It will be the first increase in service since 1988, when trains from Providence to Boston were restored.

11:12 AM EST on Monday, February 13, 2006

BY BRUCE LANDIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- By late 2008, South County commuters could have a tempting choice: fight their way up Routes 4 and 95 to the state's capital, or take a train at Wickford Junction, in North Kingstown, paying about $4 for a roundtrip to Providence and perhaps $16 for a roundtrip to Boston.

Or they could take the same train to T.F. Green Airport and catch a plane anywhere.

State Department of Transportation officials say they expect construction to begin on the transportation center planned for Warwick this spring, and on the North Kingstown station next spring, with service to both starting in 2008.

It looks like clear sailing at last for both projects. "There're really no major holdups on either of these projects," DOT Director James R. Capaldi said.

The rail service will come as an extension of the existing Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service from Boston to Providence southward. It will be the first increase in commuter rail service to Rhode Island since 1988, when service from Providence to Boston was restored after a seven-year break.

It will also advance the state's strategic transportation goal by providing for more people traveling farther without building more highways.

"Route 95's not going to get any better," said Stephen Devine, the DOT's chief of intermodal planning and the manager of the rail projects.

Both new railroad stations will have parking garages.

The Warwick "multimodal" facility will be by far the more complex, with car-rental facilities in the five-story structure along siding to give the commuter trains a place to stop that is off the main rail line from New York City to Boston.

With a total estimated cost of $225 million, together the rail projects will be one of the biggest transportation projects in the state -- less costly than the $550-million relocation of Route 195 in Providence, but more expensive than the $80-million replacement of the eastbound side of the Washington Bridge, also in Providence, or the $118-million planned replacement of the Sakonnet River Bridge. Like them, it will be paid for mostly with federal money.

In the longer term, the DOT is thinking about extending commuter service as far as Westerly, and eventually linking it with the Connecticut DOT's Shore Line East commuter service, which now connects New London with New Haven. There are also proposals for opening stations in Pawtucket, Cranston and East Greenwich.

Some elements of the current plan remain incomplete, but Capaldi said the agency and its partner, the state Airport Corporation, have either reached or are close to some critical milestones.

* The Federal Transit Administration last month approved an environmental and archaeological assessment for the Wickford Junction station.

* The DOT is close to an agreement on the fee for using Amtrak's tracks for commuter service south of Providence. Negotiations are working toward an annual fee between $1.5 and $3 million per year.

* The state has ordered five double-decker passenger cars, like the MBTA's cars, at a cost of

$2 million each, from Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., which has its U.S. headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y.

* An agreement is also near with car-rental companies at the airport, who would collect a fee from their customers to help maintain the Warwick facility.

* The DOT owns the land for the Warwick station, and with its private partner, Robert Cioe, owns the land for the Wickford Junction station.

* Governor Carcieri's budget, announced Wednesday, includes $7 million to go on the ballot in a referendum in November to pay the state "match" for some of the federal money for the project.

However, Devine said the biggest hurdle was passage of last year's federal transportation bill, which contained various funds for the project totaling $120 million.

To pay for the service, Devine said, the state will contribute federal grants it gets for capital expenses, such as rolling stock and construction. That lets it avoid paying operating costs, such as fuel and salaries, with state money.

The DOT is currently planning for eight roundtrips to both stations per day on weekdays, with no service on weekends. The schedule isn't fixed, but Devine said the trips would be concentrated during morning and afternoon commuting time, probably with a train a day around midday and another in the evening.

The DOT's studies indicate that by 2020, about 1,000 riders would take the train from Wickford each day, and a few hundred more from Warwick, Devine said.

Consultants estimate that about 80 percent of the Wickford riders would get off at Providence, with the rest continuing to Boston. By contrast, about 80 percent of the Warwick riders would probably continue to Boston, he said.

The Wickford Junction station is intended to offer commuters in rapidly growing South County an alternative to the increasingly congested Routes 4 and 95 to the north.

If 1,000 riders who otherwise would have driven take the train from Wickford Junction and return each day, traffic would be reduced by 2,000 cars per day.

That's less than 4 percent of the more 54,000 vehicles DOT traffic counts show traveling on Route 4 north of the station location daily. But most train riders would be commuters, reducing traffic just when it is at its worst.

"If you eliminate 1,000 vehicles at a peak time, you will notice it," DOT traffic engineer Joseph A. Bucci said.

With traffic constantly growing, Capaldi said, the state must do something, and the railroad is an attractive, existing option that he thinks can compete economically with the cost of driving to Providence, and paying to park there.

The DOT hopes the Warwick facility will become a hub for car, rail and air travel, for example, with passengers arriving by train to take a plane out of state or abroad.

Both projects have had setbacks caused by everything from bureaucracy to terrorism.

"The biggest jolt" to the Warwick project, Capaldi said, was the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, which briefly shut down the air transportation system and traumatized the travel industry. That uncertainty worried the car-rental companies whose agreement was essential to help finance the Warwick facility.

In 2002, the state legislature wouldn't approve state borrowing because the car-rental companies didn't want to pay for the "people-mover" that was originally part of the project.

Since then, the people-mover from the transportation center to the airport has been replaced by a moving sidewalk, and officials say they're close to an agreement with nine car-rental companies.

The DOT, meanwhile, had predicted that construction of the Wickford Junction station would start this spring, but delays on the environmental approval helped delay that for about a year.

blndis@projo.com / (401) 277-7487