by Jeff Smith
Just recently local university students started working on a project to gauge interest in the restoration of passenger rail service to Newport, RI. Using the RIDOT owned Newport Secondary Rail Line the trains would be able to run north to the new MBTA South Coast Rail Line in Fall River, MA to Boston (and possible Providence in the future). This video explains the project briefly with some background info on the line's current state. Please take the time to answer the survey and petition below to show support for restored rail service to Newport, RI!
From the petition: “There are many people living on Aquidneck Island that do not have access to private car travel. The existing bus transportation lines that connect the island's population to the Providence and Boston metropolitan areas are not sustainable for regular travel. At present there are no other public transportation alternative besides bus travel, and there is an opportunity for Rhode Island to utilize the existing rail infrastructure on Aquidneck Island to resolve this accessibility issue.
Rhode Island as the smallest state in the country has the ability to be highly interconnected, and yet its infrastructure is far behind other cities in the Northeast. The Rhode Island State Legislature recently signed the Act on Climate agreement for carbon neutrality by the year 2050, and must start rethinking interstate travel. Rail travel has the ability to be built in electric technology, and could be a large solution to the gas powered bus systems already in place”
Next stop, Willoughby
~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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