Expanded north-south rail service from Springfield to begin in June 2019
The commonwealth of Massachusetts has an agreement with Connecticut authorities and Amtrak to provide on a pilot basis two extended daily CTrail trains from Springfield with stops in Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield. One train will run in the morning and one later in the day — both north and south — on the Knowledge Corridor line paralleling the Connecticut River. The only train traveling north of Springfield now is Amtrak’s Vermonter, which runs once a day in each direction. The pilot project, revealed Tuesday by Gov. Charlie Baker at a news conference in Springfield’s Union Station, will cost Massachusetts $1 million a year to operate and is expected to draw 24,000 passengers an year, said Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack.