Next year's World Cup is putting pressure on the T to upgrade its Foxboro regional rail station on an unusually fast timeline.
The MBTA is seeking permits to build a new fully-accessible, level-boarding train platform at Foxboro, and it's hoping to finish construction in time for the first World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium, just 12 and a half months from now.
In addition to satisfying modern accessibility requirements, high-level platforms considerably reduce the amount of time it takes for passengers to board and disembark from trains, by eliminating the need to climb steps between the train and the platform.
The proposed project would also install a second, temporary high-level platform on scaffolding, similar to the temporary platform in Lynn, on the eastern side of the station's two tracks.
The additional platform would allow the T to board or unload two trains at a time on World Cup match days. The T plans to remove the second platform after the World Cup ends.
The clock is ticking
As MBTA construction projects go, this one is on an unusually tight timeline: the T is aiming to complete construction in time for the first World Cup match on June 13, 2026.
By way of comparison, other MBTA construction projects to build high-level platforms at regional rail stations have taken several years. The renovation of the Natick Center station, for instance, has been under construction for over 5 years now.
"We are, I don't want to say 'maniacally,' but we have been working very hard trying to come up with a solution that would be as simple as possible to construct and minimal in nature, both because of the sensitive resources nearby, but also from a time perspective," said Tess Paganelli, an environmental permitting official for the MBTA, at a Foxborough Conservation Commission meeting earlier this week.
Officials from the T and several consultants from VHB appeared before the Commission to seek local environmental approvals for the project, which is located next to the headwaters of the Neponset River and thus subject to local wetland regulations.
Paganelli said that the T had originally planned to fast-track the project by building two temporary high-level platforms for the World Cup, which would have both been removed after the event to return the station to its existing condition.
But she said that federal rules prohibited the T from improving station accessibility, then subsequently removing those improvements.
T anticipates thousands of riders on game days
Massachusetts is hosting six World Cup matches next year, and officials expect a significant proportion of each game's 65,000 spectators will use the T to get to Foxboro.
"The stadium has been designed such that predominantly it is accessed by cars," said Brittany Gesner, an engineer for VHB. "With this international fanbase, we do expect a much higher attendance by public transportation."
A slide from Gesner's presentation said that the T typically carries about 7 percent of the audience to a sold-out Gillette Stadium event – roughly 4,500 attendees – in two 10-car trains.
Typically, one of those trains runs from and to Boston, with stops at Back Bay and Dedham, and the other train runs from and to Providence, with stops in Pawtucket, Attleboro, and Mansfield.
You can learn more about the project by watching the MBTA's presentation to the Foxborough Conservation Commission:
