Rhode Island is expected to seek federal funding for a rail project that will initially improve Amtrak service in Westerly but potentially lead to closing the only gap in commuter rail in the Northeast.
That gap is from New London, Connecticut to Wickford. For years, Rhode Island legislators and rail advocates, principally from the Westerly area, and legislators and rail advocates in nearby Connecticut, have jointly lobbied for the extension of Shore Line East from New London to initially Westerly, and eventually Wickford.
Westerly is one of four rail stations without a raised platform in the Northeast, something seen as essential for any commuter rail expansion and Amtrak increasing stops in Westerly.
State Sen. Victoria Gu, D-Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown and Alex Berardo, vice chair of the Rhode Island Association of Rail Passengers (RIARP), said the Rhode Island Department of Transportation is expected to apply for a $6.5 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Berardo said the Federal Railroad Administration should award grants by late summer or early fall, and if Rhode Island wins the award, he expects construction of the “mini high” platform to be complete by August 2029.
The $6.5 million is considerably less than the $20 to $30 million officials had said it would cost for construction of a permanent high-level platform in Westerly.
Higher platforms mean level boarding, which expedites passenger flow by providing stair-free access. Stairs, the Association said, are “cumbersome to navigate” for handicap riders or those carrying luggage on board. Low level platforms, the Passengers’ Association said, “present accessibility challenges for riders and trigger extended dwell times at station.”
A “mini high” platform means that the length of the raised platform would be one car length, necessitated in Westerly because of the track’s curve.
In December, an overflow crowd of individuals from both Westerly and Stonington, Conn. met with DOT representatives to express their support for the rail project.
The challenges of extending Shore Line East to Westerly and beyond are considerable. While Rhode Island Gov Dan McKee has told local officials he favors the project, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has favored extending the commuter rail to Norwich.
Officials have said if undertaken the overall project will not be completed for five to 10 years and at a considerable cost.
Gu and Barardo said the Westerly upgrade alone would bring considerable benefits to the area.
- Extending Connecticut’s Shore Line East Commuter Rail from New London to Westerly would cost a projected $243 million, according to a 2023 Eastern Connecticut Corridor Rail and Transit feasibility study. That plan would require raising the platform at Westerly’s historic train station, building new stations at Groton and Stonington, and either improving or building a new station in Mystic.
- An extension of Shore Line East to Norwich, according to the study, would cost a projected $636 million.
Douglas Brockway, chair of Westerly’s Economic Development Commission, has said a raised station, could double the number of Amtrak stops from five to 10 a day, a boon to local businesses, making it easier for them to attract employees.
Doubling the number of Amtrak stops in Westerly to 10 a day, would substantially increase rail traffic at the station from its current 50,000 passengers annually, according to officials.
“Installing high platforms at Westerly will pave the way for Rhode Island and Connecticut to close the only gap in commuter rail between Boston and New York,” the passengers’ association said. “The Westerly station upgrade project can stand on its merits. The benefits would accrue not only to a single small town in southern Rhode Island, but also to the overall system into which it is integrated – the Northeast Corridor.”
Westerly is only one of four of the 28 station stops that Amtrak’s Northeast Regional intercity rail service makes that are exclusively low platform stations. The others are Mystic, Connecticut; Newark, Delaware; and Aberdeen, Maryland. Newark and Aberdeen are already slated for improvements.