Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis accepted the honor yesterday of having Boston’s South Station named after him, but he doesn’t expect anyone to call it anything but South Station and seemed to wonder why people even bothered to give him the honor.
South Station is the largest railroad station and bus terminal in the Greater Boston area, and its second-largest transportation center after Logan International Airport. Officially, it has been renamed “The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station.”
As it turns out, not even the maps and station signage will change to accommodate the new honor. Dukakis himself said he didn’t think anybody would stop calling it South Station, and asked how many different names people have tried to give to the Boston Garden. “It’s still the Boston Garden, isn’t it?” he said, according to the Boston Herald.
Dukakis, nevertheless, showed up for the ceremony along with Gov. Deval Patrick. He noted that no one told him they were remaining the building for him, and that he generally wasn’t a fan of having buildings named after politicians.
Dukakis, a former Democratic presidential candidate who lost to George H.W. Bush in the 1988 election, is more focused on practical changes for the station: specifically, a plan that would join North Station with South Station, and fill a gap in the Northeast rail corridor.
Dukakis believes the changes can be made for $2 billion, although some cost estimates put it as high as $8 billion. About 140 members of hte legislature at least co-signed an October 2012 letter in support of the rail link, according to the former governor.
Connecting the two stations could greatly reduce congestion, which is a big problem for the New England city.