Massachusetts secures $130M for Springfield rail project, West-East Rail plans

The future of West East Rail in the Commonwealth is getting closer. Governor Maura Healey and Congressman Richard Neal announcing major funding for the project earlier today at Springfield's Union Station. Take a look inside the press conference and how much funding was awarded. All aboard! A major announcement for West East Rail. Governor Maura Healey, Congressman Richard Neal, and Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno all joined by Western Massachusetts state senators and representatives at Springfield's Union Station. The people of Western Mass deserve this and have waited too long. They deserve better rail connections, more frequent and reliable service to and from Boston, Worcester, Albany and beyond. Massachusetts awarded $130 million in federal funding for the project through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program. This money making the total funding received for the West East Rail project over $280 million. When you allocate the money that we've done on Worcester to Springfield and on to Pittsfield, this is an extraordinary achievement. The money will be used for the Springfield Hub Modernization Project, which consists of upgrades to the track, signals, and infrastructure needed to create more efficiency and safety. All in all, connecting Western Massachusetts to the world. There's some great opportunities here in western Massachusetts and being able to have that rail to go back and forth in a reasonable amount of time is going to be key for economic development, housing development, and a good four-letter word, jobs. They're wrapping up the preliminary engineering and environmental work for the Springfield area track reconfiguration. Final design is scheduled to be completed in January with construction beginning shortly after.