Train Time

Inspired by constituents, a new state senator leads with rail

In this episode of Train Time, we spoke to State Senator Jo Comerford, who represents a large rural district in the northwest of  Massachusetts. Comerford is a relatively new legislator, having taken office in 2019. As a legislator in Boston, she started talking about rural rail right out of the starting gate, and explains in this interview that her focus on rail was driven by the stories she heard on the campaign trail. Here, she explains her vision for restored passenger service on what’s known as the “Northern Tier” line.

The Northern Tier Rail Study will look at the feasibility of restoring passenger rail service between North Adams, Greenfield and Boston. In addition to direct service along the Northern Tier Line the service could provide connecting service via Greenfield to southern New Hampshire and Vermont. A connecting service to Montreal would also be possible. For more detail, visit the Northern Tier Rail Study page at Trains in the Valley. At the Train Campaign website you'll find an earlier proposal for the same line, extending west to Pownal, VT and then to Schenectady, NY, by Walter Klinger, a retired Amtrak conductor based in Vermont. For more about the potential connections in New York State, here's Guest Post: Letter to MassDOT from Steve Strauss, NYS Council Representative – Rail Passengers Association.

Jo Comerford moved to western Massachusetts after graduating from the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York. Her career has included time at the Center for Human Development, the American Friends Service Committee, and The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. She was then executive director of the National Priorities Project before becoming a campaign director for MoveOn, focusing on a range of issues from gun safety to health care. She was elected to the state senate in 2018 and represents the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester District. In 2021, Comerford was appointed chair of a new Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management.

Our first Train Time podcast outside the Northeast takes us to Big Sky country. We spoke to David Strohmaier, chair of the Missoula Board of County Commissioners, about efforts to restore passenger rail service restored through the southern tier of Montana. He is also chair of the newly formed Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, which was featured recently in the New York Times (link below). This Authority is a legal entity formed by a coalition of counties, and will be working to develop plans and raise support in the region and in Washington DC.

Strohmaier explains that when Hiawatha service was stopped in 1979, the Empire Builder service that goes from Chicago to Seattle through the North Tier of Montana was maintained. The choice was based on preserving public transportation in the more remote part of the state, even though that came at the expense of the cities and towns along the Southern Tier.  Strohmaier emphasized a point that we often make: passenger rail restoration is not a zero-sum game, pitting one project against another. Our aim should be to focus on creating networks, east-west and north-south connections. He sees future potential in passenger rail restoration on other lines that, like the Housatonic Line and North Tier Line in Massachusetts, used to have passenger trains and now have only freight.

Strohmaier and his colleagues want to see studies focus on the value passenger rail creates, and on the equity that good public transportation provides. He also explains that the counties that are part of the Authority range from blue/purple politically to various shades of red. They have found common purpose in this initiative to benefit the entire region. It’s 600 miles across Montana, and the restored line would go through a county with a population of only 1,000 as well as three of the biggest cities in Montana, including the state capital, Helena.

Dave Strohmaier has called Missoula home since 1997. He currently serves as chair of the Missoula Board of County Commissioners and he also chairs the Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee. From 2006 to 2013, Dave represented Ward 1 on the Missoula City Council. Prior to his time in elected office, Dave spent 18 years with the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service in a variety of roles. He also spent 13 years in the private sector as a public historian with Historical Research Associates, Inc., where he specialized in environmental and Native American history.

Transcript

Note: This transcript was created using AI and will be edited for readability. (THIS EDITING HAS NOT YET BEEN DONE YET!) The AI transcript is time-stamped , which is useful as a guide to finding a point in the recording, but the time-stamps are not a perfect match to the podcast because we’ve added an introduction and did some editing.

SPEAKERS

Karen Christensen, Dave Strohmaier

Karen Christensen 00:55

Dave. Hello. It's just great to have you with us from the great state of Montana. What's the weather like out there?

Dave Strohmaier

It is hovering around freezing today. But we do have snow on the ground and it's still feeling like winter.

Karen Christensen 01:12

Ah, yes, I'm in Massachusetts.

This is really exciting, both because of what you're doing, and because this is the first Train Time podcast where we've really got gone outside the Northeast region, and away from the East Coast, way out west. So it's been an education for me, I've been looking at maps and I'm counting on you to educate me more about Montana and exactly what you see passenger rail as bringing to your state.

Dave Strohmaier 01:45

I am happy to be here to do exactly that.

Karen Christensen 01:47

So tell me how did this all get started? How did you get involved? I gather that you're one of the leaders in this the effort in Montana, and tell us a bit about yourself, please.

Dave Strohmaier 02:00

Yeah, so I currently serve as th