About
Since its founding in 2015 by Ben Hood and Anne Miller, Citizens for a Palmer Rail Stop has been advocating for increased public transit in the Quaboag Valley region.
Ben served on the original committee of the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation that created the on-demand Quaboag Connector, and currently serves as Palmer’s PVTA Advisory Board representative.
Ben was Chair of the Palmer Rail Steering Committee, and is the Governor’s appointee to the Palmer Redevelopment Authority.
Anne and Ben have been members of the Western Massachusetts Transportation Advocacy Network (WMTAN) since its beginning in 2019.
Together with fellow rail advocates Trains in the Valley, the Train Campaign, and the Chester Railway Station & Museum, they created the Western Mass Rail Coalition in 2019.
Reverse Chronology of Key Steps Towards a Palmer Station
Palmer, Massachusetts is known as the Town of Seven Railroads, but, sadly, no passenger trains have stopped here for several decades.
In reverse chronological order, here are the key steps taken since 2016 by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) towards restored intercity passenger rail service at Palmer.
Planning and Conceptual Design
At the January 17, 2024 MassDOT Board of Directors meeting, Rail and Transit Division (RTD) Administrator Meredith Slesinger announced that “RTD selected a consultant in December of 2023 for Planning and Conceptual Design” of a Palmer intercity passenger rail station.
“This contract will include public outreach, site selection, identification of station amenities and access, conceptual design, and environmental scoping.” Administrator Slesinger estimated that this work would take a year-and-a-half to complete.
Slesinger characterized the Palmer planning and design as “an important part of the Compass Rail program that the Governor’s Budget originally identified as a priority last year, and that was identified in prior studies, including the East-West Rail Study, that Palmer needs a station.”
Two Corridors
At the January MassDOT Board meeting, Slesinger also reported that RTD is “continuing to advance the work with Amtrak and CSX on the Inland Route award that we received from FRA–that’s the $108 million for infrastructure improvements between Springfield and Worcester–and we continue to work on the infrastructure modeling for that ahead of schedule.”
Slesinger then expanded on Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt’s announcement of the $500,000 FRA award to MassDOT for the Boston & Albany Corridor. “This acceptance of the Corridor ID Program is important because this is the FRA program that establishes a pipeline of projects off the Northeast Corridor to bring passenger rail corridors from concept to implementation.”
MassDOT Capital Investment Plan
In July 2023 MassDOT’s FY2024-28 Capital Investment Plan (CIP) included $4 million for the study and design of Palmer station with the work to be done in FY2024-FY2025 (July 2023 through June 2025).
In March 2023 Governor Healey proposed expenditure of $12.5 million on Palmer and Pittsfield Rail Projects in the state’s FY2024 budget. After both houses of the legislature failed to include this funding in their versions of the state budget, the Governor shifted the funding to the MassDOT CIP (see above).
In 2022 then-Governor Baker gave MassDOT the go-ahead to pursue federal grant funding (made available as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) that could be used to upgrade passenger rail infrastructure and develop new Amtrak service outside the Northeast Corridor, including along the east-west rail corridor between Boston and Albany.
MassDOT’s East-West Passenger Rail Study
In January 2021 MassDOT completed the East-West Passenger Rail Study, and included a Palmer stop in all three of the Final Alternatives (3, 4, and the hybrid alternative 4/5).
NNEIRI Study
In 2016 the Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative (NNEIRI) study recommended implementation of passenger service to include 8 round-trip trains per day between Boston and New Haven, and one round-trip train per day between Boston and Montreal, all stopping in Palmer.
The NNEIRI study recognized that Palmer was the ideal location for a suburban train stop between Worcester and Springfield.
Who will take the train from Palmer?
Trains stopping in Palmer would serve residents of all towns in the greater Quaboag region, including Amherst, Belchertown, Brimfield, the Brookfields, Hampden, Hardwick, Holland, Ludlow, Monson, New Braintree, Palmer, Stafford (CT), Sturbridge, Wales, Ware, Warren, and Wilbraham.
Trains stopping at Palmer would serve students at the University of Massachusetts. The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority runs regular bus service to UMass from Belchertown. This bus route should be extended to serve the rail stop in Palmer, enabling UMass students to travel by train to and from Worcester and Boston.
A similar bus to train connection from Mansfield/Storrs in Connecticut would enable students at the University of Connecticut to connect to east-west train service via Palmer.
Downtown Palmer is at the junction of the east-west Inland Route with the north-south Central Corridor Rail Line. Future train service on the Central Corridor would allow UMass and UConn students to ride trains through Palmer to and from Worcester and Boston, as well as points west.
Join our campaign!
We need your help to keep MassDOT on track to implement east-west rail service at the conclusion of the Palmer station planning and design phase. All the towns in our region will benefit from improved transportation connections to a rail stop in Palmer. Students at the Commonwealth’s flagship university will benefit from better connections between Amherst, Worcester, and Boston.
Please contact us to get involved in our campaign!
