Gomez attends Grant announcement at Union Station
BOSTON- State Senator Adam Gomez (D-Springfield) joined Congressman Richard Neal, MassDot officials, and legislative colleagues for a grant announcement for West-East Rail at Union Station in Springfield. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has been awarded $36.8 million from the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program to complete design efforts for the Springfield Area Track Reconfiguration Project. This project will make track, signal and infrastructure improvements at Springfield Union Station that will increase rail capacity and reduce congestion, further paving the way for future West-East Rail service and enhancing north-south service.
Today’s announcement comes after MassDOT won a $108 million CRISI grant last year for train corridor improvements between Worcester and Springfield, which will result in new, twice daily roundtrip Amtrak service between Boston and New Haven, CT via Springfield. MassDOT also previously won a $1.75 million CRISI grant for preliminary engineering for the Springfield Area Track Reconfiguration Project, which is now nearing completion.
“This significant grant award comes to MassDot as another long overdue piece of ‘train track’ for West-East Rail in Springfield,” said Senator Adam Gomez. “A project of this magnitude demands collaboration from federal and state partners, who share a vision of a rail system with the potential of revolutionizing employment, housing and transportation options for Western Mass residents in and around the Greater Boston area. I look forward to continued partnership with the delegation as we inch closer to realizing this effort.”
The Springfield Area Track Reconfiguration Project is being advanced by MassDOT in coordination with the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, Amtrak, CSX, and the other railroads that operate in Springfield. The project will eliminate a rail chokepoint in Western Massachusetts and Western New England by modernizing the track and signal systems, while upgrading the rail facilities by rehabilitating multiple station platforms and constructing a new and more efficient layover facility.
The funding for Final Design of the Springfield project combined with the funding for the Inland Route Project provide for solid footing of the state’s Compass Rail program to implement improved passenger rail service across the state. Compass Rail advances a network of services centered in Springfield Union Station, including the existing Vermonter and Valley Flyer services that connect Greenfield and Northampton with New York City and the west-east service that will provide connections between Boston, Springfield and Albany. The Compass Rail program was recently boosted by entry into the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (ID) program and associated federal funds needed to support required planning efforts. The Corridor ID Program is a comprehensive intercity passenger rail planning and development program that will help guide intercity passenger rail development throughout the country and creates a pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects ready for implementation and funding through FRA’s Federal-State Partnership-National Network Program.
Other funding awards that benefit Massachusetts include $8.9 million for the Pioneer Valley Railroad’s Tunnel Reclamation and Pioneer Valley Development Project along with $21.6 million for the Pan Am Southern’s Freight MainLine Project and $19 million for the New England Central Railroad Project’s for facility and track improvements for the Providence and Worcester Railroads. The funding will improve New England’s freight rail network by upgrading track infrastructure and other improvements to enhance system performance.
MassDOT continues to seek additional financial resources to grow its passenger rail program. Requests for passenger rail funding are part of the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s whole of government strategy to compete for federal money that includes approximately $1.27 billion dollars in still pending federal funding applications to advance infrastructure projects that further equity, competitiveness, workforce development and climate resiliency in communities across Massachusetts.