Page 36 - BusinessWest July 21, 2021

Franklin County
All Aboard
East-west Rail Along Route 2 Could Reap Myriad Benefits
While a proposed east-west rail line between Pittsfield and Boston has gotten most of the train-related press recently, another proposal, to incorporate passenger rail service on existing freight lines between North Adams and Boston, has gained considerable momentum, with a comprehensive, 18-month study on the issue set to launch. Not only would it return a service that thrived decades ago, proponents say, but expanded rail in the so-called Northern Tier Corridor could prove to be a huge economic boost to Franklin County — and the families who live there.
By Joseph Bednar
S
tate Sen. Jo Comerford has spoken with plenty of people who remember taking a train from Greenfield to North Station in Boston to catch Bill Russell’s Celtics.
They stepped on at 2:55 p.m. — one of as many as 12 board- ings on any given weekday — and the train was already half-full
after stops in Troy, N.Y., North Adams, and Shelburne Falls. Then they’d arrive at North Station at 5:15, “and you’d still have time for dinner before the game started,” Comerford said. “That was our reality in Franklin County in the 1950s.”
She shared those words last week at a virtual community meeting to discuss a comprehensive study, soon to get underway, of passenger rail service along the Northern Tier Corridor, a route from North Adams to Boston via Greenfield, Fitchburg, and other stops.
Ben Heckscher would love to see expanded train service in Western Mass.; as the co-creator of the advocacy organization Trains In The Valley, he’s a strong proponent of existing lines like Amtrak’s Vermonter and Val- ley Flyer, north-south lines that stop in Greenfield, as well as more ambi- tious proposals for east-west rail, connecting Pittsfield and Boston along
The Greenfield Amtrak stop will be busier this month with the restoration of Vermonter service and a second Valley Flyer train.
36 JULY 21, 2021
FRANKLIN COUNTY
Photo courtesy of Trains In The Valley
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