SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — U.S. and Massachusetts officials have reached agreement on a plan to develop the long-discussed East-West Rail project, which will extend existing rail service west from Worcester to Springfield and Pittsfield, Mass.
State House News Service reports Gov. Charlie Baker and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) announced the plan for the state legislature to create a new rail authority to capitalize on federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed last year.
“There’s an agreement on a path forward here,” Baker said. Creating the state authority, he said, “will then make it possible for us to leverage a lot of the available federal money … I think we’ve got a real opportunity.” Neal said the agreement hinged on including the authority in a pending state infrastructure bill and creating a dedicated funding stream for the project.
MassLive.com reports the project received a boost when Amtrak access to Springfield was included in the conditions for CSX to buy Pan Am Railways [see “Regulators approve CSX Transportation’s acquisition …,” Trains News Wire, April 14, 2022].
Many aspects of the agreement remain to be worked out, including a budget and a timeline for when service might begin. A 2021 report estimated costs for three alternatives for the project ranging from $2.4 billion to $4.6 billion, and suggested ridership would not be enough to qualify for federal funding [see “Digest: Report offers final alternatives …,” News Wire, Jan. 5, 2021].
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