The Union Station you see today is the third station that serviced Springfield. This 221,000 square foot station opened its doors in 1926 and service the city for 47 years. With the decline of passenger trains, traveling through city the station wasn’t worth keeping its doors open. When Amtrak started serving the city a makeshift station was built at track level. For nearly 4 decades the station was left vacant until Pioneer Valley Transit Authority express interest in restoring the building. The station reopened its doors in 2017 serving as a transportation hub connecting trains, local buses, and intercity bus transit.
Passenger rail is making a huge comeback to Springfield with CT Rail’s Hartford Line. This is service running between Springfield, MA and New Haven, CT. Amtrak runs the Vermonter, a regional rail service running between St. Albans, VT and Washington D.C. These trains are connecting north and south of the city.
Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited goes east and west through the city. MassDOT is looking to increase the frequency of trains running service between Boston and Pittsfield, MA. Currently MassDOT is doing an 18 month study on providing rail service through Springfield.
The next phase for Union Station is to build new platforms to service the increased frequency of passenger trains traveling through Springfield.
Who would have thought a station sitting vacant for nearly a half of century would be given new life. I’m so happy passenger rail service is making a huge comeback and I’m looking forward to reporting on more progress on this station.
