GREENFIELD – Backers of Northern Tier passenger rail service along the Route 2 corridor called Monday for state transportation authorities to put years of planning into action.
“Northern Tier passenger rail will help meet the critical needs of central and western Massachusetts while advancing the well-being and goals of the entire Commonwealth,” backers said Monday in a letter to Monica Tibbits-Nutt, secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
They released the letter with events in two cities they hope to serve: North Adams and Greenfield.
Northern Tier passenger rail can be a “catalyst” for a wide swatch of Massachusetts, the letter said, one “needed for our underlooked and underserved region.”
Backers said such service would help attract young people, families and entrepreneurs to the area, expand economic opportunity and help address the state’s need for housing.
It would also reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, the letter said.
The letter was signed by more than 100 stakeholders in support of the restart of Northern Tier Passenger Rail, including 40 municipalities from Berkshire to Middlesex counties.
But the state’s Compass Rail plan focuses on adding service north and south and west and east through Springfield, with Springfield being at the center of the compass.
And this summer, a state-sponsored study of Northern Tier Rail said the benefits may not justify the expected cost.
In a recent interview with The Republican, Tibbits-Nutt said the Healey administration is taking the Northern Tier rail project seriously – and said it would have a significant benefit to residents along the route.
“When you talk about impact, I think Northern Tier would be huge for those communities,” Tibbits-Nutt said. “We didn’t do the study just to do it. … This is another major commitment as far as western passenger rail.”
Logistically, expanding and reviving rail service across the northern part of the state would be easier than ongoing efforts to link Pittsfield to Boston, through Springfield, she said.
“Northern Tier may have fewer conflict points than west-east rail, which has a lot of track not owned by us. Northern Tier is one that is easier because we don’t have as many entities that would have to agree on something.”
She said her department has been going through 500 public comments received on the proposal.
“I’ve received the most comment letters about that one,” Tibbits-Nutt said. “This one’s kind of a big one for us and our rail and transit division. They have been wanting to figure this out for a long time.”
Rail backer U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said the Springfield-centered projects do not conflict with plans on the Northern Tier.
“We’ve had these discussions. I think that they are pretty consistent with each other,” Neal said at an event Monday in Ludlow. “The governor is on board with us. Northern Tier is in the mix for sure,” he said.
Passenger trains stopped running on the line, and through the historic Hoosac Tunnel in Berkshire County, in 1958.
In 1954, it took only 2 hours and 15 minutes to ride a train from Greenfield to North Station in Boston and 3 hours and 10 minutes to travel from North Adams to North Station.
