(The following story by Don Stacom appeared on The Hartford Courant website on January 13.)
HARTFORD, Conn. — Despite acknowledging that a frustrating impasse with Amtrak has stalled plans for a New Haven-to-Springfield commuter rail line, the state’s transportation chief said he’s not ready to ask Connecticut’s congressional delegation to step in — yet.
“We’re hoping that with a new president at Amtrak, they’ll be more responsive to our requests,” transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie told the General Assembly’s transportation committee on Monday. “We’ll know soon enough. They haven’t been that forthcoming thus far.”
Advocates consider the Tri-City Connector project through Hartford as the top priority for expanding the state’s transit system, but it has been stalled for months as the DOT and Amtrak discuss who would pay for refurbishing the Amtrak rails and bridges on the route.
Marie said the DOT is committed to reinvigorating mass transit in Connecticut, where highway projects for decades have dominated transportation budgets. He insisted that the New Haven rail yard project, which has been plagued by cost overruns, can be built in time to accommodate 300 new cars arriving for the Metro-North fleet, and promised lawmakers that new transit construction will be part of the DOT’s pitch for federal economic stimulus money.
Marie said the DOT is reorganizing to prevent more of the poor planning and lax oversight that marked the I-84 scandal and the add-ons that increased the cost estimates to build the New Haven rail yard by 400 percent.
When Rep. Antonio Guerrera, co-chair of the committee, asked about the delayed New Haven-to-Springfield project, Marie conceded that negotiations with Amtrak have dragged on too long. Amtrak has been unwilling to share detailed information about the condition of its right of way, but demands that Connecticut pay for upgrades to accommodate commuter service, Marie said.
Marie’s agency is still considering four different ways to create the new service, but can’t put together budgets until it knows what infrastructure upgrades would cost. Plans range from a modest four round-trips a day with no new trains and only minor rail construction to a far grander-scale operation featuring service every 15 minutes at rush hour, a new fleet of trains and installation of a second set of tracks along the route. Marie said the costliest version is probably not practical.
Guerrera asked Marie if lawmakers should ask Connecticut’s congressional delegation to intervene, but Marie said he wants to give Amtrak more time.
Marie also said the DOT anticipates applying for federal money for the long-delayed, $570 million New Britain busway this year, and projected that service would start in 2013. Marie said buses from New Britain to Hartford would get 15,000 riders a day.
Rep. David McCluskey said if that estimate is correct, it would help cut congestion on I-84 near the city. But McCluskey said 15,000 riders a day seems too high.
“That’s a lot of buses,” he said.