Governor Maura Healey and officials from MassDOT + Amtrak announced that Massachusetts has been awarded a $108 million grant for key rail infrastructure upgrades that will allow faster, more frequent passenger train service between Springfield and Boston.
Earlier this year, MassDOT applied for a federal grant through the USDOT’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement program.
Here’s how the money will be spent:
- Upgrade tracks and signals to meet federal standards for a “Class 4" railroad for rail trips between Boston and Springfield. Read: The Amtrak trains will be able to run at speeds up to 80 mph and reduce the time to ~2 hours and 10 minutes.
- Add another passing track for the route to allow more trains to use the corridor. Currently, about 12 trains share the ~54 miles between Worcester and Springfield.
- Upgrade bottlenecks on the 54-mile section of railroad that from Worcester to Springfield.