MASSLIVE (May 6, 2021) — The Springfield/Hartford area has missed out on 130,000 new jobs since 1990, jobs that could have come here if the region had the commuter rail service enjoyed by other East Coast cities.
“That’s the major differentiating factor, the availability of rail,” said Jessica Jones, senior analyst for the engineering firm AECOM.
Improving rail service from New York City to Boston through Hartford, Springfield and Worcester could cost $6.4 billion to $9.4 billion over a 10-year-buildout. But that expenditure would yield $47 billion to $84 billion in new gross regional product over 30 years, according to a study AECOM prepared for Connecticut’s Capital Region Council of Governments and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in Springfield.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Kimberly H. Robinson, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. “That’s a 10-to-1 return. I think it would be transformative.”
The economic improvement would come in the form of recapturing 20,000 to 40,000 professional services jobs and 97,000 to 115,000 construction jobs, and in the form of transit-adjacent housing and commercial development, according to the study. The 25-page report is available online at crcog.org.
U.S. Reps. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and Rep. John B. Larson, D-Hartford, announced the findings Thursday at Springfield Union Station. Both men said the funding is realistic under the Biden administration’s proposed $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan.
Neal said funding passenger rail from central and Western Massachusetts into Connecticut is a matter of regional equity.
Boston deserves a first-class transportation system, he said. “But it’s not the only city in New England that deserves a first-class transportation system. We pay for the MBTA.”
Larson and Neal said they have discussed the project recently with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
And Larson said the region has the political clout to get it done. Neal is chair of the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-New Haven, is chairwoman of Appropriations. U.S. Rep.
James McGovern, D-Worcester, is chairman of the Rules Committee.
“The time is now,” Larson said.
McGovern and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey stumped Wednesday in Worcester for a plan to make a $5 billion-a-year investment in passenger rail.
This Capital Region Council of Governments and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission study announced Thursday expands on a Massachusetts Department of Transportation study of east-west rail from Boston through Worcester and Springfield to Pittsfield. That study, finalized in January, was criticized in part for ignoring the economic impact passenger rail would bring.
The plan announced Thursday fills that gap, said Lyle Wray, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, detailing how it ties Springfield and Hartford with their colleges and ready workforce to Boston and New York City. It also brings opportunity to urban centers, he said, and addresses global warming by getting cars off the road.
Local rail boosters have criticized the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker for moving slowly on the east-west rail project. Neal said Thursday that he’s changed Baker’s thinking on the project and discusses it with him regularly. The two will meet next week in Washington.
In Connecticut, the project involves double-tracking the rail lines, improving a Connecticut River bridge in Windsor Locks and opening new train stations. The line was already improved somewhat to allow for the CTrail Hartford Line service, which extends from New Haven to Springfield.
Al Raine of AECOM said improvements to the track between Boston and Springfield could get the trip down to 90 minutes. And it could be frequent and reliable, not just one train a day as exists now.
Wray said the proposed service is already on Amtrak’s “wish list” map of service expansions it wants to make by the year 2035. In fact, the map also envisions expanded service from Springfield north to Montreal and west to Albany.
Neal said Amtrak has been to Springfield Union Station on scouting missions recently. The congressman was the driving force behind the $103 million rehab of the station.
