CtDOT Stimulus Projects/Priorities

I did something like this over in Amtrak; let's see what we have to say here for CT. Top 5 projects? I did a separate thread for MNRR.

1. Replace all Shore Line bridges
2. Danbury branch: extend service to New Milford on the Berkshire, and across to Brewster on the Maybrook/Beacon. This would involve purchasing the ROW from HRRC, and a massive rehab/upgrade of both ROW's. Restore the old CNE connection to the Harlem line to obviate the need for a reverse move, or reconnect farther north to gain access to Southeast. For that matter, a new connection northbound below Southeast could be used as a shuttle connection from Danbury to Southeast, with a cross-platform transfer. This would help with capacity issues downstream. Purchase the Derby - Danbury section of the HRRC owned ROW and rehab in coordination with the P&W. Potential future intrastate passenger use
3. Restore New London - Worcester service
4. Improve Waterbury Branch service; high level platforms, permanent Devon transfer, etc.
5. Renew fleet for all services and proposed service expansions

I whole heartily agree with #2, They need to buy out the HRRC from Boardman's Bridge south and Derby west.

1. Along the New Haven Line, either fix or even replace all of the river bridges but the Peck Draw(a little more recent). I know that the Norwalk River is next. The Housatonic River should be next. Given that this bridge is on a straight portion of the line and the bridge is in not the best shape, replacing it would help raise the speeds. Presently, trains have to slow down a lot crossing that bridge. Much of the New Haven Line is presently good for 75 mph between Bridgeport and New Haven. The Saugatuck River Bridge should be the next one to be replaced and then the Miamus River. For every river bridge that isn't replaced, that will slow down the trains a bit. It would be nice if there was some 90-100 mph running on the New Haven Line. Between Bridgeport and New Haven may be a good start. This will not only help Metro North trains have a faster trip. It will benefit Amtrak trains as well and hopefully, the Acela can get a little closer to making three hour running time from NYP-Boston South Station or at least to Route 128 Station.

2. We all know that the Waterbury Branch service improvements will be a reality and they are much needed, given that it seems that more and more people are moving to the Naugatuck Valley to save money. They might not all work in Midtown Manhattan. There are many that work in cities like Bridgeport and Stamford who will find the twice an hour rush hour service that is supposed to happen on the branch when the sidings are finished, I believe.

3. We are still waiting to hear about what will replace the Mafersa cars that operate on both Ctrail routes as well as the leased MBB cars that operate in Hartford Line service. This also goes with any CDOT owned Shoreliners that operate in the Metro North pool.

4. More double track added to the Springfield Line-the stretch from just north of Windsor to, I believe there the CT/MA border is. It would be great if the freight siding just south of Hartford Station is upgraded to handle passenger moves.

J.D. Lang wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:21 amI whole heartily agree with #2, They need to buy out the HRRC from Boardman's Bridge south and Derby west.

The deep recession to follow will be the best time to buy ROW. Straight purchase, don't let them retain freight rights! Can a railroad be taken by eminent domain by a state?

Someone mentioned previously that eminent domain was precluded by the fact that CT had the opportunity to buy the ROW when Conrail withdrew and did not. I don't know if that's true or not as I'm not a lawyer and I haven't seen any facts to back that up. MA bought their section of HRRC recently.

I have no idea how freight rights work, but I'd imagine there's a contract with CTDOT that would specify terms and causes for termination. It's hard to imagine that could happen, and they have a complicated ownership structure.

Keep in mind, HRRC is a privately-owned company. They resuscitated a dormant rail-banked line that without them would likely be a rail-trail by now. Yes, it's frustrating watching the lack of maintenance, derailments, and what we think is a silly passenger proposal to NYC (there's a whole lot of nothing between Canaan and New Milford). We have no idea what their financial situation is.

Sorry, just playing devil's advocate here, we just don''t know. But I do think that given an infrastructure stimulus, buying and rehabbing the ROW is a priority.

If HRRC needs to improve their right of way, then they should do that. Freight railroads like that should not be exempt from letting their tracks get defective, just like any other rail company. Either way, let's not get our hopes up of running any passenger rail on the HRRC. It's not even worth it to extend MNR's Danbury Branch to New Milford. First, the right of way make a loop around the DRM and the MNR yard. North of New Milford, much of the area is no mans land. The Harlem Line doesn't run that far away from the HRRC line and many people living in the towns along the HRRC drive over to the Harlem Line for a faster train ride. There are plenty of cars with license plates from Northwestern Connecticut at the Wassaic Station lot as well as Harlem Valley-Wingdale. If you live in New Milford, then it's probably a little faster to drive to Southeast for your train ride to Manhattan.

Danbury-New Milford,evict HRRC if needed,give P&W full time freight access.side benny, Maybrook returned to MN to use as needed.
Gets rid of reverse move at Walk tower for P&W's CT-2 local.

New Canaan, passing siding at Springdale Cemetery.

Waterbury,see that thread for details.

A law that bans any future Busways!!!!!

A siding would be nice on the New Canaan Branch. Hopefully, that will help add trains during the reverse peak. Even with the siding, there is probably no need to run more trains on the New Canaan Branch that operate on weekends. From having ridden the New Canaan Line in Jan of 2015 on MLK Day, I don't think the trains have that high of a ridership to warrant 30 minute weekend service on the branch. The New Canaan Branch is not that long of a branch. Even with the siding, people will drive to Stamford to get the train.

Restore the 4th passenger track Milford - New Haven.

1) M8s for Shore Line East. If you have to use bridge plates at New London, then so be it.

