Michael Lewis, director of the Department of Transportation, is confident that the state will have an agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to provide rail service to Warwick before the intermodal facility is completed next fall, although it could be some time later before a train actually makes a stop.

In an interview Tuesday, Lewis said service to Warwick hinges on a number of factors including agreements with the MBTA; work that needs to be done by Amtrak and the status of the Wickford Junction station where a parking garage is to be built and where trains would reverse direction to run to Warwick, Providence and eventually Boston.

In the meantime, construction on the $266 million intermodal facility to connect Green Airport to the railroad is on schedule for a Sept. 23, 2010 opening. The project is made up of three major components: an elevated people mover; rental car parking and service garage and commuter parking garage. The station will basically consist of a platform to accommodate MBTA service. Amtrak trains would not be stopping at the platform at this time.

Patti Goldstein, vice president of public affairs for the Rhode Island Airport Corporation said that rental car companies would “stage” a transition to the intermodal prior to the opening.

But will there be rail service to the intermodal?

“We all want the trains at the intermodal as soon as it is completed,” Lewis said. He said that the operational elements of an agreement with MBTA have been finalized and that staff is currently in discussions over legal and liability issues.

He said that DOT studies show fare revenues would offset any added costs of operating the Warwick and Wickford service. He said the understanding is that Massachusetts riders would not be subsiding service to Rhode Islanders.

Lewis is hopeful an agreement will be hammered out in time for approval by the MBTA board at its August meeting.

An agreement, he explained, is critical to funding for the station at Wickford Junction and construction of a 1,100-car parking garage there. Without a guarantee of rail service the federal government will not release about $50 million in funds, he said. The money will be used for the station and the garage that landowner and developer Robert Cioe will manage. He said that the DOT has entered into an agreement with Cioe to oversee the construction as well as the operation of the garage.

As a contingency Lewis said there is a plan to provide service to Warwick only should the Wickford station, which would include a sidetrack for MBTA trains to stop in order to reverse service, be delayed.

A more likely delay is Amtrak.

Amtrak requires that it perform all work within its right of way and with so much work to be done throughout the system, Lewis thinks the signalization and revisions that need to be done to accommodate MBTA could be delayed.

“Amtrak has a big work load,” he said referencing all that the railroad has scheduled.

Spokesman Clifford Cole said, “Amtrak is involved in a continuing dialogue with the state of Rhode Island to establish a workable timeframe for completion of this project. In the meantime, work to construct the intermodal facility, which will ultimately serve as both a train station and a link to T.F. Green Airport, continues. Officials from both parties are also discussing details on the commencement of rail service to Warwick and Wickford, including a proposed Wickford facility.”