(The Stamford Advocate posted the following article by Christina S. N. Lewis on its website on June 10.)
HARTFORD, Conn. — Gov. John Rowland approved a plan to spend more than $1 billion to replace Metro-North Railroad’s entire New Haven Line fleet and to build new maintenance facilities in New Haven.
The plan, announced yesterday, calls for $1.02 billion to buy 340 new electric cars. The state Department of Transportation and the Office of Policy and Management are preparing a funding plan to present to the General Assembly next year.
The plan, which remains unfunded, is contingent on approval by the Legislature. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board also must approve it.
The current 342-car New Haven Line fleet is more than 30 years old, 10 years past its intended life span. The need for new equipment was highlighted this past winter when about a third of the cars were knocked out of service, causing widespread shortages, delays and crowding.
The $1 billion railcar replacement plan is significantly cheaper than what Metro-North Railroad officials projected.
Transportation officials initially estimated that replacing the fleet would cost $2 billion because the New Haven Line works on a dual propulsion system, requiring it to purchase as-yet-undesigned M-8 electric rail cars.
But the DOT reduced the cost by proposing to buy only one M-8 for every three cars — the other two will be the much cheaper M-7s, which run only in New York.
“We realized that the M-8s are over-powered,” said Harry Harris, head of the Bureau of Public Transportation, part of Connecticut DOT.
According to the plan, the M-8 cars are strong enough to propel two M-7 cars while the train goes through Connecticut, which is powered by ground-level and overhead electricity. Once the train passes into New York, where trains run solely on ground-level power, the two M-7s can propel the M-8.
“Metro-North is fairly confident that it will work,” Harris said.
M-8 trains cost about $3.5 million each, Harris said, whereas M-7s cost about $2 million.
Yesterday, the DOT also announced that it has purchased 38 locomotive-powered cars that will add about 4,000 seats to the New Haven Line by fall.
The cars, purchased for $60 million from Virginia Railway Express, will be used on Shore Line East and some of the branch lines, transportation officials said, freeing Bombardier cars and maintenance equipment for the New Haven Line.
“I am very pleased that we will be able to deliver some relief to our commuters within a few short months,” Rowland said in a statement.
The Legislature approved the $60 million appropriation in April, expecting that it would purchase only 20 cars, or about 2,000 seats.
The DOT now will need an additional $20 million to $30 million to buy locomotives to pull the trains, Harris said, although in the short-term it can use locomotives borrowed from Metro-North lines.
The Virginia rail company is getting rid of the 10-year-old cars because it is upgrading its fleet, which runs from Washington, D.C., to the Virginia suburbs, to double-decker cars, said Jim Cameron of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council.
The cars are expected to arrive next month. They will be serviced over the summer and placed into service by early fall, transportation officials said.
“It’s a good first step in what is a long overdue fleet replacement,” Cameron said.
A statewide 5.5 percent commuter rail fare hike is still set to take effect Jan. 1.