All options are still on the table as far as Southcoast Rail goes. After attending Monday's MassDOT Fiscal and Management Control Board meeting, New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce President Rick Kidder says the state isn't leaning too much one way or the other in favor of one particular route.

Kidder says on paper, the Middleboro proposal is the obvious choice, but studies are only preliminary. "The proposal, as put forth, was simply a relatively vague 'This is going to cost a lot less than the $3.34 billion that it would cost us to do the Stoughton route.' But we don't know what that 'a lot less' is," said Kidder.

Kidder says Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollock has assured him the state will continue to study the Middleboro route as well as the Stoughton route. The possibility of dedicated buses instead of rail service was also discussed at Monday's meeting.

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