Follow the Money

We can’t help but take a victory lap now that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has finally decided to design and build East-West passenger rail and revive train service on the Inland Route between Worcester and Springfield. The money tells the story:

1. Last August [2022] the state legislature passed, and Governor Baker later signed, a transportation bond bill allocating $275 million for design, engineering, and construction of east-west passenger rail.
2. In December MassDOT applied for a $108 million Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) grant to plan and upgrade track infrastructure between Worcester and Springfield.

Amtrak and CSX supported the MassDOT application for the FRA grant, and the Citizens for a Palmer Rail Stop also submitted a letter of support to the FRA.

MassDOT and Amtrak plan to run two daily round-trip trains between Boston and New Haven on this revived Inland Route. Amtrak also plans to run round-trip trains between Albany and Boston as part of future East-West passenger rail.

Why the Town of Palmer needs a passenger rail station feasibility and site analysis study ASAP

Without a station feasibility and site analysis study for a Palmer passenger rail platform, the town has no shovel-ready plan that will qualify for any of the once-in-a-lifetime state and federal funding now available for new, restored, or increased train service.

In a May 13, 2022 meeting with the Citizens for a Palmer Rail Stop, Kimberly Robinson, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), and Dana Roscoe, the PVPC’s Principal Planner/Transportation Manager emphasized the following points:

• The station feasibility and site analysis study needs to be done in advance, so that when infrastructure money becomes available in 6 or 18 months, the planning is already done.
• State officials (including at MassDOT) will be more receptive if Palmer has “skin in the game,” proving its willingness to devote town funding to do the planning work.
• The study should identify 1 or 2 parcels adjacent to the tracks, and the parcel(s) cannot have issues that prevent trains from stopping, the platform from being built, etc.
• Palmer Town Council will ultimately need to vote for a location or pair of possible locations.
• The study should emphasize location as key to economic development benefiting Palmer and neighboring communities, including potential development of big parcels like the former Monson Developmental Center site.

Palmer Town Council: Small Talk and No Action

Last May [2022] the Palmer Rail Steering Committee informed the Town Council that it had  “discussed the urgent need for the town to proceed with a feasibility study that identifies a Depot Village site (or choice of sites) for an East-West passenger rail platform at which Amtrak trains can stop…. The committee would like to come before the Town Council in June [2022] to ask for funding to hire an engineering firm to undertake the study.”

Contrary to this recommendation, Palmer Town Council has repeatedly declined to invite the Palmer Rail Steering Committee to any of its meetings. In February [2023] the Town Council decided in a working session to delay action at this time on a station feasibility and site analysis study; the Council will revisit that decision only after the legislature’s Western Massachusetts Passenger Rail Commission makes its recommendations for the creation of “potential public entities” to oversee passenger rail. The Council’s decision to wait for “guidelines” from the Commission confirms that the councilors have failed to grasp that (1) MassDOT is proceeding full steam ahead to plan and build track infrastructure for expanded Amtrak service between Worcester and Springfield; and (2) the Rail Commission is neither charged with nor going to provide guidance to the Town of Palmer concerning station planning.

For nearly a year Palmer Town Council has failed to develop a station feasibility and site analysis study as recommended by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. It is clear that most councilors don’t understand that the town’s failure to create a shovel-ready platform plan is now jeopardizing Palmer’s chance at state and federal funding to construct a platform at which trains can stop.

Residents and Businesspeople of Palmer: Contact Your Town Councilors Now!

Please tell the councilors to appropriate funds ASAP to hire engineering consultants for a station feasibility and site analysis study.

Call or email the councilors as follows:

• Barbara Barry, President  (413) 283-2131  barbara.barry@comcast.net
• Jessica Sizer, Vice President  (413) 328-9322  jsizer@townofpalmer.com
• Robert Lavoie  (413) 277-8128  rblavoie3@comcast.net
• Mark Caci  (413) 301-3535  Caci.mark@gmail.com
• Philip Hebert  (413) 544-1729  phebert@townofpalmer.com
• Matthew Lemieux  (413) 886-2591  mlemieux@townofpalmer.com
• Karl Williams  (413) 283-4536  kwilliams@townofpalmer.com

Thank you.