A Massachusetts state senator is again calling into question ridership estimates prepared by the state for a proposed expansion of passenger rail service between the Berkshires and Boston.
The state department of transportation continues to study so-called east-west rail, and has narrowed to three the potential options for travel between Pittsfield, Springfield and Boston.
Senator Eric Lesser of Longmeadow has long been a proponent of the project. He said he doesn't agree with the state's methodology in predicting how many people would use the service, a number crucial to attracting needed federal funding.
Lesser said comparisons using similar-sized communities from around the country should be used to help draft estimates. Lesser also faulted the state for using numbers from the Hartford Line — between Springfield and Connecticut — in helping determine how many people would ride east-west rail.
"I don't think anyone would compare Hartford and Springfield as comparable commuting corridors to Springfield and Boston," Lesser said. "Boston is much bigger than Hartford, it's much more congested than Hartford."
Lesser also called into question MassDOT's motivations for presenting the estimates the way they have.
"I think the fact that they repeatedly low-balled the estimates on ridership show that perhaps they're interested more in finding convenient ways to kill the project rather than move it forward," Lesser said.
Going back to February, the ridership projections have been a source of contention, with Lesser and others saying they were too low to begin with. In June, MassDOT offered revised figures — predicting ridership at levels four or five times more than originally estimated.
More details on proposed service released
On Wednesday, state officials presented the East-West Study Advisory Committee three different proposals for service, down from the original six. They each rely exclusively on rail service between Pittsfield, Springfield and Boston. Previous proposals involved some bus connections.
All three proposals also include intermediate stops in Chester and Palmer — something residents of both western Massachusetts communities have advocated for.
The proposals also carry a hefty price tag — between $2.4 billion and $4.6 billion. In each option, construction costs would remain the same between Pittsfield and Springfield, as well as Worcester and Boston. The difference comes in work between Springfield and Worcester, where costs could cover half or more of the entire project.
The cheapest rail option would have a ride time of 3 hours, 9 minutes between Pittsfield and Boston, while the most expensive would shave 20 minutes off of that trip. The proposals with the larger price tags would involve building separate tracks from the existing freight rail, which could accommodate passenger service at a faster speed.
The study is starting to wrap up, with a draft report due out by mid-October and the final version scheduled for release by the end of November.
As for federal funding, the project does does one very influential supporter: U.S. Rep. Richard Neal of Springfield, the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee. Neal named the rail project as a priority during his victory speech after the Democratic primary on September 1.
