In the News

SPRINGFIELD — The newly completed and handicapped-accessible Platform C at Springfield Union Station is the next step toward potentially reestablishing frequent passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston, Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday.

Baker joined longtime Union Station booster U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno for a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the $11 million platform.

But bringing more trains to Union Station from parts east hinges on an ongoing feasibility study, one spearheaded by state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow. Task force members including Lesser and Neal are due to get an update at their next meeting Feb. 6 in Springfield.

“My deal on this is that you have to do the work associated with the options analysis first,” Baker said. “I’m one of these guys who thinks most things are one step at a time. I try not to get too far ahead of myself on that.”

Mixing his transportation metaphors, Baker said it’s easy to be in favor of something “looking down from 60,000 feet,” but harder once planners have to get to ground level and find out how much things will cost and what good they will accomplish.

Platform C is the final step in Union Station’s $103 million rehab. An elevator from the downstairs passenger waiting area and street entrances went into service just this week. Trains will soon begin using the platform.

Most of the station reopened in 2017. But Platform C was too narrow and didn’t meet modern rules for accessibility by travelers with physical disabilities.

Neal has joined the push for east-west passenger rail, citing the success of the 18-month-old CTrail Hartford Line between Springfield and New Haven, Connecticut.

He’s made the case to Baker that Western Massachusetts deserves a piece of the state’s public transportation funding. Baker’s proposed 2020-21 state budget includes $216 million in funding for Boston’s MBTA and other transportation agencies across the state.

In June, MassDOT presented six east-west passenger rail scenarios.

Among them was a commuter train trip from Springfield to Boston that could take 80 to 105 minutes, but only if the state builds a new rail line along the Massachusetts Turnpike and connects it to Springfield Union Station and Worcester Union Station.

The trip is slightly longer if new rails are built along existing freight rights of way with curves straightened out.

Peter A. Picknelly, chairman and CEO of the Peter Pan Bus Lines and a Baker supporter who has lobbied against rail studies in the past, was at Friday’s ribbon cutting. Picknelly said Peter Pan competes with rail options in most of the major cities in which it operates.

“We have greater frequency of service,” he said. “And in most cases our fares are lower. We compete.”

Picknelly’s buses operates out of Union Station and he rents office space in the building.

He said CTrail’s Hartford Line has had no impact on Peter Pan’s Springfield-to-New Haven business

The Hartford Line, launched on June 18, 2018, transported its one-millionth rider during the busy Thanksgiving travel period, the Connecticut Department of Transportation said last week. Passenger rail use has been growing at a rate of 25% year-over-year, according to CTDOT.

Massachusetts in August began its own north-south rail service using Amtrak trains. Called the Valley Flyer, the route connects Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield.

Sarno said east-west passenger rail would connect Springfield with the booming Boston economy, allowing folks to live in Western Massachusetts cheaply and work in Boston easily.

The next goal at Union Station is to rent more of the space, Sarno said, either to business office tenants like Peter Pan or to first-floor retailers and food providers. The building is 72% occupied. Sarno said he is pursuing leads, like office tenants focused on cybersecurity.

Neal, who started working to save the station decades ago when it was mostly empty, contrasted those days with today.

“All you have to do is go walking on that main concourse and you can feel the vitality,” Neal said.

The activity Friday included the Girl Scouts of Troop 11639, who were selling cookies near Platform C. Baker bought seven boxes, one of each flavor.