Hartford - Middletown CT Passenger Service (proposed to study by CT Legislature)

I smell a rat here somewhere. Some assemblyman is looking for a little pork. Cromwell somewhat, but more so Rocky Hill, and especially Wethersfield are close enough to Hartford that city busses should suffice.

One point was made about putting commuter rail on the CNE. I see the point about all of the office and industrial parks in the Day Hill Road area. Back about 25 years ago there was a proposal of a light rail line running out the CNE, then new right of way to Bradley Airport. Maybe someone could fill me in as to when and why this failed.

The rat that I smell might have something to do with the busway. I still thing that there was a conspiracy between the DOT and the road building lobby, which the former governor, John Rowland got tangled up in. Places like New Britain, Plainville, and Bristol are far harder to connect with Hartford by bus than Rocky Hill and Cromwell.They're much further away too. There was noise about commuter rail on the remaining Highland and Berlin Branch a few years ago. That seems like a more practical application for rail service.

Engineer Spike wrote: ↑Sat Jul 22, 2023 7:59 pm One point was made about putting commuter rail on the CNE. I see the point about all of the office and industrial parks in the Day Hill Road area. Back about 25 years ago there was a proposal of a light rail line running out the CNE, then new right of way to Bradley Airport. Maybe someone could fill me in as to when and why this failed.

Ahh, yes, the Griffin Line. I remember article after article about that in the Courant and it went... nowhere. I don't recall the actual reasoning, but you'd think you would have captured some Bloomfield area traffic. That's a pretty built up area that got the short-end of the freeway stick, with the cancellation of I-291 and the "Route [18]9 Freeway". Maybe Bloomfield-ians like it that way.

Places like New Britain, Plainville, and Bristol are far harder to connect with Hartford by bus than Rocky Hill and Cromwell.They're much further away too. There was noise about commuter rail on the remaining Highland and Berlin Branch a few years ago. That seems like a more practical application for rail service.

There's a couple problems with that. The right of way from Berlin to Waterbury is less than ideal. First issue: the busway took away the straight shot from Newington Jct to New Britain. Granted, not a huge deal, but now you have to go to Berlin to go north back to New Britain to go west again. It's all the same direction so no backup/reverse moves to get from Springfield Line SB to the New Britain line NB. Next issue: the Bristol curves. Look at a map and just look at what the tracks do. Could it be straight-shotted to eliminate a couple Rt 6 crossings? Continuing west... the Terryville Tunnel. Not a deal breaker. But once you get outside Bristol, there's not much of anything until you hit Waterbury, as you come in from the north. Too bad you can't hit Cheshire and Southington but for that to work, you'd need a line along I-84. I-84 is relatively flat in Southington but you have the Cheshire hill to get up/down. Too bad for that, otherwise it'd be perfect... slap a couple tracks in the median and run it from Waterbury up to Plainville, then meet up with the existing Highland to New Britain.

I agree with everything you’ve said, Shady Jay. I agree that the old Highland between Hartford and New Britain was the best and most direct route. I remember a test passenger train to Bristol back in the late 1970s, amidst the OPEC embargo. There have been various proposals since, including via Berlin. I moved away from my native Plainville over 25 years ago. When the bus was put in on the Highland, I wasn’t around to see who was pulling the strings. That’s why I wonder if Tomasso, Manafort, or another road construction firm made a few campaign contributions and or aggressive lobbying to have the tracks removed.

As to the issues of Bristol, the way the line curves around is due to the grades. You also mentioned nothing between Terryville and Waterbury. That’s 100% true. Part of the New Departure branch was part of a loop track. The New Haven did not run all trains through to Waterbury. A good number turned on the loop and became a new schedule back toward Hartford.