One of our long-time supporters is Fred M. Cain of Topeka, Indiana. He has given us permission to share some of his observations about the Berkshire Line and related developments. First, some comments on the article about California high-speed rail we shared recently: Hi Karen, I have some thoughts that I'd like to share on this. It was mentioned that fares will never come even close to recovering the huge cost of the project. Of course they won't. What's left unsaid is that's not what the project was meant to do. It was intended to help solve transportation problems - [...]

Not only do we have leading East-West Rail proponent Eric Lesser on the ballot in the race for lieutenant governor, but the governor's race could bring vital energy to the effort to build a North-South Rail Link in Boston. John Kyper of the Mass Sierra Club’s Transportation Committee passes this news along: [Former state rep and infrasture advocate] John Businger reports that he met with Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey during the State Democratic Convention on June 4th in Worcester, and she has agreed to join the North-South Rail Link Working Group. Assuming that she is elected governor [...]

Ben Turon, one of our colleagues across the state line in Albany, has a lot to say about high-speed rail after reading the article from the Guardian we shared recently: Hello, Interesting article, but not entirely accurate, I would certainly disagree with the assertion that “countries that have moved fastest on such systems tend to have a highly centralized governmental system, like France’s, if not an out-and-out authoritarian one, like China’s” in that many, many, many nations have built new high-speed lines, including Germany which has a federal government like America. The difference is the designed and learned impotence and [...]