by Bill D
runningwithscalpels wrote:(from the Danbury Branch Improvements and Study thread) It's not only politicians, I went to another one of those Waterbury service is awful, let's rally meetings last night in Naugatuck and 5 people were screaming for electrification of the branch because they think that because they got charged the fare hike for the M8's, they should get to ride them here - and they think that M8's would solve all the problems....and they think that this should happen before passing sidings OR signalization. I get that their prime concern is "my commute sucks now, the train breaks down, the crews complain about the diesels, so why doesn't the railroad string wires so we can use the shiny new stuff because everyone else gets to use them too." but people in general who have zero idea how a railroad works seem to think that electrification is the cure-all.One person seemed to think there was a conspiracy going on, wanting to know what happened to all the diesels that were replaced by the M8's. (really!)
Someone did bring up Danbury electrification last night too, I believe either the CDOT or MNRR representative's response (I forget which one gave it) was something to the effect of "You'll see passing sidings on the Waterbury before you see wires in Danbury"
One point that Mr. Donnarumma made was that the 3 mini sets used for the Waterbury and Danbury rotation work 14 to 20+ hours per day, leaving minimal time for daily maintenance. While having an extra train set or two for backup would be beneficial, it comes with a hefty pricetag - around $1.1 million per locomotive plus additional costs if more coaches were included.
As for electrification, I believe that the studies done for CDOT indicated time savings of a minute or two at the most. And if all the diesels were to be eliminated, what happens when the electrical system fails? We've seen it happen and I'm sure it will happen again.
Waterbury branch service will improve, but not as fast as people would like.
Bill