Connecticut New Haven Line and Shore Line East Service Levels and Cuts

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 7:27 am https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/a ... 429177.php

Connecticut finalizes plan to increase rail fares, cut Metro-North service

At the same time, the state will remove a total of 21 trains from service by the end of the year, in line with budgetary savings approved by lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont this spring.

So essentially, at least 10 New Haven Line trips each way will be cut.... hopefully that's spread out between weekday and weekend services to ease the pain.....

That looks like a small enough cut that normal attrition (quit, retire, or die) is going to cover any need for furloughs.

Remove trains from the schedule, or equipment from service?

ElectricTraction wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:17 pm Remove trains from the schedule, or equipment from service?

Remove trains from the schedule.

Look like service levels may be restored: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... perations/

Connecticut budget looks to restore New Haven Line commuter operations


HARTFORD, Conn. — Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year would restore full funding for Metro-North’s New Haven Line commuter operations, the news site CT Insider reports.

The budget proposal released last week includes $284 million for rail operations, an increase of approximately 22% over the current fiscal year, which saw cuts to Connecticut funding for both the New Haven Line and the Shore Line East commuter operation between New Haven and New London, Conn. The cuts — effective in October on the New Haven Line and Dec. 18 on Shore Line East — reflected a funding shortfall resulting from the end of federal pandemic assistance and the state’s decision not to provide funding to bridge that gap [see “Connecticut finalizes commuter rail service cuts,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 23, 2023]. At the time, the New Haven Line cuts were planned as a one-year measure, while Shore Line East cuts are expected to continue.
...

Here's hoping....

From a recent presentation: https://www.transitcx.com/wp-content/up ... _final.pdf

Rail Service Improvements
$5 million in funding has been secured for Shore Line East service improvements, which will help restore as many as four additional trains duringAM and PM peak service.

Did some fanning at the Clinton station yesterday. It’s a beautiful station but IMO overbuilt for the level of ridership. I counted four cars in the lot at 1115. That may not account for walk-ups and drop-offs, of which there were two with suitcases (presumably not regular riders). I understand needing two platforms for operational reasons but geez.

I’m attaching our Instagram post to illustrates

A few questions and observations:

-There’s a pedestrian boarding crossing west of the station with a chairlift. Seems unnecessary.
-There’s a siding a bit further past that. Use?
-Bike maintenance facilities???
-There’s a very useful platform announcement to stand behind the yellow line for approaching trains considering Amtrak blows through there at track speed (what’s MAS?). That would be nice on Metro North platforms. See the YouTube video from our channel:

https://youtube.com/@railroaddotnet8403 ... -eGKu20aZa

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2024 9:25 amDid some fanning at the Clinton station yesterday. It’s a beautiful station but IMO overbuilt for the level of ridership. I counted four cars in the lot at 1115. That may not account for walk-ups and drop-offs, of which there were two with suitcases (presumably not regular riders). I understand needing two platforms for operational reasons but geez.

It's pretty much the minimum viable product for double 4-car platforms. Madison still isn't upgraded, so it doesn't have reverse-peak service. They need 2-3 stations in Old Lyme/East Lyme/Waterford, but there aren't a lot of obvious places to put them.

-There’s a pedestrian boarding crossing west of the station with a chairlift. Seems unnecessary.

I believe that's vestigial from when there was only one platform and would be needed during single-tracking.

-There’s a siding a bit further past that. Use?

That's the Cheeseborough Ponds industrial siding, which I believe has been out of use for some years.

There's also a siding/yard track on the south side of the mains west of the station that is used by Amtrak for work trains. I've seen work equipment parked there (ballast cars, etc).

SLE ridership has fluctuated in recent years and was doing descent until COVID hit. Unfortunately post-COVID, ConnDOT cut the schedule further. Just look at the schedule and you'll see large gaps in service, even during "rush hour". There's a schedule change coming in early October and I've heard mumblings about some trains coming back, including those that head west past New Haven to Stamford. Filling in the rush hour gaps would at least bring back some of the lost ridership.

I have attempted to use it in the past couple years, but I think the reduced schedule only fit my schedule once in that time. Its too bad... I live within 10 minutes of two SLE stations and find myself driving to West Haven where there's more frequent service (and on weekends, parking is free, unlike NHV).

Yes, unfortunately all of the SLE stations are experiencing low ridership due to the bad schedule and terrible land use surrounding the stations. It's true there is a schedule change coming 10/6.

I do agree that the wheelchair lift and crossing is a vestige from one-platform days. I think MAS is 95. I feel like the announcement isn't needed on the NHL, as speeds aren't as high.

I've heard about a return of thru trains on 10/6. They got $5m for enhanced service a while back. However, it's a week and a half away and no announcements - either an operational setback or a marketing failure.

Ridership is bad because service is bad, as daybeers said. It's nearly unusable at the current level and timing of service. Weekend ridership seems to be doing well during the summer, at least.

The Stamford trains are confirmed as returning on Monday October 7th (per a FB post by the SLE Riders Advocacy Group). Though there will only be 1 round trip instead of 2 (and definitely no “reverse peak” STM-OSB express either) and they will use diesel consists as apparently there aren’t enough “shoeless” M8s in current rotation to allow one set to be used that far outside the regular NHV-NLC service area.


Perhaps ConnDOT should remind Metro-North that there were 24 cars originally allocated for SLE service, not 16, and therefore should get their extra 8 cars.

SLE seems like a good candidate for OPTO if they could ever get all the stakeholders to agree to it. They'd also need to modernize the ticketing system to proof of payment, not the ancient ticket system that seems to live on like a zombie in the Northeast. With OPTO and electric MUs, the cost to add trains should be really, really low. They're not guzzling 55 gallons/hour of diesel idling anymore or getting 4GPM with 1972 EMD 645-16 turbos like they used to.

Even requiring a separate engineer and conductor, it seems like the marginal cost to add runs with the M-8s should be quite low.

NH2060 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 26, 2024 1:54 amPerhaps ConnDOT should remind Metro-North that there were 24 cars originally allocated for SLE service, not 16, and therefore should get their extra 8 cars.

Is MN really that short on M-8's? Are they running that much service? What are they going to do when PSA comes along and all of the sudden they need more trains to add to the ones that are switch from GCT to NYP?

Are there any plans to add wire over the NECR connection track in NL (6 track?) so that M-8s can go hide out for a bit while Amtrak traffic passes like the diesels can? What's interesting is that the Richard M. Green track maps show a short section of catenary there which would allow an electric train to cross over to the NECR track and then back to the main, but it doesn't physically exist.

It's a shame that they don't have another platform edge for that track, as there's space, a physical track, and it wouldn't be that hard to string wire over it. If they did, they could dump SLE in that siding, and when it was ready to leave, it would cross over at Shaws Cove Interlocking. There's even an existing crossover in Groton Interlocking that would allow for trains from any direction to come and go from that track to either track in either direction.