CT Rail Articles

I saw two articles in today's Hartford Courant that I thought would be of interest.

In the middle of all this grim news and depressingly uninspiring state government, we've got a new commissioner with a creative vision for the future. This isn't someone who dreams of more pavement, but a guy who realizes that to survive economically we must have roads and trains.
http://www.courant.com/news/local/colum ... 090.column

Citing delays and high costs for key Hartford-region transit initiatives, two lawmakers are pushing harder to fast-track a different project: the re-establishment of commuter rail service to the city from Waterbury. The state Department of Transportation has shown little interest in the idea before, but new Commissioner Joseph Marie acknowledged last week that it's at least worth exploring. He cautioned proponents, however, that he envisions Waterbury-to-Hartford passenger service as a long-term project.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 2668.story

Very refreshing to read something positive about rail service in Connecticut.

Interesting articles there...

the second one about the Waterbury-Hartford service.... if you're going to do it, the best way would be the "shortcut" from New Britain to Newington. The right of way there is intact for the most part. From Newington Jct north to Hartford, the ROW could easily accomodate not just 2, but 4 tracks. Sure, the crossing protection and signals and junk cars would have to be pushed back. I'm not saying 4 tracks are needed, but you could run 3 tracks if you had the Waterbury-Hartford and NH-H-S lines going, plus Amtrak, plus freights. New Britain to Newington is a straight shot... vs the dogleg required for Berlin.... south from New Britain to Berlin, then curving on the wye and heading north to Hartford. You wouldn't get Berlin as a station stop, unless the train used the south leg of the wye (presently not connected to the main since bridge replacement on Farmington Ave) but then you'd have to change directions. Seems like a time consuming operation, vs a straight run through from NB to NEW.

Its great to see CT thinking more and more about restoring commuter rail.... something that should've been done years ago. I'll believe it though when the first trains run. After all, they still like to study these things to death!

With the State showing a current $997 million defecit and a projected $8 BILLION defecit over the next two fiscal years I would not hold my breath in anticipatioin of any rail expansion happening. There have been a multitude of studies and agreement that it SHOULD happen "sometime". Now the Governor is predicting major cutbacks, layoffs, project eliminations, gas prices again rising, loss of tax money, etc.

Working in the engineering field and also being a railroader, I will believe it when I see it...but it won't be in this life, I'm sure. It IS a shame not to do this project (or the New Haven to Hartford/Springfield commuter line) because the end result would be cost saving in keeping cars off the road, helping conserve gas, helping the employment situation, and on and on and on.......

The last Waterbury-Hartford train came off almost 50 years ago - think it was January 1960. The many studies to return the service began soon after that.
Waterbury-Hartford was run in about 60 minutes, including stops at Bristol, Plainville, and New Britain plus Terryville and/or Newington at various times. Of course this was on the original direct New Britain-Newington Jct. route. To use existing trackage via Berlin would add just over 4 miles to the run - not good when commuter rail is very time sensitive. Also the direct line would be fairly close to the Central CT State University campus.
Regarding the proposed busway that would run on the former rail right of way Hartford to New Britain - let's end that proposal and replace it with commuter rail, compatible with existing service at Waterbury and proposed service New Haven-Hartford -Springfield. Extend the existing passing siding (Newington to Oakwood Ave.) to make the Newington Jct -Hartford line double track and that would take care of any capacity problems for years. But first rebuild the viaduct through the Hartford Union Station so that all four tracks could be restored for future traffic needs.

I think that I posted this before, in the post about Guilford's recent hi-rail run for the press and politicians. I remember reading about a test run for commuter trains in the late 70s early 80s. They ran a couple of Budd cars on the test run.

There's debate as to whether a Waterbury to Hartford line would make any sense, but even if it did, this would still not justify three or four tracks on the Springfield line. NHHS and Waterbury trains would be similar (short locomotive hauled diesel or DMU), and NHHS would replace all but a couple of Amtrak trains a day, since most Amtrak action on that line are shuttles from NHV to SPG, which would get rolled into NHHS. Freight can be routed through midday or at night, so double-tracked right-hand-running would be plenty. Heck, the main New Haven Line from Devon to New Haven is only three tracks, and that handles MNCR local, MNCR express, Acela regional, Acela express and a couple of diesel SLE trains.

One good thing about Waterbury to Hartford trains is that NHHS would be connected to the Waterbury Branch, and it would be operated as a single system.

It's true that some of this much-needed improvement to our transportation system may not happen for a while given the budget crunch... but it also depends on how federal funds come in, and what gas prices look like. If they were to go up in the long term, more expensive tickets would be justified, and less subsidy would be needed.