Separating the New Haven Line from the rest of MNR

First of all the GW Bridge is under the control of the Port Authority NOT the MTA Bridges and Tunnels. Let's have SOME idea of what we're talking about here. But enough let's get this back on track Bridges & Tunnels have NOTHING to do with separating the NH Line.

TCurtin wrote:The best example of impracticality is somply this: the New Haven line is an interstate operation. It just IS. The same trains and crews serve stations in both states. How can Conn. DOT --- an agency of Conn. state government --- legally do that?

Do what? Separate New Haven Line operations? With new contracts and piles on enabling legislation. CT owns the infrastructure, and contracts MTA to operate the trains, which turns out to be a common solution in the Northeast.

There is the same kind of situation in Chicago Land:
The South Shore Line a.k.a. Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad and owned by the NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transit District) and chartered by the state of Indiana runs into downtown Chicago where trackage is owned by METRA, short for METropolitan RAil (chartered by the state of Illinois /Cook County).

...Ken

joshg1 wrote:

TCurtin wrote:The best example of impracticality is somply this: the New Haven line is an interstate operation. It just IS. The same trains and crews serve stations in both states. How can Conn. DOT --- an agency of Conn. state government --- legally do that?

Do what? Separate New Haven Line operations? With new contracts and piles on enabling legislation. CT owns the infrastructure, and contracts MTA to operate the trains, which turns out to be a common solution in the Northeast.

CT only owns line and infrastructure from Port Chester to New Haven and 3 branch lines.

TCurtin wrote:Folks, back in the mid-late 1980's there was a lot of noise about this very subject. There was a geat deal deal of political and power struggling and tension between New York MTA and Conn. DOT --- all having its roots in the almighty dollar, of course --- which reached its peak in talk about having the New Haven Line "secede" and become something like "The New Haven Railroad," for want of a better name. It was said at the time that "it used to be that way." Well, yes. But those were private sector corporations --- the New Haven, and the New York Central. The New Haven ran an interstate service and ran into GCT on trackage rights over the NYC, and so on. I suppose that when cooler heads prevailed, the sheer impractality dawned on everybody, and the thing died of its own weight. The best example of impracticality is somply this: the New Haven line is an interstate operation. It just IS. The same trains and crews serve stations in both states. How can Conn. DOT --- an agency of Conn. state government --- legally do that?

Interesting that there was even a serious debate about it back then. To add to your reasoning for why it died out then I'm sure a lot of it had to do with the fact that at the time anything associated with the New Haven, Penn Central, etc. wasn't looked on too favorably and MNCR represented a new era, a rebirth of the commuter rail services. Even Peter Stangl's "Grand Central & Northern" proposal would have sounded as fresh. Now fast forward 25 years and things have definitely changed. AFAIK, there is no power struggle of any sort (certainly not a serious one) between the MTA and the ConnDOT, the New Haven Line is the single busiest rail line in the country, with a little more than half of the ridership consists of reverse commuters and off-peak travelers, and since that time SLE has been added to the state's commuter rail network and has been thriving the past several years and NHHS trains are to come online by the end of the decade. The dynamics of commuter rail in CT are changing and since they will all be connected with one another it just makes sense from standpoint to have ALL commuter rail operations consolidated into one system name (that properly reflects the territory and travel patterns served), regardless of who operates them.

joshg1 wrote:Do what? Separate New Haven Line operations? With new contracts and piles on enabling legislation. CT owns the infrastructure, and contracts MTA to operate the trains, which turns out to be a common solution in the Northeast.

(To add to my other response) What's not to say that the very same arrangement couldn't work if the trains weren't under the MNR name as long as either the MTA or the MNR doesn't have a problem operating the NHL plus the NHHS and any possible extension(s) of the Danbury and Waterbury branches, et al. And for that matter I don't see why ConnDOT wouldn't want someone like MNR operating their trains. They don't exactly not give the "Midas touch"