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 [...]
Thanks to MassDOT for these maps showing where they are working on two bridges on the Berkshire (Housatonic) Line. We are hoping to have a timetable for this work and the other upgrades underway. Railroad Bridge 77.55 over the Housatonic River – Lenox, MA [...]
This interactive webinar had some 25 participants and was held online in 2013, before the 2014 purchase by Massachusetts Department of Transportation of the 37-mile railway line in Massachusetts. The speakers came from the Housatonic Railroad Company and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. If you want to understand the background for today's discussion of the [...]
Thanks to Terry Cowgill at the Berkshire Record for continued coverage of the Train Campaign. We're especially glad to get an update direct from Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy. More next month (and next year! - welcome 2016) on the Massachusetts DOT, which is not winning hearts and minds in the Berkshires. Here's Terry's recent cover [...]
Here is Chapter 4 Berkshire Line: New Haven's Route to the Hills, pages 45-53, from the book New Haven Passenger Trains by Peter E. Lynch, published by Quarto Publishing Group USA, 2005. Here's a bit from the introduction: The Berkshire Line originated as the combination of the Housatonic Railroad, which opened between Bridgeport and Canaan, Connecticut, [...]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s Department of Transportation has signed the final documents for its purchase of rail track stretching from Pittsfield to the CT border in Canaan. The Commonwealth made the purchase from Housatonic Railroad Company Inc. and Maybrook Railroad Co. "for the purposes of accommodating a public demand for passenger rail service, and other [...]
In Washington, both the House and the Senate will need to do something to reauthorize funds for transportation projects. One encouraging aspect to those discussions is a growing recognition of the importance of public/private partnerships. We are one of the few projects in the country ready to move forward on a manageable scale. This would [...]
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
