Today’s Headlines
• Palmer Station Site Selected
• Northern Tier Rail Moves Forward
• Students Advocate for Northern Tier Passenger Rail
• Amtrak Ridership by Station NHV–SAB
• East Deerfield Intermodal Yard Project
• Westfield | Historic Depot Sold
• A New Rail Line to Bradley Airport?
• Ten years ago (December 2024)
Calendar
Mon. March 10, 2025 | Vermont Rail Plan Public Meeting
3 pm – 4:30 pm | Municipal Center, 230 Main St, Brattleboro, VT
(hybrid meeting w/online option)
Wed. May 21, 2025 | Vermont Rail Advisory Council
1 pm – 3 pm | VTrans, 2178 Airport Rd, Barre, VT
(hybrid meeting w/online option)
Thu. May 22, 2025 | Amtrak Board of Directors Meeting
12:30 pm – 2 pm | Viewable via Zoom (register here)
Palmer Station planning & design | Public Meeting #2
Spring/Summer 2025
Palmer Station Site Selected
On February 3rd the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced the selection of the South of Palmer Yard site (Site B) as the best site for the new Palmer train station.
Site B: South of Palmer Yard (1199 South Main Street)
The site, located about a half mile from downtown Palmer, was chosen as the preferred alternative of nine potential sites that were evaluated during the site selection process.
Based on the comparative evaluation of sites, MassDOT decided that the South of Palmer Yard site offered the amount of property needed to accommodate Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) needs and planned passenger train length, and, is a preferred site since it will have fewer permit requirements and is expected to be more affordable to build.
Input to the selection process was provided by a steering committee made up of seven elected or appointed officials in Palmer and a staff member from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. Public input was also collected as part of the Palmer Station Planning Public Meeting that was held on December 16, 2024.
Some in the community have been advocating for the location of the new station to be at the historic station site (Site H) — in downtown Palmer.
The project team determined that locating the new Palmer Station at the historic station site would be difficult and costly due to today’s design standards and operating requirements.
During the site evaluation process of the Palmer Station Alternatives Analysis, the historic station site was determined by MassDOT to not have adequate space to accommodate a new high-level station platform and a station track without extensive track and signal infrastructure work, bridge reconstruction and significant property takings.
Dave Blaze Rail Photography via Flickr
Some of the problems with the historic station site are visible in the image above, which shows a freight train traveling east on the CSX mainline track.
If a new high-level platform were to be constructed at the historic location a new mainline track would need to be built about 40 feet to the north (to the right in the image) of the existing mainline track. This would make room for a 10′ wide high-level platform to be built and the existing mainline track to be repurposed as a station siding track.
The center track above (the Palmer yard access track) and the track on the right (the interchange track) would also need to be shifted to the right to make room for the new mainline track.
The problem with all of this is that there is not enough room between the property lines of the rail corridor, which are roughly 100 feet apart at this location, to do all of this.
All of this work would come with a significant cost, that would make the location much more expensive than the preferred alternative (Site B).
MassDOT is now developing a conceptual design which will allow them to engage with railroad owner (CSX), the site property owner, and the proposed service operator, Amtrak, on the feasibility of constructing a future station at the South Palmer Yard site.
Further reading
Palmer Station planning & design
MassDOT
MassDOT Chooses “Site B” As Its Plan A to Locate Palmer’s Rail Stop…
Western Mass Politics & Insight | February 3, 2025
Northern Tier Rail Moves Forward
Olver Transit Center, Greenfield, MA | February 28, 2025
(list of people in the image)
MassDOT has committed to taking steps to advance the Northern Tier Passenger Rail project.
MassDOT’s commitment to move forward with the project came during a briefing hosted by Congressman Jim McGovern on February 28th at the John W. Olver Tranist Center in Greenfield.
Early steps will include the preparation of an application for federal funding from the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program. The application is expected to be submitted in the fall, provided that the FRA opens this grant program for new applications.
The meeting was attended by MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, representatives from the MassDOT Rail and Transit Division and Office of Transportation Planning; Congressman McGovern; State Senator Jo Comerford; State Representatives John Barrett Natalie Blais, Aaron Saunders; and staff from the offices of State Representative Mindy Domb, State Senator Paul Mark, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Senator Ed Markey.
Also present were Greenfield Mayor Ginny Desorgher, Athol Town Administrator Shaun Suhoski, and dozens of other local officials and stakeholders.
The Northern Tier Rail proposal’s full local service route includes stops in Boston, Cambridge, Fitchburg, Gardner, Athol, Greenfield, Shelburne Falls, and North Adams, using the existing rail corridor.
When asked by Jim Kinney, a reporter from the Springfield Republican, about the project’s prospects, Congressman McGovern acknowledged the challenges ahead. “It is going to be challenging here, with the Trump administration. I don’t know what the new administration’s priorities are for transportation,” he said.
Another hurdle will be securing cooperation from Pan Am Southern, the owner of the rail corridor west of Fitchburg. The eastern portion of the corridor, between Fitchburg and Boston, is owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
These developments are clearly positive news, even when considering the challenges ahead for this project — but any forward progress is progress nonetheless.
Further reading
“Proponents ‘all in’ on Northern Tier passenger rail amidst federal uncertainty”
By Jim Kinney | The Republican/MassLive | February 28, 2025
Northern Tier Passenger Rail
Trains In The Valley
Students Advocate for Northern Tier Passenger Rail
Students from Williams College, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Northeastern University met with Governor Maura Healey on February 12th to advocate for Northern Tier Passenger Rail.
