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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Train service to Boston doesn’t get the same public attention, at least in Berkshire County, as potential New York passenger services, but the East-West Rail Study is a key issue for the Train Campaign because Boston is the other metropolitan economic powerhouse of the northeast United States, and of course our state capitol. There is [...]
Rep. Smitty Pignatelli has been asked to be the lead sponsor of this legislation and the Train Campaign is looking forward to his sponsorship as well as support from the full Berkshire delegation: The Massachusetts department of transportation shall convene a working group to be referred to as the Berkshire Passenger Rail Service Working Committee [...]
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