Amtrak Service Begins in Greenfield, Northampton

The John W. Olver Transit Center has been waiting two years for Amtrak trains. Passenger service between Washington, D.C., and St. Albans, Vt., begins Dec. 29 with stops in Greenfield and Northampton.

GREENFIELD, Mass. — Amtrak will begin Amtrak Vermonter service to Greenfield and Northampton beginning Dec. 29. Tickets are now available for purchase.

The Vermonter will also add a stop in Holyoke later in 2015 when station work is complete. The added stops because of the reroute will replace service provided to the Amherst station, which will end on Dec. 28.

The restoration of train service to the Knowledge Corridor has been a goal of the state Department of Transportation and Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, which have been leading the effort to improve the Pan Am Southern tracks and shorten trip times within the commonwealth. Funding for the project was provided through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield opened in 2012 in anticipation of the restoration of passenger train service and the hope that it will also be restored west through the Hoosac Tunnel to North Adams.

In preparation for the new service, Amtrak has been working with local authorities to raise rail safety awareness by meeting with community groups and schools. A variety of rail safety education tools are available from Operation Lifesaver, a rail safety education organization.

MCLA in Talks With Anonymous Donor for Art Museum, Art Lab

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Monday, April 29, 2024

Andre Lynch, the new vice provost for institutional equity and belonging, introduces himself to the trustees, some of whom were participating remotely.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts may be in line for up to a $10 million donation that will include a campus art museum. 

 

President Jamie Birge told the board of trustees on Thursday that  the college has been in discussions for the last couple years with a donor who wishes at this point to remain anonymous.

 

"It's a donor that has a history of working with public liberal arts institutions to advance the arts that those institutions," he said.  "This donor would like to talk with us or has been talking with us about creating art museum and an art lab on campus."

 

The Fine and Performing Arts Department will have input, the president continued. "We want to make sure that it's a facility that supports that teaching and learning dynamic as well as responding to what's the interest of donor."

 

The college integrated into the local arts community back in 2005 with the opening of Gallery 51 on Main Street that later expanded with an art lab next door. The gallery under the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center had been the catalyst for the former Downstreet Art initiative; its participation has fallen off dramatically with changes in leadership and the pandemic. 

 

This new initiative, should it come to pass, would create a facility on MCLA Foundation property adjacent to the campus. The donor and the foundation have already split the cost of a study. 

 

"We conducted that study to look at what approximately a 6,500-square-foot facility would look like," said Birge. "How we would staff the gallery and lab, how can we use this lab space for fine and performing arts."