The news this week that the state has given the "green light" to the Greenbush commuter rail line to the South Shore was met with gasps by some residents to our south.

Some of our suburban neighbors are aghast that the MBTA now plans to resume construction of the 17-mile Greenbush commuter rail line through Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset and Scituate.

Meanwhile in Dorchester, little in the way of opposition to the expansion has been heard, despite the fact that all the commuter trains pass though our community. Dot neighbors voiced alarm a decade ago, when the commuter rail plans were first made public. Chief concern then was the diesel exhaust from the vehicles, but opponents here conceded that the rail tracks that bisect Dorchester are a major transportation corridor.

The State House News Service reports that opponents have not given up hope that the project will be killed and are disappointed in the decision to move forward.

"We will continue to fight," said Scituate resident Dottie Leach. "We will not give up. This is going to have a terrible impact on the people who live by the tracks. We're going to have serious injuries."

Leach said pollution, increased traffic in particular locations, and the close proximity of houses to the rail line will "lead to bigger problems for abutters than the MBTA realizes." Hundreds of school buses will cross the tracks every day, businesses will need to relocate, and emissions from the trains will be harmful to those who live along the line, she said.

"This is a terrible tragedy for the town and for the South Shore," Leach said. Ron Zoolek, president and CEO of the 2,300-member business-backed South Shore Chamber of Commerce, said the Greenbush battle has been waged for 18 years. The project has overcome numerous environmental, court and financial challenges, he said.

"I didn't expect a different result but I feared one," Zoolek said Monday afternoon. "I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm happy about the result. However, I would be the first to point out I will really be happy when I'm riding on the first train. We've been here before."

The train represents a new option to address the South Shore's "clogged arteries," he said. "It's a great place to live and play but you just can't afford to get there from here," said Zoolek. "We have something that's needed for the people that live here and have to travel into the city and spots along the way."

It is understandable that people whose homes abut the proposed new tracks in Scituate, Hingham and other towns would have some anxiety about living next to the new commuter trains. Yet in Dorchester, folks realize that it is many of those same suburban residents who add to congestion here when they drive their cars through our neighborhood, and taking those cars off our roads can be helpful.

The old expression"not in my back yard" applies to the commuter rail opponents.They should realize that their trains and automobiles routinely travel through Dorchester's front yard, and people here have learned to live with it.

Our advice to our suburban friends? Get over it. And remember to wave to us as you pass through.

- Ed Forry