MA: Money and time remain big challenges in broadening WMass transportation system | The Republican Editorials

Transportation planners call Springfield both the “heart of the compass” and the “crossroads” of New England.

Still, Springfield has yet to realize a goal of becoming a modern travel hub for the state of Massachusetts, able to move far more people on public transportation than it does today. The infrastructure work still needed to achieve that goal is both extensive and costly.

Though reality hasn’t caught up with ambition, we urge state transportation planners to continue the course. People in Western Massachusetts should not have to be so reliant on cars to travel to Boston or New York City. Recently spiking oil prices tied to the war in Iran make a diversified transportation system even more important.

In a state where economic fortunes split between east and west, and where residents continue leaving the state because of high costs and diminishing opportunities, an improved passenger rail service linking major cities matters.

It can help stimulate a relatively sluggish economy west of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Meredith Slesinger, rail and transit administrator for the state Department of Transportation, thinks so. “Transportation is a lifeline. This is how we grow the economy. This is how people live their lives. This is how people get to work,” Slesinger said the other day on a visit to Springfield. “We’re not going to meet our climate goals or achieve economic growth unless we have a transportation system that has a lot of variety and choices.”

The formula worked in Worcester, a city that owes some of its recent economic success to an increased rail connection to Boston, according to former Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, now head of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. More than 20 trains a day travel from Worcester to Boston. Murray has said that without those connections, Polar Park may not have been built and the Red Sox farm team would not be playing there.

Now, it’s Springfield’s turn.

But here’s the sobering news: only three trains now leave Springfield each day that connect directly to New York City. Many others leave Springfield bound for New Haven, where commuters can make connections to New York. Factor in a connection, though, and the trip can take four hours or more.

Getting to Boston by rail takes even more patience. One train a day leaves Springfield for Boston. That’s Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited run that gets its name from its route running alongside Lake Erie to Lake Michigan.

Before the dream of increased rail access to Boston and New York City can be realized, there’s the work. It is part of what the state is calling its Compass Rail plan.

Springfield’s Union Station needs a redesign including a track reconfiguration, costing many millions of dollars. Then the tracks between Worcester and Springfield need updating, so they can support higher-speed trains.

And trains. Yes, Amtrak needs new ones to replace the 1970s-era stock. Add to all that are track curves that need straightening, bridges that need building over train tracks, signals that need installing. It’s enough to depress even the most hopeful.

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, who serves communities in the Berkshires, has been advocating for rail service to Pittsfield, but knows trains won’t arrive until she has left office. Now her timeline has shifted. She wants a Pittsfield to Boston connection before she dies.

“But I’m getting a little scared about that,” she said.

On transportation projects that take this long, we think it essential that small victories keep coming.

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