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MassDOT Hosts Public Hearing Tonight On East-West Rail Report

A CTrail passenger train leaves Springfield's Union Station.
Paul Tuthill
/
WAMC

        After two years of study, MassDOT is out with a draft report on what it would take to connect western and eastern Massachusetts by passenger rail.

        Building a Pittsfield to Boston passenger rail line would cost $2.4 billion to $4.6 billion, depending on which options are included.

             Ridership estimates for the rail service fall well below what would be needed to qualify the project for federal funding.

         Democratic State Senator Eric Lesser of Longmeadow, a longtime proponent of east-west rail said he’s not discouraged.

        "It's a big breakthrough to have this report issued, but we still have a long way to go," said Lesser.

              MassDOT is holding a public hearing on the report via Zoom starting at 6 tonight.  People who want to comment in writing can do so until Nov. 19th.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.