NEW BEDFORD — Imagine being able to hop on the train at a station down the street and get to work, a ball game, a concert in Boston in half the time it takes to drive that grueling commute from SouthCoast.

It's something you probably imagine every time you sit in suffocating traffic on the bottle-necked highways that take you to the city that is the pulse of the Commonwealth. It's South Coast Rail and it's been promised for decades and decades with nothing but hopes, imaginations, and plans to show.

The need is clear beyond the better commute to Boston for SouthCoast residents. The white-hot Boston real estate market has not trickled down to gateway cities like New Bedford whose real estate markets continue to struggle.

What would happen to real estate markets in New Bedford and Fall River if a rail system made commuting to Boston for work more feasible? What would happen if businesses looking for new homes saw a rail that linked SouthCoast to Boston?

It's easy to imagine the successes of "rail." But it has become increasingly difficult to find out what is going on with the project now. It's been more than 20 years since Gov. William Weld told us we could sue him if we didn't get rail.

State Rep. Bill Straus of Mattapoisett and Rep. Christopher Markey of Dartmouth believe we should now be "seriously considering" a tie-in with the existing Middleboro rails. State Sen. Mark Montigny said "over his dead body" would he jump on board with that idea at this time and that he needs serious convincing.

The MBTA Financial Control Board introduced the Middleboro tie-in as a potential alternative at a meeting in late June.

But there are loads of unanswered questions about the specifics about the alternative to the increasingly costly — about $3.4 billion — original South Coast Rail project that is planned to travel through Stoughton.

When The Standard-Times asked the Mass. Department of Transportation for answers in the form of a 10-question email Q&A with South Coast Rail project Director Jean Fox this week, the paper was handed a statement and a link to last week's already-reported MBTA financial presentation.

Fox was not "approved" to participate in the Q&A by a MassDoT public relations official.

Officials have assured residents in recent weeks that both the Stoughton and Middleboro options will receive public scrutiny in the form of public hearings. The public will get its chance in the coming months to demand answers and ask questions, but for now, the future of South Coast Rail, its feasibility and its most realistic route is unclear.