Fall Review’s Herald News has reported that at least one developer is betting the newly launched South Coast Rail line, also known as the Fall-River-New Bedford Commuter Rail, will be a big economic plus for the region. But I was sort of surprised to read this BBJ story from last month in which Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan says he hasn’t seen a big rush of planned development yet. I kind of assumed a transit-oriented development scramble was already long under way. Maybe developers have been cynically waiting to see, like most everyone else, whether the long-delayed rail service would actually become reality. Even by Massachusetts standards, three decades is a long time to wait for completion of a major infrastructure project. Not even the Big Dig took so long. 

Still, I think economists and others, as the Globe reports, are right to believe that, in the long-term, the rail-line is going to be a major economic plus for the region, leading to new housing, retail shops and corporate relocations etc. It’s just going to take longer than thought — or at least longer than I originally thought.

And one other thing: No wi-fi on the new trains? Really? C’mon.