More detail on upcoming improvements from BostonGlobe.com 4/4/16:
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff April 04, 2016
Relief could finally be on the way for Back Bay Station commuters weary of exhaust spewing from the diesel-powered trains that travel through the station every day.
The state Department of Transportation is expected to start work on a $10 million ventilation project early next year, according to DOT spokeswoman Jacquelyn Goddard. Boston Properties, which plans a massive redevelopment at the station and the parking garage next door and more than $30 million in improvements to the station’s concourse level, will share the cost of the ventilation project equally with the MBTA, Goddard said.
The nearly 1.3 million-square-foot redevelopment would include two residential towers on the Clarendon Street side of the block and a 26-story office tower and new retail spaces on the Dartmouth Street side. Boston Properties, owner of the garage and nearby John Hancock Tower, filed plans for the redevelopment project with the Boston Redevelopment Authority last week.
Work on the ventilation project, meanwhile, is expected to start in early 2017. Goddard said in an email that the project is currently being designed with two priorities: creating an air curtain system to prevent exhaust from migrating from the track level to the concourse, and improving the ventilation infrastructure at the track level. She said it’s likely the project will be put out to bid in the late summer or early fall.
Commuters have complained for years about air pollution from the trains in the station. Goddard said periodic testing of the air in the station show exhaust levels are within acceptable parameters, and that the ventilation project is being “undertaken for the comfort of those who frequent Back Bay Station.”
Conservation Law Foundation vice president Rafael Mares, who specializes in transportation issues, said he’s concerned about the health of train riders — not just their comfort. He said one problem is that there are no legal standards for indoor air quality for commuters.
“Back Bay is really the only station in the [commuter rail] system in an enclosed area like that,” Mares said. “The relevant questions that the MBTA should ask are ... what is the specific air flow in the station and how do we make sure that the passengers at the concourse level and on the platform, and [the people] in the new buildings that are constructed are safe? The ideal way of dealing with an air quality issue like that is to have a ventilation system that disperses the air and ejects it from the station.”
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff April 04, 2016
Relief could finally be on the way for Back Bay Station commuters weary of exhaust spewing from the diesel-powered trains that travel through the station every day.
The state Department of Transportation is expected to start work on a $10 million ventilation project early next year, according to DOT spokeswoman Jacquelyn Goddard. Boston Properties, which plans a massive redevelopment at the station and the parking garage next door and more than $30 million in improvements to the station’s concourse level, will share the cost of the ventilation project equally with the MBTA, Goddard said.
The nearly 1.3 million-square-foot redevelopment would include two residential towers on the Clarendon Street side of the block and a 26-story office tower and new retail spaces on the Dartmouth Street side. Boston Properties, owner of the garage and nearby John Hancock Tower, filed plans for the redevelopment project with the Boston Redevelopment Authority last week.
Work on the ventilation project, meanwhile, is expected to start in early 2017. Goddard said in an email that the project is currently being designed with two priorities: creating an air curtain system to prevent exhaust from migrating from the track level to the concourse, and improving the ventilation infrastructure at the track level. She said it’s likely the project will be put out to bid in the late summer or early fall.
Commuters have complained for years about air pollution from the trains in the station. Goddard said periodic testing of the air in the station show exhaust levels are within acceptable parameters, and that the ventilation project is being “undertaken for the comfort of those who frequent Back Bay Station.”
Conservation Law Foundation vice president Rafael Mares, who specializes in transportation issues, said he’s concerned about the health of train riders — not just their comfort. He said one problem is that there are no legal standards for indoor air quality for commuters.
“Back Bay is really the only station in the [commuter rail] system in an enclosed area like that,” Mares said. “The relevant questions that the MBTA should ask are ... what is the specific air flow in the station and how do we make sure that the passengers at the concourse level and on the platform, and [the people] in the new buildings that are constructed are safe? The ideal way of dealing with an air quality issue like that is to have a ventilation system that disperses the air and ejects it from the station.”
