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 [...]
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, [...]
Modern welded rail track comes in 1/4-mile sections. It is brought in on special rail cars. As the cars roll along, sections of rail are off-loaded. You can see them along the Housatonic Line from the Connecticut border to Pittsfield. Here is an example of the rail lying along the old jointed track in downtown [...]
Here is a video clip of the new Housatonic rail track being delivered to the Berkshires for upgrades to the line. Once these upgrades are complete, the Housatonic Line will have the capacity for passenger service, as well as existing freight service. Modern welded rail track comes in 1/4-mile sections so moving it is quite [...]
Last night’s transportation “Conversation” in Pittsfield was a bust. As you can see it this photo, there were six DOT people ranged at a head table with signs in front of them saying “Rail” “Bike” etc., and tables at the side of the room with computers. First, we had pitches from our three state reps. [...]
BRPC Concludes Train Station Study, Encourages Towns To Stay Involved By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's Metropolitan Planning Organization endorsed Tuesday the study commissioned by the federal government and Housatonic Railroad for station locations. Four towns have been cited as the best locations to host stations — Pittsfield, Sheffield, Great Barrington [...]
Return of rail service within reach Support grows for this vital aspect of our 21st century transportation infrastructure This article by Karen Christensen was published in the September 2014 issue of Berkshire Trade and Commerce. Click here to download the PDF and see below for link to entire issue. “I know you,” the woman at the tag [...]
A big thank-you to the companies that sponsor the Train Campaign
