BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The East-West Rail is a plan to connect Boston and Springfield by high-speed train, which is something that western Massachusetts residents have been pushing for years now.

The proposal started with just a few western Massachusetts lawmakers and soon gained the support of the Boston City Council.

Over the last year or so, the Department of Transportation has been looking into the cost of the project and the number of people that would actually use the service if it were available.

Recently, MassDOT released their ridership estimates and they believe that East-West Rail could see as many as 200,000 riders annually, but lawmakers from the western part of the state still think that number is too low.

Pittsfield Senator Adam Hinds told 22News, “We’ve been very clear from the start here that the DOT was underestimating ridership and we thought there was induced ridership that was not being considered.”

Senator Hinds has been pushing for the East-West Rail proposal to be extended to include the city of Pittsfield.

Right now the Federal Government is considering a major infrastructure bill which East-West Rail supports are hoping to bid into, to provide some funding for the project.