WORCESTER, Mass. - CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs was in Massachusetts Wednesday and said the company is looking forward to the first phase of the state’s East-West passenger rail project.

CSX owns the tracks west of Worcester that the trains would run on.

The Healey-Driscoll administration announced last month they secured more than $108 million in federal funding to support the project. The project will facilitate two Amtrak inland route daily round trips as a first phase of corridor improvements between Boston, Worcester and Springfield.

“We’re really excited to work together and make that happen,” Hinrichs said. “We think it’s in the best interests of not only the passengers, but also the economy to make it happen. The big investment is going to be in the stations and then making sure we also have the infrastructure – signals, communications – to be able to run those networks with more passenger traffic.

"We’re obviously excited about this first phase, and then if we go further west, we’ll look forward to partnering on that as well. We see opportunities to make this happen and we have a strong relationship with Amtrak and MassDOT, so I'm sure we'll work together to make that happen."

Infrastructure improvements are expected to decrease travel times for commuters and create additional corridor capacity along the 53-mile section of the CSX Boston & Albany line between Worcester and Springfield.