Plan B, The New NNEIRI

MassDOT’s draft East-West Passenger Rail Study Final Report begs the question of how easily our state government can waste $1 million of taxpayers’ money on a misguided, flawed, and ultimately useless study.

Rather than become mired in cynicism at the perfidy of state officials, let’s tell them we’re mad as hell & we aren’t going to tolerate their delaying tactics any longer. We demand that they implement passenger rail service across the Commonwealth ASAP!

All taxpayers, residents, and business leaders of the Commonwealth should seize the opportunity of the 30-day comment period on the draft East-West Passenger Rail Study Final Report, ending on 11/19/20, to tell MassDOT & Gov. Charlie Baker the following:

1. Stop studying train service to death. It is time for Plan B. The thorough and comprehensive Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative (NNEIRI), released in 2016, provides a blueprint for affordable, higher speed train service between Boston and Springfield. Take the NNEIRI plan off the shelf & build it now.
2. As the Federal government develops an infrastructure bill to stimulate the economy, MassDOT needs to create a shovel-ready “New NNEIRI” east-west rail project that will qualify for funding from Washington. Congressman Richard Neal is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; he can bring home the bacon for this project.
3. The East-West Study is a stalking horse designed and executed to cover the Baker Administration’s goal to do nothing at all. Nothing is not an acceptable answer to the long-standing, widespread demand & need of Western Massachusetts residents for train service connecting them to Worcester and Boston.
4. The East-West Study narrows the scope, low-balls the ridership, inflates the costs, and underestimates the benefits of passenger rail service between Boston, Springfield, and Pittsfield. A “New NNEIRI” can address all of these failures by expanding the scope to include Albany, NY; by basing ridership projections on more comparable proxy markets elsewhere in the U.S.; by reducing capital costs to cover only improvements needed to run less high speed trains west of Worcester; and by calculating & including all the economic and environmental benefits that will accrue from frequent train service spanning our state.
5. The population of Worcester is 185,428, and the population of Springfield is 153,606. They are the 2nd & 4th largest cities in New England. It is outrageous that these two cities are barely connected by passenger rail in the 21st century. Use a “New NNEIRI” plan to connect them by rail ASAP.
6. To benefit the entire Commonwealth, a “New NNEIRI” plan should extend intercity passenger rail to Pittsfield & Albany, NY (combined population 138,602). The added Albany connection will more than justify the additional cost of service west of Springfield.
7. Demands for “high speed rail” derailed the original NNEIRI plan, delaying rail service to Springfield well beyond 2020, the year in which it would have begun. No question the United States should be building high speed rail networks nationwide, but in Massachusetts “New NNEIRI” higher speed rail now can lead to high speed rail later.
8. We appreciate the inclusion of infill stops in Palmer and Chester to connect the vast rural areas of Central Massachusetts and the Hilltowns to all the cities west and east. Every train in the NNEIRI plan would have stopped in Palmer; and every train in a “New NNEIRI” should stop in Palmer and Chester.
9. A “New NNEIRI” should include plans for temporary bus and subsequent rail connections to the Flagship Campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and to the University of Connecticut in Storrs, both of which will be served by direct connection at the east-west stop in Palmer. UMass Amherst: 24,209 undergraduates; 7,141 graduate students; 1,462 faculty & 4,741 staff. UConn: 18,847 undergraduates; 7,097 graduate students; 9,620 faculty & staff.
10. The legislature and MassDOT must immediately create a passenger rail authority to coordinate and develop statewide passenger rail service on the Inland Route, the Knowledge Corridor (home to the Valley Flyer pilot service), the Northern Tier, the Central Corridor Line, and the Housatonic Line. The authority must also collaborate with CTDOT, NYSDOT, and VTrans to ensure seamless connections to passenger trains running across our borders.

Read the [DRAFT] East-West Passenger Rail Study Final Report here —
https://www.mass.gov/lists/east-west-passenger-rail-study-documents
[the 5-chapter draft report is the first document on this web page]

Submit comments on the Draft Report through Thursday, November 19, using the East-West Rail Study Comment Form —
https://bit.ly/3m8TipX