Officials in Massachusetts have selected a site that could be the home of a future passenger rail station in Palmer – part of the state’s West-East and Compass Rail plans.
MassDOT says a project team will soon start conceptual design work for a station south of Palmer Yard, near the intersection of South Main and Stone streets.
The decision came following months of MassDOT officials and consultants evaluating multiple sites, which were whittled down to six two months ago.
During a presentation at the Palmer Public Library in December, Natasha Velickovic of VHB New England outlined the remaining spots, which included a DPW lot, a site near the town line with Brimfield and another in Wilbraham.
Going through potential challenges and advantages, Velickovic said the team found that while some sites had issues concerning wetlands, zoning and walk and bike access, the Palmer Yard location off Route 20, at 1199 South Main St., stood out.
"For all intents and purposes, this may actually have a lot of positive elements,” she said before a packed meeting room on Dec. 16. “The cost drivers here are no more than the track drivers for any of the other sites, so we're looking at this one a little more favorably.”
There are still hurdles that would need to be cleared for the site. For example, officials say building a station there would call for repurposing what’s already an active CSX yard storage track.
Velickovic said in December that the station's project team had been talking with the railroad company about the scenario.
Monday’s announcement added that the start of the conceptual design phase “will allow MassDOT to engage with railway owner CSX, the site property owner.”
When the conceptual design phase might end isn’t exactly clear. A timeline graph shown during the December presentation indicated work could take up much of 2025, but no end dates were given.
