Thomas MacMillan Photo
Travelers whose Springfield shuttle arrived late in New Haven around noon Wednesday have one consolation: the governor promises that a $480 million upgrade will soon give them faster trains, and twice as many options to choose from each day.
The travelers disembarked at New Haven’s Union Station on Wednesday, arriving at 12:09 p.m. on an Amtrak train from Hartford. Their journey, along the rail corridor that connects New Haven to Springfield, Mass., is one that Gov. M. Jodi Rell aims to improve. She announced Tuesday that the state Bond Commission is expected to approve $260 million on Aug. 11 in funding to enhance rail travel in the corridor.
The state is holding a meeting Thursday night at the Hartford train station to discuss the environmental aspects of the project.
The state expects to match the $260 million with federal dollars. On Aug. 6, the state will apply for a $220 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. That money would be awarded in October. State Department of Transportation spokesman Judd Everhart said the department is “optimistic” that it will win the grant.
Together, that $480 million would be used for upgrades to stations, new stations, and road crossings. The money would also go to “double-tracking” the route, said Everhart. That means adding another track to portions of the 62-mile corridor between New Haven and Springfield that now have only a single track. It would mean trains could run in both directions at once, at top speeds of 110 miles per hour.
Currently, only 27 miles of the 62-mile corridor are double-tracked, Everhart said. Work is already underway to double-track 10 miles between Newington and Berlin. The new money would go toward completing the remaining 25 miles. Everhart said the entire project is expected to be completed by 2015 or 2016.
Plans call for bidirectional service between New Haven and Springfield running every 30 minutes during peak hours, Monday through Friday. That would mean about 25 trains a day, more than twice the current number, Everhart said.
A Tuesday press release from the governor lists several expected benefits of an improved New Haven-Hartford-Springfield line: It would take 4,000 cars off the road, create better connections to Bradley Airport, generate nearly 4,000 jobs, save one billion gallons of fossil fuel every year, and reduce carbon emissions by more than 10,000 tons per year.
Tony Rescigno, president of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, said the plan sounds good to him. “I think more transportation is always a positive thing,” he said. “When you connect up centers of economic influence, it’s a good thing.”
The plan will benefit not just New Haven, but all towns along the corridor, he said. “It just improves reasons to do business.” For instance, a New Haven entrepreneur might be discouraged from doing business in Springfield, unless it’s easy and fast to get there, Rescingo said. He predicted increased commercial ties along the corridor as a result of the planned improvements.
Holly Parker, Yale’s director of sustainable transportation systems, also offered praise for the governor’s plan. “It’s great,” she said. “The more transit the better.”
Parker said the current service is infrequent and expensive. She said she hopes the ticket price comes down with the improved service. Every time she takes the train to Hartford it’s always packed, so there’s no shortage of demand, she said.
Improved train service also offers environmental benefits, since trains are more efficient than cars, Parker said. “That’s the tragedy of the single-occupancy commute.” Even if you’re driving a hybrid car, if you’re driving it alone, you’re less efficient than well-used public transportation.
Alice and Gene Lembrick and Verna Gibson (L to R)
Just past noon on Wednesday, passengers disembarking in New Haven said they’re satisfied with the rail service the way it is — with the exception of a few complaints about the Hartford train station.
Amir Horowitz, who’s from Connecticut but now lives in Europe, said he’s spent years riding the route. “It’s a wonderful trip,” he said. It’s very convenient and usually on time, he said. The state could spend its money on something better than train upgrades, he said.
His wife, who declined to give her name, disagreed. She said the state could learn a lot from the trains in Germany, which are always clean and on time.
“Hartford is a mess,” said Alice Lembrick. “We have to climb up steps to get on the train.” It’s not like New Haven, where you can roll your luggage right onto the train. The station in the state’s capital should be better, she said.
Also, you can’t check luggage in Hartford, but you can in Springfield and New Haven, Lembrick said. She and her husband were on their way to Florida by train, along with Verna Gibson.
Gene Lembrick said he isn’t interested in faster trains. “I don’t care about the speed.”
Gibson said she’d like to see Gov. Rell get around the state by train more often, so that she’d know what it’s like. Gibson said she has arthritis in her hip that was aggravated by the steps to the train in Hartford. “Hartford is terrible.”
Kiara Pelissier, visiting from Virginia for a wedding, said she would travel by train more often if the service were better. “I did go to Japan and the trains were amazing,” she said. They were clean, punctual, fast, and cheap, she said. If that were the case in the states, “Why own a car?”
Mike Maginnis, originally from Wallingford but now in San Diego, said he loves the train as it is. It would be better with free WiFi, he said.
Berkely Rich, from Denver, Colo., said his train was late, causing him to panic. He said the conductor told him not to worry, that his connecting train would be late too.
Is this just going to be a waste of taxpayer dollars to the tune of half a billion?