01:00 AM EDT on Monday, September 13, 2004

Extending commuter-rail service south of Providence would be a huge plus for the state. And now, after months of wavering, such a project may actually take place.

The cornerstone would be two train stations: one in Warwick, a few hundred yards from T.F. Green Airport, to be built next year; the other in Wickford, to be built in 2007.

The airport station (costing $265 million) would be "intermodal," featuring a four-deck parking garage and a "people mover," to help travelers make the connection among trains and cars and planes. Marrying rail and air travel would give a particular advantage to T.F. Green, one of the few airports with Amtrak nearby.

The new rail line's two stations would significantly reduce commuter traffic on highways into Providence -- sufficiently, we hope, to render moot the alarming notion of adding lanes to Route 95. Road expansion simply breeds traffic expansion -- as well as the expansion of asphalt over meadow.

When the Wickford station is completed, next would be an East Greenwich station, which used to have commuter service. And then on down the line to the Amtrak stations in West Kingston and Westerly.

And after that? Well, Narragansett Bay has a whole other side where traffic is congested and a good commuter rail, back in generally more civilized times, used to reach. In as compact a state as Rhode Island, all the residents should have access to commuter-rail service. Taking the train to work would prove more efficient and cleaner than driving, and decidedly less stressful.

Commuter-rail service in and out of Providence from several directions worked decades ago, and now the need for it is even greater. The big change in Rhode Island is not population growth but sprawl. The residents have spread out, making the once rural areas exurban and creating an enormous increase in driving. Amidst such pressure, the state should be doing its utmost to allow people to travel to work and school by train (or bus, for that matter).

Governor Carcieri's budget has money for the airport station, and Senator Chafee is working on legislation for federal funding for that station's $36 million people mover.

Amtrak has recently upped the ante by requiring sidings to be built for the commuter stations, to keep the main rail line free -- a good idea. Fortunately, Warwick already has a freight line next to the main line, so only one siding would have to be built (for $50 million).

Rail-budget figures are not for the faint of heart, but they look mighty cheap when compared over time with most road projects and social programs. (As an improver of quality of life, the commuter rail is a social program.)

In sum, making the commuter rail a reality for much of the Ocean State will require considerable federal participation, the exact extent of which should be clearer when the next Congress convenes, in January. At that time, Rhode Island's representatives should push the issue hard.