Expanded rail service between Springfield and Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield should begin by late summer. That's the latest estimate from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Amtrak currently runs just one train in each direction on that route each day. MassDOT said a two-year pilot will provide two additional round trips each day, and connect to trains to New York City.
Dr. Gopal Malladi, who lives in Holyoke, was at Union Station in Springfield on Friday to pick someone up.
"I think that's a great idea," Malladi said. "[It] makes it a lot easier for us to pick up the train in Holyoke than coming here. And sometimes we go to New York. My wife and daughter will do that. Yeah, I like it."
