The only way that anything beyond a simple Gardiner or Athol commuter extension seems even remotely feasible is if you restore the trackage between Adams and Pittsfield and build something along the lines of a lower-frequency, intra-state Downeaster, branded as something other than commuter rail.
Now, unlike the Downeaster, you don't have a city with the size/reputation of Portland anchoring your route through the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, that "middle of nowhere" just happens to be one of the prettiest and most underrated parts of New England, and at the end of it is the world-class art museums of North Adams and Williamstown, the tourist draw of the Berkshires, and all of the stuff around Pittsfield/Lenox like Tanglewood, etc. It's just crazy enough to work.
If you did that, you now connect an increasing number of monied but carless milennial Bostonian would-be tourists with some of the best hiking, scenery, and culture in the state but without any of the hassle of the 3+ hour drive that it normally takes to get there, along with their monied but aging boomer parents who would love to visit places like Shelburne Falls, Williamstown, or Lenox, but might not feel up for the drive. On top of that, like the Downeaster, you'll probably have a small handful of eccentric upper middle class professional types who actually use it to commute to their jobs as tenured professors or senior law partners or whatever else is worth commuting 2-3 hours by train for, and I'm sure there's no shortage of those types in the Pittsfield region. Weekday ridership would be lean, but could be decently steady if they subsidize it enough and keep fares down.
That said, imho, the only way it works is if MassDOT makes like the state of Maine and buys/leases a bunch of Amfleets or something similarly comfortable and runs 3-4 car consists with a dining car, subsidized like the Downeaster to a similar price point so that a trip from Pittsfield to Boston never breaks $20. It's far too long of a trip to make in a spartan commuter rail coach, and it needs to be cheaper than making the trip by Zipcar or whatever. Depending on how much the state truly cares about boosting tourism and investment in the Mohawk Trail region, even that could be a bargain. Riding the train through that incredible scenery to hike Greylock, spend an afternoon at Mass MOCA or the Clark Institute, or catch a performance at Tanglewood would be one hell of a ticket, one that the Cape Flyer or even the Downeaster would struggle to match.
Now, unlike the Downeaster, you don't have a city with the size/reputation of Portland anchoring your route through the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, that "middle of nowhere" just happens to be one of the prettiest and most underrated parts of New England, and at the end of it is the world-class art museums of North Adams and Williamstown, the tourist draw of the Berkshires, and all of the stuff around Pittsfield/Lenox like Tanglewood, etc. It's just crazy enough to work.
If you did that, you now connect an increasing number of monied but carless milennial Bostonian would-be tourists with some of the best hiking, scenery, and culture in the state but without any of the hassle of the 3+ hour drive that it normally takes to get there, along with their monied but aging boomer parents who would love to visit places like Shelburne Falls, Williamstown, or Lenox, but might not feel up for the drive. On top of that, like the Downeaster, you'll probably have a small handful of eccentric upper middle class professional types who actually use it to commute to their jobs as tenured professors or senior law partners or whatever else is worth commuting 2-3 hours by train for, and I'm sure there's no shortage of those types in the Pittsfield region. Weekday ridership would be lean, but could be decently steady if they subsidize it enough and keep fares down.
That said, imho, the only way it works is if MassDOT makes like the state of Maine and buys/leases a bunch of Amfleets or something similarly comfortable and runs 3-4 car consists with a dining car, subsidized like the Downeaster to a similar price point so that a trip from Pittsfield to Boston never breaks $20. It's far too long of a trip to make in a spartan commuter rail coach, and it needs to be cheaper than making the trip by Zipcar or whatever. Depending on how much the state truly cares about boosting tourism and investment in the Mohawk Trail region, even that could be a bargain. Riding the train through that incredible scenery to hike Greylock, spend an afternoon at Mass MOCA or the Clark Institute, or catch a performance at Tanglewood would be one hell of a ticket, one that the Cape Flyer or even the Downeaster would struggle to match.
