New Railyard Takes Shape

A new $218 million component change-out shop by New Haven’s tracks can get trains back on the rails faster by swapping out whole heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units in one fell swoop as opposed to part by part.

Nearby a $36 million computerized independent wheel-true facility makes wheels run smoothly and safely by getting rid of damage caused by, for example, leaf wax build-up.

Metro-North used to have to send trains to New York to get that work done. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Monday came to town to tour the new facilities here, part of his $1.178 billion multi-year upgrade and expansion of the Metro-North system.

“Looking good,” Malloy decreed.

Then, to protect these investments, he called for a state constitutional amendment to be on the 2016 presidential year ballot to protect dollars earmarked for transportation.

To keep and enhance such equipment in what the governor described as a 30-year vision for transportationto undo ​“40 years of under-investment,” he called for the legislature ​“to enact a constitutional lock box that as we move forward, any dollar collected [including the new half cent of the sales tax] will be spent on transportation and nothing else.”

That was the governor’s message as he moved through the two recently completed shops on the sprawling rail yard.

Click here for an article on the governor’s mid-June 2014 tour of the shop that details the larger plans to modernize the fleet — all 405 of the new M8 cars are now in service — and build a state of the art behind-the-scenes maintenance yard.

After donning yellow, blue, or white hard hats whose sparkle matched that of the spic and span new facilities, the governor Monday lauded the doubling of the repair capacity brought about by the new shop.

Then he and state transportation chief James Redeker along with other officials boarded a bus to tour the 80-acre yard and the completed facilities, and to hear about the progress on 17 projects, four of which are under construction.

The Metro North improvements are part of an overall $2.8 billion investment in transportation —highways, buses, and bridges — in coming years, according to the governor’s plan.

Transportation Supervising Engineer Michael Mendick said other ongoing projects nearing completion on the rail yard include an underground power duct and power upgrade to supply the entire rail yard, replacing the precarious current pole-borne electrical line; a central distribution warehouse with spaces for 1800 separate pieces of replacement equipment to be stored and then fetched by robotic cranes; a maintenance of way building, for those folks who maintain the tracks, communications, and signals; and, adjacent to the new component change out shop, an administration building.

By the end of this year, that administration building should be done, said Redeker.

All the spaces currently used be Metro North employees in Union Station ​“will now be available. It’ll maximize that great space [in the station] for market rate and transit-oriented business” development, he added.

Although rider overcrowding and other problems remain CT Commuter Rail Council Vice Chair John Hartwell, who was part of the tour, pronounced what he saw thus far ​“fabulous.”

Malloy said if some of this new equipment needs to be replaced in 15 years, the dedicated money has to be there, unraided. Hence his call for the constitutional amendment.

“A constitutional amendment has always been talked about. I’m doing it. It’s part of a contract with the citizens of Connecticut,” he said.

Then the governor got back on the bus. On the return trip, officials showed him, 40-year-old dilapidated buildings on the yard, many where workers had toiled in fall and winter peak traveling season warmed only by space heaters.

Also planned is a pedestrian bridge overpass linking the new work buildings with Union Station, so those workers will be able, if they choose, not to drive but perhaps train to work and cross a 550-foot bridge to their new buildings and increasingly computerized tasks.