With rail construction expected to begin next year, the state will host a virtual public meeting next week on the future of improved west-east rail service.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation meeting Oct. 6 will yield a service development plan, part of the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program.

The plan studies how passenger rail service on the Boston and Albany, New York, corridors would operate and identifies the steps needed to get there, said MassDOT spokesman John Goggin in an emailed response to questions.

Construction on the tracks between Springfield and Worcester is expected to begin in 2027, with the first new train expected to be a continuation of Amtrak service. Two trains a day from New Haven, Connecticut, that stop now in Springfield would continue to Boston and also travel in the reverse.

Those trains are not expected to run until 2030.

In a meeting Tuesday with reporters and editors at The Republican, Gov. Maura T. Healey said the state has made important investments in passenger rail in and around Springfield.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” she said, “I feel like, you know, for the first couple of years, we had good funding coming in from the Biden administration. I mean, we had $9 billion come back to Massachusetts alone.”

A total of $150 million in federal funding has flowed into west-east rail over the past five years.

Earlier this year, local passenger rail got a boost with a $1.2 million earmark for advanced positive train controls for the “Knowledge Corridor” rail line from Springfield to Greenfield.

Register for the 6 p.m. public meeting at bit.ly/westeastrail.

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