A bipartisan group of Rhode Island state lawmakers is opposing a plan to build a new Amtrak line that would speed up rail travel between Boston and New York.
Seventeen legislators sent a letter to the Federal Railroad Administration this week expressing concern about the proposed bypass that would extend from Old Lyme, Connecticut into southwestern Rhode Island.
The group represents Rhode Island's southernmost county. The plan to straighten the route to eliminate speed-restricting curves on Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor has received vociferous opposition along the eastern Connecticut shoreline for more than a year but has received less attention in Rhode Island.
Federal railroad officials plan to discuss the proposal in Charlestown next week.