State officials are racing to lock in federal funding amid concerns that the incoming Republican administration may try to punish the heavily Democratic Bay State — but stakeholders still can’t agree on aspects of the design.
Before the end of the decade, commuters should be able to zip from Boston through Springfield and all the way up past Albany twice a day via rail. That is, if plans for the West-East Rail expansion chug along smoothly.
Citing “strong” ridership, state officials and Amtrak announced Friday that train service for passengers traveling between western Massachusetts and New York City will become permanent.
While funding questions still loom, rail service improvements in the Boston area figure prominently in a new $117 billion plan assembled by officials in eight states along the Northeast Corridor that holds the promise of generating $1.7 million jobs over 15 years.
Officials in the Pioneer Valley are hailing a new, daily Amtrak service through the region as a potentially “game-changing” economic development opportunity.
