Sign Up For Amtrak’s Mailing List And Provide Input To The High Speed Rail Study

The New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study includes a website that allows the public to sign up for the study’s mailing list and optionally to provide input to Amtrak about the study.

Background About The Study

In 2016, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released a plan to bisect Charlestown with new high-speed track that would have crossed into Charlestown from Westerly, run from Charlestown’s western edge to its eastern edge, and finally reconnected with the existing railroad near the Great Swamp State Wildlife Management Area in South Kingstown.

Land in Charlestown and Connecticut was squarely in the middle of the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass.” The Bypass was the “preferred alternative” in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

More than 16 organizations worked tirelessly against the Bypass, including Greg Stroud and his organization SECoast, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, and the Charlestown Town Council elected in 2016.

When the Federal Railroad Administration released its Record of Decision on July 12, 2017, and dropped the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass” from the decision, it was great news and a big win for Charlestown. However, the Bypass was replaced by a required study that was needed to develop a new preferred alternative and that left Charlestown at risk for an alternative that would be similar to that of the Bypass.

Amtrak made an announcement on May 21, 2026, that the study required by the FRA’s 2017 Record of Decision had finally received federal government and other funding to proceed. Amtrak estimates that the study—the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study—will take up to two years.

In early June, Amtrak launched a website, https://newhavenprovidencestudy.com/ that included a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. Amtrak says the website will be enlarged as the study progresses and more information becomes available.

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. We are committed to protecting Charlestown and the natural resources and public and private property that would be destroyed if anything like the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass” returns.