Weeks after reports appeared that MGM Resorts International is considering selling MGM Springfield, another blow has come to a city economic anchor. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportations Authority, or SEPTA, has cancelled a contract with CRRC.
Weeks after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation confirmed planning for a Palmer train station had begun, the department took another step to advance rail service west. On Thursday, MassDOT and Governor Maura Healey formally named Andy Koziol “West-East Rail director.”
A little over two years after the tide began turning in favor of East-West rail, Palmer is on track for progress of its own. On Wednesday, Meredith Slesinger, the rail and transit administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, announced the agency was moving forward on a rail station in Palmer.
Democrats in the United States Senate, including Massachusetts’s own Elizabeth Warren, are raising the alarm about potential cuts a federal matching program for state rail corridors. Among the routes this could impact are the “Inland Corridor.” This is actually part of the route for East-West rail service between Boston and Springfield.
In what came as something of a surprise to some, Governor Maura Healey included $12.5 million for Western Mass rail work in her Fiscal Year 2024 budget. While not necessary for East-West rail between Boston and the 413, the money for work in Palmer and Pittsfield was a positive sign. Then the legislature began its budget process.
Nearly three weeks after Attorney General Maura Healey formally became governor-elect of the commonwealth, some meat on the bones of her budding administration are coming into view. Some of their choices for policy committees signal some commitment to a key promise.
Whether a gentle laying on of hands or a less voluntary conversion, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is now a believer.
At a press event at Union Station in Springfield and alongside US Representative Richard Neal, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker endorsed a plan to establish a rail authority to oversee the implementation of East-West rail service.
Back in July, as the legislature eyed its August recess, there were signs of impending change. Senator Joe Boncore of Winthrop began telegraphing interest in a job at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. He made the move earlier this month. Boncore is hardly the first legislator
LONGMEADOW—Some months ago, a stone-faced Senator Eric Lesser appeared on a split screen with Governor Charlie Baker during a committee hearing on the early vaccine campaign. Lesser laid into Baker, for a botched website rollout among other errors. His Excellency expressed visible frustration.
The Trans-Commonwealth Railroad is a series on the challenges and efforts to connect the length of Massachusetts by rail. Despite officials in 413 mashing the accelerator as if on a clear stretch of Pike, East-West rail entered 2021 with only muted optimism. Governor Charlie Baker,