New Amtrak Berkshire Flyer Route Announced, Bypassing Connecticut
Amtrak has just announced a new seasonal passenger train service, the Berkshire Flyer, will begin in July 2022, and connect Pittsfield, Massachusetts with Penn Station in NYC. The route will have a pit-stop in Albany, NY. This is good news for those of us who are waiting for the Housatonic/Berkshire Line to be restored in Connecticut.
The Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut Department of Transportation have all been working on getting the Housatonic/Berkshire line back up and running in some form, since Massachusetts passed a transportation bill in 2014 to support the rehabilitation of 37 miles of track for initial repairs. Eventually, according to traincampaign.org, although the Berkshire/Housatonic line is still in it's conceptual stages, if the current proposal comes to fruition, 8 round trips a day between Grand Central, Danbury, and Pittsfield will be in our future.
The new Amtrak Berkshire Flyer route is also interesting for the city-dwellers who come up to Litchfield County and the Berkshires on weekends. The new route will start on July 8, 2022, seasonally on weekends during the Summer months. The Berkshire Flyer will depart from Penn Station at 3:16PM on Fridays, and arrive in Pittsfield, Mass at 7:12PM. The Sunday return trip departs Pittsfield at 3PM, and arrive at Penn Station at 7:05PM.
According to the berkshireedge.com, a bit of bi-state operation between New York and Massachusetts has led to today's announcement, and while the Berkshire Flyer has been announced, it's Connecticut that is holding up progress on the restoration of the Housatonic/Berkshire line.
We will see, for now, Albany gets the influx.