COMPASS RAIL: Pittsfield / Springfield / Boston East-West Passenger Rail

Its Boston-Springfield-New Haven through service. https://www.mass.gov/news/massdot-amtra ... -worcester

Expanded Boston-ALB service is only a line on a map at the moment. MassDOT and NYSDOT have said little about this option as of now.

I can't see PIttsfield unless they can fund Berkshire service.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/17/ ... esnt-move/

There’s momentum at last for East-West Rail, but Postal Service still stands in the way

After years of being stuck on the siding, East-West Rail sure seems like it’s on the right track now.

Just look at what’s happened lately. MassDOT is seeking $108 million from the feds for rail improvements between Springfield and Worcester. Governor Maura Healey set aside $8.5 million in her first proposed state budget for track upgrades in Pittsfield and $4 million for a station study and design in Palmer. A new commission reconvenes on Tuesday to hash out the best governing structure for passenger rail operations in Western Massachusetts. Amtrak and CSX are finally all aboard. And Senate President Karen Spilka was just out touring Palmer, where she pledged that it’s a matter of “when, not if” improved train service between Pittsfield and Boston gets done.

But there’s one big obstacle no one seems to be talking about: the US Postal Service’s sprawling mail-sorting complex along the Fort Point Channel. State officials can do all the track and station work they want out west. With the massive USPS facility blocking a South Station expansion in Boston, East-West Rail could be going nowhere.
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Why is the postal annex so vital to East/West Rail? Most Worcester trains use tracks 1 and 2 at South Station. I don't see/recall a lot of other traffic on those tracks, especially 1.

The MBTA claims that South Station is at or over capacity, that they basically cannot add any more trains. At some point (when? 50s? 60s?) the two railroads sold the eastern 1/3? of the South Station tracks and ?sheds? to the Post Office Department, which moved their main processing facility from Post Office Square to Fort Point Channel / Dorchester Avenue. Most of the passenger layover yards went away in the 1960s? The old South Station track charts showed 28 tracks iirc, but a lot of those were short tracks.

According to Streetsblog, MassDOT applied for $108 million in federal CRISI grants to upgrade the tracks between Worcester and Springfield to enable 2 more daily roundtrips between Worcester and Springfield. This includes adding 23 miles of passing sidings, and upgrading the tracks from Class 3 (60mph) to Class 4 (79mph).

type 7 3704 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 24, 2023 11:05 pm According to Streetsblog, MassDOT applied for $108 million in federal CRISI grants to upgrade the tracks between Worcester and Springfield to enable 2 more daily roundtrips between Worcester and Springfield. This includes adding 23 miles of passing sidings, and upgrading the tracks from Class 3 (60mph) to Class 4 (79mph).

This was announced almost eight months ago.

https://www.mass.gov/news/massdot-amtra ... -worcester

MassDOT, Amtrak, and CSX are all parties in the application.

Do we know if they got it? It's something of a no-brainer for all kinds of cross-country and regional connectivity.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/09/u ... rvice.html

Just announced today - they got the grant this will be moving forward.

$135M, or 2.something million/mile is a bargain compared to some T projects! But this is only phase 1 - only gets them two additional Amtrak round trips with limited stops and slight speed improvements. Recall governator Baker, in one of the few times he seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the T, saying by having everything ready to apply as soon as the money would became available about January, MA would have a leg up.

If I recall correctly there were some 25mph sections. Any improvement to that would be more than a slight improvement! As would 2 extra frequencies. Think about it. Except for a single LD the Massachusetts capitol has no service from its largest city. Now contrast that with New York. Even better if the times are right and they make them through regionals.

well, it's not like they don't have train service which they do and is rarely used by Springfielders. and then there is all the bus options which are cheaper than the train and just about as fast. and for folks with their own cars there is the Pike and rte 20.

Beyond all that is there any real demand for expanded train service between Boston and Springfield? Who in their right mind in Boston really wants to go to Springfield? What do you do when you get there?

I'm sure that there are lots of folks in Springfield who want to go to Boston. But do they really want to go there by train? With 100 MPH express service, that might fly. But that's not what is in the offing, and I would have to say that the current combinations of travel options, which in fact includes train service, appears to meet or exceeds the needs jof the Hub trekkers just fine.