Springfield Union Station

    One of the finishing touches of the $95 million restoration of Springfield’s Union Station is now in place.

High-speed, high-frequency commuter trains are running today between Springfield, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut.  There are high hopes the new service will take cars off congested highways and spur economic growth.

     A new era in train travel begins next week in western Massachusetts and Connecticut with the debut of the long-awaited Hartford Line on June 16th

    Additional taxpayers’ money will be used to cover the costs to operate Springfield’s Union Station in the first year since it reopened. 

Additional taxpayers’ money is being sought to pay for the upkeep of the newest transportation hub in western Massachusetts.

   A venerable bus company founded in Springfield, Massachusetts is moving its corporate headquarters to the city’s Union Station, which is rapidly filling with tenants less than a year after it was restored and reopened.

The $95 million restoration of Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts has won an award for historic preservation.

    High-speed rail projects were highlighted at an interstate conference today in Springfield, Massachusetts, where speakers urged more federal spending on transportation infrastructure.

   The city of Springfield is advertising for bids for a major downtown improvement project.

       A proposal to have the Massachusetts Department of Transportation do a feasibility study of Springfield-to-Boston high-speed passenger rail service is picking up steam.

The newest transportation hub in western Massachusetts is drawing rave reviews from people using it for the first time today.  Springfield’s Union Station reopened after 44 years following a $95 million restoration. 

   A new era in transportation in western Massachusetts begins in a few days. After being closed for decades, Union Station in Springfield is reopening following a years-long $95 million dollar restoration and redevelopment. 

    James Sullivan, 96, remembers Union Station during its glory days.

    " I can remember coming down from Northampton on the old railroad,"  Sullivan recalled during a visit to Union Station earlier this year with veterans from the Holyoke Soldiers Home. 

      A State Senator from western Massachusetts is in the middle of a tour today intended to highlight support for expanding passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston.

      A Massachusetts State Senator believes now is a critical time to take a hard look at what needs to be done to have expanded rail service between western Massachusetts and Boston. 

                For the second year in a row, Democratic Senator Eric Lesser of Longmeadow has put an item in the proposed state budget that directs the Department of Transportation to do a feasibility study.

                WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with Lesser.

   A new tenant was announced today for the newest transportation hub in western Massachusetts that is about a month away from opening to the public.

   Deals have been struck to bring both long-distance and regional public transit bus service to a new transportation hub that is opening next month in western Massachusetts.

   With a date set for the public reopening of Springfield’s Union Station after a years-long restoration project, details have been announced for a celebration.

   The city council in Springfield, Massachusetts has approved a $1.5 million bond to fix up a small downtown park that is at the center of a larger urban renewal push.

  Hoping to attract more restaurants to downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, the city has begun accepting applications for a new loan program.

The $95 million restoration of Springfield’s Union Station is nearly complete.  Now that the opening date June 26th has been announced, the rush is on to get the transportation center ready for the traveling public. 

    The countdown is on to the opening of a new transportation hub in western Massachusetts later this year.

    A federally-funded study estimates it would cost $1.2 billion to add more frequent high-speed passenger rail service linking Boston, Springfield, Montreal and New Haven.  Advocates say the benefits to the region justify the large expense.

      The Massachusetts Department of Transportation would be required to conduct a feasibility study on high-speed passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston under an amendment to the state budget that was passed unanimously by the legislature.

Officials have had no luck tracking down antique wooden benches missing from Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts. So, now vocational school students may be enlisted to construct replicas to be included in the massive renovation of the historic transportation building.

Officials have announced a delay in the completion of a major transportation project in western Massachusetts.  But, it is seen as only a minor bump in what has been a decades-long, multi-million- dollar effort to transform Springfield’s derelict Union Station into a modern transportation hub.

Eight months away from the scheduled completion of the renovation of Union Station in Springfield, Amtrak officials toured the work site today with the goal of providing suggestions to make the $88.5 million publicly funded project a success.

A new advocacy group is pushing for more rail service in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts.

The founders of Trains in The Valley will host a public meeting later today in Northampton which will include a website launch.  

WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with Trains in The Valley co-founder Ben Hecksher.