Danbury Branch - History, Electrification, Studies

NewsTimes

The reason for the necro-posting above. What's old is new again....

Bill would provide upgrades to Danbury line

WILTON — State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, has called the Danbury branch line the “poor stepchild” of Metro-North Railroad since she was elected in 2011.
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“Given the state’s precarious financial situation, we feel that it is unlikely that any bill requesting the $400 million or more necessary for the full electrification of the branch line would be passed this year,” she said. “So we are taking the approach of trying to identify other less extensive measures that could improve service in cost-effective ways and to begin, at least, making progress.”
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The bill does not specify upgrades and costs to allow for input during the legislative session, Lavielle noted, and the dozen legislators have already started meeting with the state Department of Transportation and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s staff.
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Additionally, Lavielle believes improvements would help attract more passengers on the line. Despite the record-setting ridership of 40.5 million passengers on the New Haven Line line in 2016, figures provided by the state DOT show a 2.4 percent drop in ridership on the Danbury line in 2016 — although the agency reported a 0.5 percent increase in a press release published on Jan. 24.

Written testimony can be submitted to [email protected]. Testimony must refer to HB 6553 at the start, and people must include their name and town. There is no limit on length for written testimony.

Anyone want to email them the thread?

Well, at least they're not wholly distracted by electrification shiny things this time. That's an improvement in itself for Fairfield County politiciancritters.

The utter ridiculousness of electrifying to Danbury doesn't keep that matter from coming up, coming up, and coming up again. Why ridiculous? Consider two points: 1. There is no operational or quality of service advantage in doing this. I grew up in Danbury in the 50s when the New Haven ran electrics there, and I rode them, and I still have the timetables. I can tell you categorically that the running time today with the diesel equipment they use is identical!!.
2. Metro North's efficiency won't be improved by eliminating diesel trains since the equipment is identical to that used on the Wassaic and Poughkeepsie trains, so they'll still have it on the roster.

Also, I might mention that it came up on this forum once before that MU's don't have sanders, and this lack can be a problem on the Danbury line. Is everybody out there aware of how hilly that branch is? The most notable is about 2.2 miles of 1.12 percent grade north out of Branchville.

and from Honey hill road till just south of old Georgetown, and between wall street tunnel and Perry Ave and - and - and

It's understandable why some folks would like to see the line reelectrified. There is a perception by some people that removal of the original electric rail service to be some kind of "backwards progress" or regression. That being said, if it came down to a choice of electrification or expansion, I would rather have the latter than the former, with electrification perhaps occurring at an appropriate time in the future.

I agree with you atlantis regarding expansion vs. electrification. The upper Harlem runs just fine as a diesel operation, I don't think the Danbury branch would benefit from electrification as much as the pol's seem to think it would, at least not at this point in time. Right now I think track upgrades and expansion northward are the way to go here.

Lest we forget how much Connecticut politicians know of railroads - or at least how to stay safe around them:

https://youtu.be/TkkPiilF_mI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Indeed, Naugy. As I always say, a diesel train is better than no train. Here in the Boston area, aside from the imperfections at the MBTA, we have gotten along fine with diesel train service. That being said, I believe electrification should be pursued, but only where warranted and after careful thought and planning

NaugyRR wrote:I agree with you atlantis regarding expansion vs. electrification. The upper Harlem runs just fine as a diesel operation, I don't think the Danbury branch would benefit from electrification as much as the pol's seem to think it would, at least not at this point in time. Right now I think track upgrades and expansion northward are the way to go here.

The reason some people want electrification of the Danbury is so that they can ride the M8s straight shot into the city on the through trains. They feel slighted that they are paying for new trains yet they can't ride them except off-hours. Not saying that this is a valid reason, just that it is one reason.

even if branch were electrified, only same amount of trains would go direct to New york, rest still would be shuttles.

and when new push pull trains will be ordered/delivered those branch line people will have newest and latest

RearOfSignal wrote:

NaugyRR wrote:I agree with you atlantis regarding expansion vs. electrification. The upper Harlem runs just fine as a diesel operation, I don't think the Danbury branch would benefit from electrification as much as the pol's seem to think it would, at least not at this point in time. Right now I think track upgrades and expansion northward are the way to go here.

The reason some people want electrification of the Danbury is so that they can ride the M8s straight shot into the city on the through trains. They feel slighted that they are paying for new trains yet they can't ride them except off-hours. Not saying that this is a valid reason, just that it is one reason.

Don't discount local memory. People see the cat poles on the branch, see the 1950's-vintage pictures of EP3s at the head of a long string of shiny lightweight cars, conflate that with stories about how old mister so-and-so would have lunch in the diner of The Berkshire or drinks in the parlor car of The Housatonic, compare that to today and think "Electric = Better!"

I'm not arguing for electrification of the branch, but I do want to understand a technical point raised by tcurtin.

Wouldn't EMUs be better than diesel-hauled for grades and slippery conditions? Due to more powered axles.

no, cause EMU's do not have sanders and are way lighter .

One can't really judge how MU's would handle the Danbury Branch because outside of the dink with its one or two cars MU cars were not normally part of the operation on the Danbury Branch. One advantage of MU's would be that each car is a locomotive with traction motors so wheel slip problems might not be as serious as with a single MU or Budd Car or a locomotive without sand. Having said that, the power on the branch was shut off in think in 1961 or so under the worst management that any railroad anywhere in the US ever had. It was a gross mistake, we knew it but the head boss was too stupid to know it. It was a mistake when it happened but it would be just as much a mistake to try to restore it in these days as well. Present diesel power does an adequate job, maybe not quite as good as the motors were but still adequate and the cost and benefits of restoring electric operation in this case can not be justified. The older motors would often do a better job on the Danbury Branch than the FL-9's that replaced them. Incidentally the very last trains to have electric equipment to Danbury was 140 and 143 on Saturday out of New York with a combo and two coaches. This took place during the last couple of months of electric operation on the branch. The dink was the last weekday job to have electric equipment, one MU motor car, a 4400 in warmer months and an old green MU during the winter months.
Noel Weaver

ok so much for history channel, now back to 2017