At their meeting with the governor and MassDOT Rail and Transit Division Administrator Meredith Slesinger, the students’ discussed the benefits that enhanced connectivity with Boston could bring to the northern Berkshires and Franklin County.
In a quote provided to the Williams Record after the meeting, Governor Healey said,
“It was inspiring to meet with these talented young students who are conducting important research that will strengthen our state’s transportation system and our economy. I loved that they took the commuter rail in for our meeting.
Our administration is committed to improving transportation across our state, and that includes expanding rail service. I’m grateful for the hard work and passion of these students and we will take their findings under careful review as we continue the work to upgrade our transportation system.”Students at Williams College have been actively engaged in advocacy efforts in support for Northern Tier Passenger Rail since early 2023.
A news report, by Williams College student Arlene Flores ’28, can be found in the new link below.
Further reading
“Students meet with Governor Healey, advocate for Northern Tier Passenger Rail”
By Arleny Flores | The Williams Record | February 26, 2025
Northern Tier Passenger Rail Restoration Project
Center for Learning in Action | Williams College
Amtrak Ridership by Station NHV–SAB
Because we really like data, we decided to create a new sheet that looks at the Amtrak ridership at all of the stations along the rail corridor between New Haven CT and St. Albans VT.
Different parts of this corridor have different levels of Amtrak service, as we tried to show in the graphic on the left side of the sheet. We’ve also noted the number of trains per weekday at each station.
The data shows that ridership for Greenfield and Northampton increased by 92% and 82% respectively between FY19 and FY24. This significant increase is likely due to the additional travel options that are now available thanks to the introduction of the Valley Flyer service, near the end of FY19.
Its also interesting to see that Amtrak ridership in Northampton (with six Amtrak trains on weekdays) is now higher than the Amtrak ridership at a number of Connecticut stations, including Windsor Locks, Windsor, and Wallingford. (each with 18 Amtrak trains a day.) Of course, these CT stations also have additional Hartford Line service operated by CTrail that is not shown in these numbers.
All in all, the data in the report shows strong growth in intercity Amtrak ridership along this corridor.
Further reading
Passenger Rail / Data
Trains In The Valley
East Deerfield Intermodal Yard Project
via YouTube (click on the image to view the video)
MassDOT has track work planned for the East Deerfield rail yard in 2025.
The bulk of the project work consists of rehabilitating four existing Receiving Tracks (marked in blue in the image), and the construction of four new tracks at the north end of the intermodal track area. (roughly between the green lines in the image.)
The East Deerfield Yard is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and is operated, inspected and maintained by the Pan Am Southern.
The expanded use of East Deerfield Yard for rail/truck intermodal transport is expected to result in greater operating efficiency and sustainability throughout the region by reducing regional truck traffic.
The project is expected to commence shortly and be substantially complete in December 2025.
Further information
East Deerfield Yard Intermodal Project
Trains In The Valley
Westfield | Historic Depot Sold
The historic building at 16 North Elm Street in Westfield, which was once the train depot for the city of Westfield, has been purchased by Tandem Bagel Co.
The building, which was last used as a train station in 1955, has been host to various companies over the years — including an insurance agency, a regional office for AAA, and most recently the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce.
Interestingly, this is not the first former rail station in the region to host Tandem Bagel. The former train station in Easthampton has been a Tandem Bagel location since 2013.
There was a news report in October 2024 that said the City of Westfield was looking to have a station on the West-East rail corridor, but according to the recent story only Palmer has been identified as a new station stop line, as of now.
Further reading
“Tandem Bagel to roll into Westfield’s historic rail station”
By Jim Kinney | The Republican/MassLive | February 3, 2025
A New Rail Line to Bradley Airport?
A one-seat ride to Bradley Airport? Not anytime soon, but maybe some day.
Casey Moran, an advocate living in Hartford, is pitching the idea of a one seat train ride — directly to Bradley Airport. The only problem is that the existing rail Amtrak-owned corridor is miles from the airport.
Casey’s idea is to establish a line to Bradley using the existing state-owned rail corridor which runs from Hartford to Torrington CT. From there a new line would need to be extended to the airport along a new right of way.
From the airport the line would connect back to the Hartford Line by either following CT Route 20 along a new right of way or by following the existing freight rail corridor between Bradley and a point just north of the new Windsor Locks station.
Conceptually it makes all the sense in the world for Bradley Airport to have a passenger station on the Hartford Line. The problem is that hundreds of millions of dollars have been (and are being) spent to improve the infrastructure along the existing Hartford Line alignment.
If and when this might happen isn’t clear at the moment since this concept, as far as we are aware, is not part of any regional or state planning document in Connecticut. Might it happen in the future? Never say never.
Further reading
“Proposed rail link to Bradley International Airport gains traction with new bill”
By Andrew Larson | Hartford Business Journal
Ten years ago (December 2024)
Ten years ago… On December 29, 2014
Ten Years Ago — Scheduled passenger rail service returned to Greenfield MA
Service was restored on December 29, 2014 when Amtrak’s southbound Vermonter stopped at the train platform adjacent to the Olver Transit Center.
Note that the linked video includes footage of a special train that Amtrak operated along the line a few days earlier. The special was run for dignitaries, like Governor Deval, Patrick who was instrumental in pushing this project over the finish line.
Ten Years Ago — Amtrak Service Returned to Northampton MA
On this day in 2014 Amtrak service was restored to Northampton, after a hiatus 27 years. The first train, the southbound Vermonter, arrived to a crowd of well wishers as can be seen in the linked video.
Ten Years Ago — The last day of Amtrak service in Amherst MA
This nice video captured the moment when the northbound Vermonter departed, for the last time.