Due to our new system upgrade, we are requesting all existing users to update their password. Create a new password. Forgot your password? Department of Transportation consultants presented a new report Wednesday with updated estimates for the proposed commuter rail extension, another key milestone as state officials weigh whether and how to expand regular passenger rail service west of its current terminus in Worcester.
All three options still on the table would feature new stops in Palmer, Springfield, Chester and Pittsfield, offering a ride from Berkshire County to Boston in roughly three hours.
The presentation before the East-West Passenger Rail Study Advisory Committee offered more details about the project, but the consultants conducting the study for MassDOT stressed that the latest numbers cast doubts on whether federal funding -- essential to the project's viability -- will be accessible.
The proposal's ratio between benefits and costs is only about one-tenth of the level needed to be considered "competitive" in federal grant programs, according to Ethan Britland, the study's project manager. But with BCAs this low, it would be challenging for federal competition. After receiving initial estimates for six different options, the committee selected the three still in the running to receive additional examination. The first of those three would use and upgrade existing rail tracks west of Worcester in order to run up to seven weekday round-trip passenger trains.
Both of the other two options call for constructing new stretches of track alongside the existing railways in the west and running up to nine weekday round-trip trains. The cheapest option could offer an average Pittsfield-to-Boston trip in three hours and nine minutes, the middle option could do that trip in two hours and 59 minutes, and the most expensive design could complete the west-to-east journey at an average time of two hours and 49 minutes, consultants estimated.
