Planner: ‘Solid study’ attracts federal rail dollars

The key to getting federal support for a railroad project is a solid study that supports it, a Massachusetts planner told local business leaders, the Bristol, Conn., Press reports. Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in Springfield, told an audience at the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce the story behind the successful Knowledge Corridor rail line in his region.

Construction will begin
next spring to restore rail to a former line, carrying a price tag of $71
million for 50 miles. Massachusetts won a $70-million federal grant to cover
most of the cost.

"To us, this is a game
changer," said Brennan.

The study that helped
convince federal officials to fund it, said Brennan, cost $200,000. They were
in "the right place at the right time," with a completed study at just the
moment that federal officials decided to pour stimulus money into rail
projects, he said. Without a plan, "you get nowhere."

The United States had a passenger
rail system, but abandoned it. Now, the nation is trying to recoup what it once
had, and there are many projects in need of funding. "The competition now in
the United States for rail dollars has absolutely skyrocketed," said Brennan.

Transportation projects are
part of public infrastructure and chances are, won’t break even, he said. "Services
like this require a public investment" but they fuel economic development,
business flourishes within a quarter mile of a train route. "It makes the
economy go."

The Knowledge Corridor
project connects Springfield with cities in Vermont. Ultimately, the plan is to
tie in service from New Haven to Montreal, said Brennan.

The project will restore
train service on a more direct route than has been used in recent years,
keeping the lines where most of the people are and making a faster, more direct
and less expensive trip between Springfield and cities in Vermont, he said.

At the time of the grant to
Massachusetts, Connecticut was awarded $40 million and Vermont $50 million –
separate grants that together are an "interstate, cross-border collaboration,"
he said.

The rail line will carry
passenger trains and freight. Brennan called it crucial that more freight be
shifted from highways to rail or the overload of trucks will threaten the
national highway system.

When the cost of fuel goes
up, more freight is moved on trains, said Syd Culliford, executive vice
president of Pan Am, the rail line running through Waterbury and Bristol.

Proponents from Massachusetts
and Vermont had talked about the possibilities for years, Brennan said, but
really kicked into high gear when the federal government shifted drastically
toward interest in rail.

The detailed study they did
involved officials from Pan Am, the railroad company that owns the track. Bringing
Pan Am on board early on, said Brennan, was "probably one of the best moves we
made."

Mike Nicastro, president of
the chamber, said the Bristol audience learned something from Brennan.

"Once you set your mind to
it, it is more than possible to move quickly," said Nicastro. "It doesn’t have
to take forever. It doesn’t have to cost a ton of money."

Nicastro said the chamber
and others who would like to see rail lines restored would be working with
state and federal lawmakers to make the vision a reality.