A combination of public and private financing will pay for the $25-million West Station at an old freight yard in Allston, creating train links to Worcester, North and South stations and possibly Kendall Square in Cambridge, state officials announced Tuesday.
The station will supplement a $260-million plan to demolish toll ramps and straighten the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston, freeing up some 50 to 60 acres of land by the Charles River for development.
Harvard University, which owns the land, is funding about a third of the $25-million project, another third will come from the state, and officials are "pretty close" to a commitment for the third leg of the $25 million in funding, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said.
The construction schedule calls for work to begin after Gov. Deval Patrick and his team leave office, with both projects expected to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2020.
As rain drizzled down Tuesday afternoon, Patrick announced plans for the new station from the door of a commuter rail car parked at the former CSX yard, known as Beacon Park Yard, which is now a sweeping expanse of 22 acres scattered with gravel and criss-crossed with old tracks.
"The straightening out of the Pike is about simplifying the commute. It’s about finally resolving one of the worst off-ramps in America, which we will do," Patrick said.
Davey acknowledged that seeing the project through will be the responsibility of the next governor, who will take office in January.
"The next governor is going to need to sign onto a lot of things," said Davey, who called the project a "no-brainer."
"We’re going to have complete streets here," said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, overlooking the expanse. "We’re going to have bicyclists; we’re going to have walkers; we’re going to have pedestrians; we’re going to have cars – all to be able to co-exist on roadways that we’re able to make safe."
Diesel-multiple-units, which Davey said are "subway-like trains running on commuter rail," could carry passengers from West Station over what are now seldom-used tracks into Kendall Square. Patrick said the trains could potentially go further.
"There is a potential to go on from Kendall Square all the way to Assembly Square, using the DMUs. It’s a great opportunity," Patrick said.
The project will also create a pedestrian link between neighborhoods long separated by the train and then the Turnpike.
"It’s a huge day. It’s about fixing 50-year-old and 100-year-old mistakes," said Fred Salvucci, the transportation secretary under the Dukakis administration whose grandmother’s house in Brighton was razed to make way for the highway.
Tim Murray, the former lieutenant governor whom Patrick credited with negotiating the rights-of-ways that have allowed new rail projects to move forward, told the News Service the new station would create more "opportunities" for commuting to and from Worcester.
CSX moved its facility to Worcester, where Murray is president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. He said the facility has been a draw for warehouses to locate nearby. He said it is "one of the most efficient yards in the country."
Davey said tracks around West Station would also be used as a layover facility. According to a press release, the state’s decision to implement all-electronic tolling on the Turnpike and other toll roads made the plans possible.
Permitting for the transportation infrastructure will begin with an environmental notification form in November, followed by a procurement process in 2016.
