Dear readers,
Fast, affordable rail service is the gold standard of transportation. You avoid the lines and radiation of airport check-ins, traffic isn’t a factor as it is with buses, rail is robust through many kinds of weather events and, of course, you don’t have to drive. The Valley hasn’t had a fast, affordable option in rail in decades, but that hasn’t stopped advocates like the founders of Trains in the Valley from pushing the issue forward.
And this year is bringing the most promising pilot program yet.
For years, the Vermonter train went through Amherst, connecting the region to Vermont, New York City and beyond. At least one conductor made good use of this literary stopover — I remember once riding the train and hearing over the loudspeaker: “Famous Amherst poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, ‘Because I could not stop for death he kindly stopped for me’… we will be stopping in Amherst shortly.” But what was good for the ride’s announcements was more mixed for Valley passengers. The train bypassed many of the area’s population centers.
Since then, stations in Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke have opened up, replacing the Amherst route. And later this year, for the first time, more than one train each way will grace the tracks. Travelers will have an option to take trains that can get them to New York City and back in the same day.
It’s a big step, and as Sarah Buttenweiser’s cover story this week makes clear, folks like Ben Heckscher of Trains in the Valley are to be heartily thanked. At the same time, rail service in this region has a long way to go in terms of affordability, and it is essential that the state take a hard look at east-west rail to Boston. As is done in Connecticut and Vermont, Massachusetts should be offering a state subsidy for the route.
In the meantime, the majority of the rail travel in my family will likely continue to be around the circuit at Look Park in Florence.
Happy riding!
— Dave Eisenstadter