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 Shows Off Mark Hopkins' Needs to Lieutenant Governor

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:26PM / Saturday, November 15, 2025

MCLA professor Maggie Clark says the outdated classrooms with their chalkboards aren't providing the technical support aspiring teachers need. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The outdated lockers are painted over, large air conditioners are in the windows, and professors are still using chalkboards and projectors in the classrooms.

 

The last significant work on Mark Hopkins was done in the 1980s, and its last "sprucing up" was years ago. 

 

"The building has great bones," President Jamie Birge told Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, as they stood in a third-floor classroom on Friday afternoon. "The envelope needs to be worked on, sure, but it's stable, so it's usable — but it just isn't usable in this form."

 

The "new" Mark Hopkins School opened in 1940 on Church Street and later became a campus school for what was then North Adams State Teachers College. There haven't been children in the building in years: it's been used for office space and for classrooms since about 1990. 

 

"I live in this building. Yeah, I teach the history of American education," said education professor Maggie Clark, joining officials as they laughed that the classroom was historical. 

 

"Projecting forward, we're talking about assistive technology, working with students with disabilities to have this facility as our emblem for what our foundation is, is a challenge."

 

Board of Trustees Chair Buffy Lord said the classroom hadn't changed since she attended classes there in the 1990s.