The lunch meeting at Eastern Connecticut State University was organized by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, with Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts also attending.
The Associated Press reports that Raimondo used the meeting to request that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Boston-area transit agency, increase the number of express commuter trains between Boston and Providence, R.I. Baker noted that Amtrak has to be involved in any such expansion, as it would with any increase in service on CTrail Hartford Line between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass.
“The thing to remember about everything that involves Amtrak lines [is that] appropriately, Amtrak gets first dibs,” Baker said. “So if one of your objectives here is to create additional service or nonstop service, you’ve got to figure out a way to factor that into the rest of the Amtrak schedule.”
The governors also discussed seeking help from Amtrak in adding equipment that would be needed for additional service.
