Massachusetts is kicking off a two-year process to study and plan dedicated passenger rail service between Albany and Boston next month.

Amtrak already runs one train per day between Albany and Boston as part of a long-distance passenger train route. What Massachusetts wants to do is add two routes specifically between Albany and Boston in addition to that, which would be funded by the state.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or MassDOT, is hosting a virtual meeting on Oct. 6 in which the process and goals for the plan will be outlined. People who wish to attend the event, scheduled for 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. over Zoom, are being asked to register in advance.

The plan “will study how passenger rail service on the Boston and Albany Corridor would operate and identify the steps needed to get there,” MassDOT says on its website. “This is a critical step towards advancing West-East Rail.”

Amtrak would operate any new passenger rail service between Albany and Boston.

Amtrak currently runs one train a day between Albany and Boston as part of its Lake Shore Limited train service between Chicago and New York City. Roughly 80,000 people per year use the line, Amtrak said last year.

The train from Albany to Boston departs mid-afternoon each day, arriving at South Station around 8:30 p.m. The train from Boston arrives at the Albany-Rensselaer Station around 6:10 p.m. each day. The trips take at least five hours, two hours longer than driving by car. Last year, parts of the Albany-to-Boston route were replaced with bus service after a “landslip” resulted in part of the route being closed for several months.

“The Albany-Boston route is expected to include stops at South Station and Back Bay in Boston, Framingham, Worcester, Palmer, Springfield, and Albany-Rensselaer,” MassDOT says on its website.

MassDOT was awarded $500,000 in 2023 and $3.5 million in 2025 from the Federal Railroad Administration to help pay for the studies and planning process for the Albany-to- Boston line.

The Times Union has reached out to MassDOT with questions about how the planning process works.

MassDOT says it has plans to improve the track so that trains can operate faster on the route and also add tracks so that more trains can operate along the route, cutting down on delays and trip times.

Steve Strauss, executive director of the Empire State Passengers Association, says his group has been watching efforts by MassDOT to push the proposal, which may eventually require a partnership with New York since a portion of the route is in this state.

“We’re big fans,” Strauss told the Times Union in a phone interview. Strauss said the plan would add two trips to Boston a day. He says it’s both a transportation and an economic development story.

“This would give people a lot more options (to get to Boston, Springfield and Pittsfield),” Strauss said.

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