I had a talk yesterday afternoon with one of the crew working on the Berkshire (Housatonic) Line. There are about 50 people hard at work on the $30-million upgrade to the line within Massachusetts. They have 25 of the yellow machines you see in the photos, and perhaps I'll be able to get a video [...]
Here's a summary of what I talked about in my presentation at RailNation, which I did from a friend's living room in Washington, DC. My proposal was this: "While there is lots of focus on metropolitan transit needs and major intercity lines, a connection that has been primary throughout human history is largely ignored. That [...]
Delighted to see this. The Train Campaign and Western Mass Rail Coalition look forward to participating. Join us! The Western MA Legislative Delegation and community partners invite you to join us for: HOW DO WE GET THERE FROM HERE? WESTERN MA TRANSPORTATION FORUM KEYNOTE BY SENATOR ERIC LESSER Friday, September 13, 2019 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 [...]
Train Minute #3: Marilyn Kelly, a lifetime resident of Lee, Massachusetts, talks about riding the Berkshire Line to New York City to see a show, and how she and her girlfriends could be home in Lee by 11pm. We're working to bring passenger rail back to the Berkshires! Train Minutes come from the Train Campaign, [...]
While it's well known that African American intellectual and civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois came from Great Barrington in western Massachusetts, it's less well known that another great African American leader, Frederick Douglass, traveled extensively in New England. Of course he traveled by train, and experienced many examples of racial prejudice. But [...]
Welcome to Train Time, a podcast from the Train Campaign, working to connect cities and rural areas because we’re convinced that passenger rail as the essential framework for efficient, sustainable transportation in the 21st century. Train Time is hosted by Karen Christensen, founder and president of the Train Campaign. Our guest this week is Massachusetts [...]
Lewis Mumford was one of the 20th century’s most famous writers on both the urban and rural experience. He and his wife Sophia lived in Amenia, New York, for many decades. This story comes from Mumford’s book, Green Memories, and takes place in the early 1930s. Train Minutes come from the Train Campaign, the rail advocacy [...]
Click to download PDF of "Berkshire Line? Berkshire Flyer?" oped by Karen Christensen of the Train Campaign, and visit Berkshire Trade & Commerce for the full issue.
From my perspective, there really is only one rail proposal for travel to New York City that makes sense. My main concern is that with limited funds pursuing a sub-optimal alternative (e.g., Berkshire Flyer) will delay and short change other better approaches, or even worse, offer unintended reasons for the politicians and other skeptics to [...]
Last updated 19 June 2019. After reading several letters to the editor about the Berkshire Flyer (the weekend service via Albany initiated by Senator Adam Hinds) as compared to the Housatonic route (the traditional Berkshire Line through northwestern Connecticut), I thought I should explain the two projects’ evolution over the last decade, and the current [...]
