Commuter rail boost; Money for Fitchburg-Boston line in '09 U.S. budget.

COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION

A much-needed $30 million appropriation is included in President Bush's fiscal 2009 budget proposal for the commuter rail line between Fitchburg and Boston.

Work on the line won one of only 13 Small Starts grants included in funding for the Federal Transit Administration. It, along with matching funds from the state, will be used for track improvements that eventually will reduce travel time, now about 90 minutes, closer to the optimal 60 minutes and improve the current 83 percent on-time rate to 95 percent. Progress toward those goals should persuade many more commuters to join the 700 who already use the popular line daily.

Last fall, Gov. Deval L. Patrick unveiled a $150 million plan to add double tracks, new signal controls, high-level platforms and other improvements expected to boost speed from 60 mph to 80 mph. The state's share of funding for the project is in a bond bill before a joint legislative committee on Beacon Hill, where it has broad House and Senate support.

Based on information released by the FTA this week, the federal government's share could be included in a $1.6 billion nationwide transportation package that would be released over three years starting in 2009. However, an agreement on the state's share must be reached before any federal money will become available.

U.S. Rep. John W. Olver is shepherding the bill, which will come before his Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development before going to the full House and Senate. Mr. Olver earlier had secured $7.8 million in funding as part of the $75 million federal share of the project.

We urge the appropriations committees and the full Congress to OK the long-awaited funding.