WESTERN MASS. – The working group for the Northern Tier Passenger Rail Study convened for a first meeting on Dec. 16. The star-studded group will explore whether passenger rail service along the Route 2 corridor is feasible, or even desired.

According to Paul Nelson, project manager for the organizing consultants, the group will look at six plans for reopening passenger rail service between Boston and North Adams.

“We have six service alternatives to look at,” Nelson said. “Developing and evaluating all six at one time, we’d rather do it in two waves.”

The first efforts will be to explore a minimum and maximum build-out. Subsequent efforts will focus on four additional levels of service development. The extent of the workload must be figured out before anyone looks at switches and tracks. That suggests the difficulty and large scope of the project.

“We wanted to see how much effort is in front of us,” Nelson said. “Once we have that understanding, then we can take a look at the actual rail line.”

Currently, freight trains use the tracks owned by PanAm and CSX Corp. Locations for commuter rail stations will be studied and stakeholder groups consulted. The current study follows on the heels of a two year study of east-west rail service.

The current study is slated to last 18 months. State Rep. John Barrett III, a North Adams Democrat, voiced frustration that studies take much too long. “We’re the only state in the Union to take so long to do these studies,” Barrett said. “We take too long and we need to reduce it.”

Significant work went into the formation of the group. Peter Lowitt, chair of the Fitchburg Line Working Group, set up about 10 years ago to address rail issues in the eastern half of the line, commented on the necessity of involving many different stakeholders or their representatives.

“We learned firsthand the importance of organizing and keeping legislators and congressional delegations, and communities, up and down the Fitchburg Line, in the loop, and active participants,” Lowitt said.

The list of invitees to the working group included state and federal officials, rail company executives, regional transportation professionals, and the mayors of Boston, Greenfield and North Adams.
The current and former mayors of North Adams, Tom Bernard and Rep. Barrett, both commented on the benefits of passenger rail service across the state.

“It’s an economic essential in our area,” Barrett, now the state representative for North Adams, said. “It is about economic development more than anything else.”

Bernard agreed, saying, “We know that transportation is the key to economic development, is the key to business development, and is key to supporting tourism and cultural events, and outdoor recreation.”

Roxann Wedegartner, mayor of Greenfield, asked if rail service will begin with minimum services and transition to the highest service levels. She voiced a preference for a Boston commute under two hours. Makaela Niles, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) manager for the study, responded the options would be explored, but the work is still in the early stages.

Area residents voiced their concerns and hopes. Electrification of the line, to enable a smaller carbon footprint, appealed to Eric Buddington. According to Nelson, that would be an element of the maximum services option. Deborah Yaffee, a Shelburne Falls resident, worried that increased noise and pollution would disturb the many healers in her town who work from home.

“I am very concerned about increased diesel fumes /air pollution, and also increased noise pollution in my town,” Yaffee wrote, because they are “near the crossings where the horns are required to blast.” She asked if a route following the old Hoosic Line was a possibility.

Anna Barry, project manager and vice president for HNTB Corp., a design firm working with the MassDOT on the project, responded, “This is a planning study in its early stages. Our purpose is to begin evaluating all those types of factors, environmental, economic development, economic impacts positive and negative.”

Bob Armstrong attended the Zoom session to say that climate change mitigation should be the overarching goal of the project. Emily Johnson asked about the opportunities for input from Native American tribes. Meghan Randall, a Tunnel resident, asked if extending the rail line to Albany was possible.

“We have the possibility, in our charge,” Barry said, “to extend the rail service into Albany.”
The meeting was an introductory session.

Discussion skirted issues of cost or funding opportunities. Niles, manager of the study group, emphasized that outreach efforts, recently started, will continue.