Stoughton Route Could Be Too Risky For South Coast Rail Riders

Despite a delay at the end of 2023, South Coast Rail is still on track to deliver rail service between Boston and southeastern Massachusetts some time in 2024. New Bedford, Fall River, and Taunton are the only major cities within 50 miles of Boston that do not currently have commuter rail service to the capital city.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation says, "South Coast Rail will reconnect this region to jobs and generate economic development."

After years of failing to win the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers' "preferred route" through Stoughton, state transportation officials decided to run South Coast Rail along "a secondary line west from the existing Middleborough/Lakeville Line, and create the New Bedford and Fall River lines."

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The hope is to someday commit to a "full build" that would "extend the Stoughton Line south to connect more communities to the New Bedford and Fall River lines."

There is widespread opposition to the build-out from communities along the Stoughton route. Much opposition is to the new rail line crossing the environmentally sensitive Hockomock Swamp, which touches parts of Easton, Bridgewater, Norton, Raynham, Taunton and West Bridgewater.

For other reasons, crossing the swamp might not be a good idea. It's part of the Bridgewater Triangle, a largely forested swath of land well-known in paranormal circles for its reports of the strange and unusual. Ghosts, winged dinosaurs, Pukwudgies and more have been reported in the triangle over the years.

Muscato says the Wampanoag word Hockomock means "place where spirits dwell."

Perhaps we should forget about the build-out phase and stick with Middleborough. After all, who wants to take a chance of messing with a pterodactyl on their way home from a long day working in the big city?