MBTA monopole session postponed

Tonight’s scheduled presentation to the Planning Board about a plan to build three monopoles along the commuter-rail right of way in Lincoln has been postponed after federal officials recommended reclassifying the proposal as a multi-use WiFi project.

At the request of Lincoln officials, MBTA representatives had planned to attend tonight’s Planning Board meeting to answer questions about the agency’s proposal to put three poles, each about 70 feet high, along the train tracks in Lincoln. The poles here and elsewhere on the MBTA commuter rail system will carry telecommunications equipment allowing the MBTA to comply with a federal mandate for emergency train-stopping technology, also known as Positive Train Control. The poles could also hold third-party equipment to improve WiFi access on the trains.

Because the pole sites are within the MBTA’s right of way and not located in wetlands areas, the agency is not required to obtain approval from town land use boards.

“When compliance paperwork was initially filed with the FCC, a number of the monopoles were to be used for Positive Train Control, while a majority were to be used for commuter rail WiFi multipurpose guidelines,” MBTA Deputy Press Secretary Jason Johnson said on Tuesday. “In reviewing the findings, the FCC determined that not all of the monopoles were dedicated to PTC use and recommended to us that the filing would have to be reclassified as a multi-use WiFi project.”

The classification change “gives the MBTA the flexibility to utilize the infrastructure for future projects, reducing the need to build potentially redundant structures along the rights of way, saving future projects time and money,” Johnson added.