Residents pack meeting to support added train service

amy.wu@ctexaminer.com December 11 2025

Westerly and Stonington are two towns separated by a state line, but their residents have a shared interest in trains, especially more and better and more affordable rail service. So, as Rhode Island launches an update of its own state rail plan, rail supporters across the border in Connecticut are also voicing their wants and wishes. 

At a meeting organized by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation on Wednesday evening, roughly 150 people packed the Westerly Public Library Auditorium to learn more about the state’s rail plans. The standing-room-only crowd also came to share their stories. The meeting offered a venue for a passionate outpouring of personal stories about why more rail service is needed for the Westerly train station into surrounding areas.

RIDOT and Amtrak collaborate to run the station and lines. 

The public listening sessions are part of a phased plan that runs through fall 2026, which includes an implementation roadmap, a dive into funding opportunities and market analysis. 

“What we do in the plan is we set up priorities, so the idea is to lay it all out and then start talking to people about the plan,” said Pamela Cotter, RIDOT’s Administrator of Planning.

Train Stories

Kaitlynne Morris, a senior transportation planner for VHB, the consulting firm by RIDOT, led the public forum. 

The meeting attracted residents of all ages from college students to working professionals to retirees. 

Many were commuters. 

“I would love to take the train but I’m seeing a lot of anguish having to ride there, and I cannot take the train because they’re either too early or too late,” said one attendee who worked at the University of Rhode Island. “Also make them a little more affordable, that would be awesome,”

Some were students and young people juggling work and classes. 

A Westerly resident who attended Rhode Island College said he drove an hour each way to school and to work and relied on a 13-year-old sedan. He pointed to the added challenge of bad weather.  

“Having a train that could connect me to Providence would be incredible because I wouldn’t have to worry about my car or dying on the highway,” he said. He said he also traveled weekly to Boston to see his partner, who doesn’t drive, adding more long hours on the road. 

Pam McDonald, a Pawcatuck rider, said she takes the Amtrak to visit her daughter in Washington D.C. and likes trains. 

“For me, it’s like three minutes to the station, and then five minutes to my daughter’s house in D.C. It is seven hours on the train. It’s five hours to drive. I’ll take the seven,” she said. “I just don’t want the service that’s there to go away.”

Other residents wanted service to the airport and commutes to their jobs in surrounding cities, notably Providence and Boston, where there are a growing number of hybrid workers. 

Shore Line East 

On the Connecticut side, Stonington residents wanted extended rail service from Shore Line East into Westerly for both work and leisure.

The first steps to more rail service, say local train advocates, is improving the Westerly station and building high platforms to streamline boarding. The design and plan for both have been woven into the state’s rail plan. 

“I would say commuter rail is the main interest people in Westerly and Pawcatuck commute, and having more accessibility to those sorts of options,” said Stephen Bessette, a member of the Stonington Economic Development Commission, who counted some 30 people from the Stonington side at the meeting. 

“This was a very impressive showing for the local community to come out for the RIDOT,” said Bessette. He said Wednesday’s meeting solidified public support for improving the station.

“Build it and they will come,” Bessette said, when it comes to getting service to Westerly.

“Our next step is to continue to stay engaged and further engage with the Connecticut-based legislative team to see what we can do with the Mystic Station and maybe get funding for the higher platform in Westerly,” said Bessette, who also proposed a trial run from the Mystic station to Westerly.

“We’re working on having Ned Lamont see this improvement is a work in progress,” he said. 

Bruce Flax, president of the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, pitched extending the rail to Westerly as a way to get people off I-95.

Already the town is a year-round draw for 2.5 million visitors and better rail service, he said, would “allow people to get up into Mystic unimpeded and be able to spend the day and then be able to jump back on a train and head back home.”

Cotter said the two states are working to coordinate their rail plans.

Rhode Island State Sen. Victoria Gu said she was trying to coordinate a meeting between Lamont and Rhode Island Governor, Dan McKee

“I talked to a lot of house representatives and senators, and the lieutenant governor wanted to be here. She has set up meetings between her and lieutenant governor of Connecticut,” said Gu. “We are trying to set up a meeting with the Connecticut governor and the Rhode Island governor.”

Quonset Business Park in North Kingston, which employs over 15,000 people, and Electric Boat in Groton, both could be better served by transit, said Gu.

“Groton is a huge job center and so is Quonset and those are the areas that are growing, and it’s a funny thing is those are the areas that are not really served by commuter rail,” she said.

After the meeting, Stonington First Selectman Bill Middleton told CT Examiner he didn’t think the idea of improved rail service was “pie in the sky” but that the decisions would be made at the state level.

“The most important thing we can do is continually demonstrate strong interest and potential demand,” Middleton said. “I don’t think it’s pie in the sky, but it will take a lot of persistent engagement from the public and hard work to get there.”

Fewer cars, more buses

But attendees also shared their concerns regarding affordability and cost, particularly for students and senior citizens. 

One rider complained that a roundtrip ticket on Amtrak to New York cost $500, which was met with a shake of heads. 

Others said trains were important for health and welfare especially to seniors 

“Access to health care that our trains would provide would be enormous, and I think it’s underrated. I have three doctors in Boston, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to Boston because it’s better, it’s the health care that’s better and I often get there by train. I schedule my appointments around the station, and it’s been a whole new world for me,” he said. 

“You often need a bus to get to the train station because there’s not enough parking at the train station, but it also expands the potential community of people who can access the train station,” he said, adding that he came to see what RIDOT was planning and “how serious they were taking it.” 

The forum drew a strong showing from elected officials, business and nonprofit leaders, and public transit advocacy organizations who were in attendance to show their support including Westerly Town Manager Shawn Lacey, members of the Westerly Town Council, Carly Callahan, executive director of United Theatre, and staff from local nonprofits including Jonnycake Center, Grow Smart RI and the South County Tourism Council. 

What’s next 

Next steps through the spring include a peer market review, market analysis and rail alternatives evaluation. Then from summer into fall, the goal is to identify funding and develop an implementation roadmap. 

An Amtrak feasibility study is already complete and includes plans for full-length high platforms at Westerly Station. But Rhode Island transportation officials say they are pushing Amtrak to install mini high platforms in the interim — an idea that is already partially funded and part of the Northeast Corridor Commission’s Capital Investment Plan.

As for an extension of commuter rail, the Northeast Corridor Commission’s plan identified expanded commuter rail service as one of the outcomes of the Westerly Station Improvements.

“While the details haven’t yet been fully ironed out and there isn’t a firm proposal to set into motion just yet, the policy intent has been officially communicated. Our job as rail advocates is to make the case for that policy to be pursued as soon as possible,” said Alex Berardo, a Westerly resident and vice chair of the R.I. Association of Rail Passengers. 

Louis Sposato, a Westerly resident, said he thought the meeting was positive. 

“I’d like to see the raised platforms in Westerly. I’d like to see increased stops for both the commuter rail and Amtrak,” he said. “I don’t know but at least somebody’s talking about it and they’re coming up working on a plan,” Sposato said.