On August 28, my team and I debuted All Aboard, a series of five videos featuring local officials and advocates from western and north central Massachusetts discussing the multiple benefits of restarting Northern Tier Passenger Rail.
Northern Tier Passenger Rail would connect North Adams with Greenfield, Athol, Fitchburg, and Boston along the Route 2 Corridor. In November 2024, MassDOT completed and released a Northern Tier Passenger Rail feasibility study, required under legislation that I filed and passed into law in partnership with Representative Natalie Blais. See the yellow highlighted route below.
All Aboard features commentary from the following:
- Ben Heckscher, Co-Founder, Trains in the Valley
- Linda Dunlavy, Executive Director, Franklin Regional Council of Governments
- Shaun Suhoski, Town Manager, Athol
- Jessye Deane, Executive Director, Franklin County Chamber of Commerce & Regional Tourism Bureau
- Andrew Fitch, City Council Member, North Adams
My team and I released All Aboard to continue building momentum for Northern Tier Passenger Rail and to support MassDOT’s application to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program, which is the next necessary positive advance for Northern Tier Passenger Rail.
The All Aboard videos can be found here. Each video focuses on a different aspect of why restarting the Northern Tier Passenger Rail would benefit local communities in western and north central Massachusetts, as well as the Commonwealth overall. Lily Frank, a public policy fellow from UMass Amherst who worked in our office this summer, developed and filmed the series, which takes place on train platforms and rail yards in the region.
