File:Greenfield, Secretary Davey, Knowledge Corridor, August 20, 2014 (14794553278).jpg

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Governor Deval Patrick today announced an agreement in principle allowing the Commonwealth to purchase the Knowledge Corridor rail line between East Northfield and Springfield from Pan Am Southern, a joint venture of Pan Am and Norfolk Southern. The 49-mile segment of rail is currently undergoing a major restoration that will allow for more efficient passenger service, in response to increased demand, and will allow the Commonwealth to maintain and enhance freight service, which will take trucks off the roads, reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.

“For close to 100 years, the Commonwealth’s rail infrastructure was the lifeblood of economic vitality for communities in Franklin and Berkshire counties, and across Western Massachusetts,” said Governor Patrick. “Through this agreement, we are realizing the renewed value this infrastructure can have in creating economic opportunities throughout the region.”

The agreement in principle to purchase the Knowledge Corridor rail line is an important milestone in the Knowledge Corridor/Restore Vermonter Project. The project will restore the original route of Amtrak’s Vermonter travelling between St. Albans, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. from its current routing via Palmer and Amherst. The work on the project includes upgrades to the 50-mile Pan Am Southern Connecticut River Line running between Springfield and East Northfield, known as the Knowledge Corridor. The ongoing restoration project will lead to the relocation of the Vermonter, Amtrak’s north-south passenger rail service to the Knowledge Corridor by the end of 2014, potentially reducing trip times by 25 minutes. Starting in East Northfield, the restoration runs south to Springfield and includes the construction of three new station platforms in Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke. Passenger service on this line ceased in the 1980s and was rerouted southeast to Palmer, where trains reverse direction and head west to Springfield.

Beginning in August 2012, the restoration work consists of the replacement of approximately 95,000 rail ties, new continuously welded rail, new active warning signals and crossing gates at 23 public grade crossings, upgrades to six bridges and the first phase of a new signal installation. The restoration is funded through a $75 million grant awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration and approximately $40 million dollars in state funds. The work is expected to be complete in 2016, after the start of passenger service. These improvements will improve safety, increase operating speeds for existing freight train traffic and the Vermonter and enhance capacity on the rail line to accommodate future increased levels of train traffic.

“The Knowledge Corridor is a rail asset that will play a key role in the region’s transportation system, both by delivering improved customer service in the form of faster travel times, as well as by being built to a standard that can accommodate more freight,” said MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey. “Purchasing the line will also allow us to preserve the line’s viability for the long-term, and will position the Commonwealth to use this line for increased passenger service that could provide commuters in the region a competitive alternative to driving on I-91.”
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Source Greenfield, Secretary Davey, Knowledge Corridor, August 20, 2014
Author MassDOT
Camera location42° 35′ 10.2″ N, 72° 36′ 06.48″ W Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth has stated that such works can be copied and used for any purpose. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.
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A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) can be found at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf and page 7 says:

"With the exception of situations in which a records custodian is withholding records pursuant to Exemption (n), inquiries into a requester's status or motivation for seeking information are expressly prohibited. [1] Consequently, all requests for public records, even if made for a commercial purpose or to assist the requester in a lawsuit against the holder of the records, must be honored in accordance with the Public Records Law."

  1. ↑ See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (public records are to be provided to “any person”); see also 950 CMR 32.05(5) (custodian prohibited from inquiring into a requester’s status or motivation); but see G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(n) (a records custodian may ask the requester to voluntarily provide additional information in order to reach a “reasonable judgment” regarding disclosure of responsive records).
Definition of "public record"

Public records are defined in A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf on page 40, under M. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) as:

all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, or any person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which receives or expends public funds for the payment or administration of pensions for any current or former employees of the commonwealth or any political subdivision as defined in section 1 of chapter 32, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions found on page 40

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Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may be "public records", their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.
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current12:03, 28 October 2018Thumbnail for version as of 12:03, 28 October 2018980 × 1,306 (593 KB)SteinsplitterBot (talk | contribs)Bot: Image rotated by 270° (EXIF-Orientation set from 6 to 1, rotated 0°)
17:45, 19 June 2018Thumbnail for version as of 17:45, 19 June 20181,306 × 980 (593 KB)Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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