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Rail Study Left Out Of Final Mass. Budget

State Sen. Eric Lesser at Springfield's Union Station.
Brian Steele
/
MassLive
State Sen. Eric Lesser at Springfield's Union Station.

Once again, a study looking into more reliable high-speed rail service between Boston and Springfield was left out of Massachusetts' final state budget.

Longmeadow state Senator Eric Lesser sponsored the proposal, which did not survive negotiations between the House and Senate.

"It was killed in complete silence with no transparency behind closed doors and so we need to get an explanation," said Lesser.

The study made it into the legislature's final budget last year, but was vetoed by Governor Charlie Baker. Baker had been lobbied by the CEO of Springfield's Peter Pan Bus Lines, Peter Picknelly, who wanted the study expanded beyond rail service.

But Picknelly said this year he did not talk about the issue with lawmakers or the governor.

Copyright 2017 New England Public Media

Carson McGrath

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.