought the food-distribution facilities that make up the circle for a potential large mixed-use development. The tenants long ago moved out to other locations.