2) Getting the second platform up at Madison. Clinton is progressing well, but there's been nothing about even starting the project here in Madison.

3) Infill stations along the Hartford Line at North Haven/Hamden, West Hartford, and Enfield.

4) Replacing the bridges on the New Haven line. This can hopefully increase speeds and improve reliability.

This is in no particular order, and just what I'd like to see.

M8s on SLE would be nice but unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. Diesels will continue to operate under the wires on CTrail SLE trains. It would be nice if the second platform at Madison gets built soon. That's great news that the Clinton Station platform construction is going well.

As for the Hartford Line, that would be great if construction on the new stations would start soon. I think before North Haven, the stations in West Hartford and Enfield will see construction. I know there is a proposal to build a new station in Newington. Obviously, Amtrak used to stop in North Haven but that was a few decades ago before I was born and it didn't last too long. I think around Devine Street was where they stopped. I know that there was a commuter lot. That's a very good spot to have a park n ride lot style train station for those people who probably live in the northern part of the City of New Haven proper, in Hamden, North Haven, and probably even east of New Haven. We have to wonder if North Haven opens up again, which direction will most people who would board Ctrail trains be traveling in. I am probably thinking toward Hartford and Springfield but there will probably still be many people boarding trains to Downtown New Haven and New Haven Union Station at North Haven, especially during the rush hour.

As for the West Hartford Station-it looks like it's supposed to be at a good location, not too far from 84 and 91, and connected to a Cttransit Bus Rapid Transit station as well as other local buses.

North Haven is more of “low hanging fruit” and I feel it will probably happen before Newington area & Enfield as several steps are already taken care of, such as: CDOT property, and parking lot already. The area is already a stop for both CT local bus to New Haven and Express bus 950, but only serving Hartford commuters. It’s biggest problem will be the smaller platform size due to its proposed placement north of the highway. There is a dedicated thread for that station proposal, IIRC.

We need to be realistic as money does not grow on trees.

Metro-North (Connecticut)
1) No need for fourth track in Milford, plus the westbound platform is located where the track was.
2) Some type of passing track on the New Canaan branch. Look where parking can be expanded (perhaps Talmadge Hill) and promote use for commutes to GCT as well as Stamford.
3) Obviously the bridge work that is needed.
4) Raised platforms at branch stations that don't have as well as TVM' at stations that don't have and on the east bound platforms if none exist.

Hartford LIne
1) For new Hartford line stations, as well as Windsor upgrade and Windsor locks, they should build a basic station, not elaborate like Wallingford, Berlin, Meriden. Just install hi-level with ticket machines at Windsor (I recall seeing a diagram) and forget about the elaborate station. Do something basic like that for Enfield. It is critical to get either West Hartford or Newington open. I suggest one as the station would have a connection to CT Fast track.
North Haven as a basic, just a hi level platform with crossing gates (like Windsor would have if they have hi-level platforms).
2) Critical to add second track, at least from the state line to the east side of the CT River. Upgrade the section from Oakwood Ave to Parkville. The rest (second track in Windsor Locks, New CT river bridge and Hartford rebuild will come later. If extending the second track from Parkville a few thousand feet is doable, do that.
3) Critical for equipment. If they had equipment and track upgrades, they could eliminate the Enfield commuter bus (which basically dead-heads as a reverse commute) and use the Enfield railroad station. Just need parking and a temporary raised platform for Windsor Locks.
4) Bus to airport from Windsor Locks station and a frequent bus from Windsor to Day Hill Road-Griffin Office Park.

SLE
1) Complete the Clinton platform and build a Madison platform.
2) It would be nice to have M8's available. Not sure of the logistic as to how short a train can be. I think it may have something to do with the computer program. We don't want to use that many M8's which are needed on the main line.
3) If they use Diesel, why can't some trains extend to Mohegan if Mohegan builds a station? Need clearance from the freight line but Amtrak ran over that route. This would create an off hours passenger market and be helpful in the summer when traffic is heavy.
4) Perhaps a station at Rocky Neck. Need to pave the parking area but perhaps that also would generate off hours passenger market.


Also, need to be realistic.
Fund this by:
1) Higher gas tax when the market price for oil is down.
2) Truck only tolls on certain roads.

I agree that all of the branchline stations on the MNR New Haven Line branches in Connecticut should have high level platforms. If it is going to happen to every station on the Waterbury Branch, then it should happen to Merritt 7, the only low level platform station on the Danbury Branch.

As for the second track on the Springfield Line, it would be nice if the second track would be restored as much as possible between very close to the CT/MA border to Windsor where the present double track ends. As for a bus from Bradley Airport to Windsor Locks, that is not a bad idea. I think Cttransit runs an express bus from Hartford Station to Bradley but I could be wrong. It would be nice to have a brand new Connecticut River Bridge with a second track but that will be waiting a bit.

As for the SLE improvements, it would be nice to have Ctrail SLE trains continue from New London to Mohegan Sun casinos but that would probably require clearance from the freight companies. The tracks would have to be upgraded to permit speeds that make the train time competitive with driving. I agree that a passenger station should be built between Old Saybrook and New London-that is too long of a stretch to go without a commuter rail stop. I think Niantic is better. There is a downtown there. The beach is within walking distance as well as the pier. There may be room for parking.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:08 pm M8s on SLE would be nice but unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. Diesels will continue to operate under the wires on CTrail SLE trains. It would be nice if the second platform at Madison gets built soon. That's great news that the Clinton Station platform construction is going well.
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How do you know that? They have follow on options for more cars. This is in addition to the RFP for fleet replacement.