The Department of Transportation now expects its study on a rail link connecting Boston to the Springfield and Pittsfield areas to be completed in the spring, later than its initial plan, as staff work through environmental impacts and costs of possible strategies.
In April, a MassDOT spokesperson said the study would be completed by winter, but by July that target had changed to spring 2020. The department is exploring six alternatives for an expanded rail network, but will narrow the list down to three as it drafts recommendations.
No cost estimates are available yet for the project. MassDOT presented an advisory committee with initial sketches of what potential routes could look like in July — all using Worcester as the hub from which MBTA commuter rail would extend westward — and what some of the key challenges could be.
Sen. Eric Lesser, a member of the East-West Passenger Rail Study Advisory Committee, told the News Service he’s been “assured repeatedly” by Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack the study will be done by the spring. Any delay beyond that, he said, “is certainly not going to be tolerated.”
“All eyes are going to be on this wind-up period in early 2020 as the study approaches completion,” said Lesser, D-Longmeadow, pointing to the extension’s benefits for housing access, economic growth and greenhouse gas reduction.
“The idea of an 80-minute ride from Springfield to Boston would completely transform the state.”
A lack of transportation between the largest Massachusetts cities “is shortsighted and impeding economic development across the state,” Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, wrote recently on Facebook.
Reacting to a Boston Globe article published Monday about a man who traveled from Cambridge to Northampton all on public transit — a seven-hour trip that required four buses and two trains — Sabadosa wrote on Facebook, “This story shows some real dedication to public transit, but also highlights the lack of fast connections across this state. Very few people can spend 7 hours on 2 trains and four buses to travel 100 miles.”
The MassDOT study’s latest timeline means the study will be released after planned House debate early this year on a bill intended to increase transportation revenues.
Also in 2020, a feasibility study is set to start looking at the possibility of commuter rail running across the state roughly along Route 2, said state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton. The Senate mandated the study last summer, she said, and a section of the 2020 budget directs MassDOT to conduct a feasibility study.
The line would connect North Adams and Boston, making stops along the way near Route 2. Compared to the proposed rail connecting Boston, Springfield and Pittsfield, “It’s a different east-west — it’s just a northern tier,” Comerford explained.
A similar rail line used to run until the 1960s, Comerford said, and she’s heard from many constituents who support the idea of starting it up again.
With multiple new rail lines being studied, she said, “I think it’s important that we don’t think of this as a zero-sum, meaning we can’t have all of them. We should consider that all these rail projects are important for different reasons … People worry that we shouldn’t rock the boat too much out here lest we don’t get any of these projects, but we already have them up and going.”
Over the summer, the Valley Flyer pilot program began providing north-south passenger rail service, connecting Greenfield, Northampton, Springfield and New Haven. “The Valley Flyer is critical, an absolutely critical win,” she said. “We’ve heard lots of positive feedback from constituents and some concerns.”
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.