BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plan to combine Metro-North Railroad with the Long Island Rail Road shouldn’t change anything for commuters on the New Haven line, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The Connecticut Post reports that MTA, which partners with the state of Connecticut to run the New Haven line under the oversight of Metro-North, announced last week the merger of its two railroads into one company, to be called MTA Rail Road.
“From what I can tell, they don’t have a plan,” said Harry Harris, DOT’s bureau chief of public transportation, Friday.
Harris said the announcement was apparently made to head-off speculation over MTA’s future plans after the company began to study the issues of reorganization.
In a prepared statement, Peter S. Kalikow, MTA chairman, said the reorganization was a cost-saving move for the company as it faces higher demands for service.
Metro-North serves two Connecticut and seven New York counties out of Grand Central Station in New York City. Metro-North transports 252,600 riders each weekday, according to MTA statistics.
Metro-North’s New Haven line transports approximately 110,000 passengers a day, according to DOT figures.
Long Island Rail Road operates out of Penn Station and transports 277,200 riders each weekday.
MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said Thursday the reorganization would occur over a two-year period.
Harris said the main issue caused by the reorganization will be contractual. Connecticut foots 65 percent of the bill for the New Haven line of Metro-North, which accounts for approximately 54 percent of Metro-North’s total budget.
Harris said agreements worked out with MTA over the last 15 years will have to be hammered out again.
Kalikow suggested the railroad merger would allow an exchange of equipment, but Harris said the two railroads’ rolling stock were incompatible.
He said the New Haven trains operate using alternating current overhead electrical power lines, while Long Island trains run on direct current powered third rails.
Ultimately, Harris said, the reorganization will not affect plans to upgrade the New Haven line that DOT and the state’s Transportation Strategy Board are currently discussing — mainly because the state has a funding problem.
In August, Harris told a group of planning officials that the New Haven line needs approximately $3 billion in upgrades over the next 20 years.
Harris seemed optimistic that long-term projects, which would add 40 rail cars to the fleet and upgrade the power lines, can be paid for. However, he was not optimistic about funding $150 million to rehabilitate the New Haven line’s 242 rail cars.
The DOT would like to rehabilitate the cars and get 10 more years of service from them.
Harris said there is no money for any of the state Transportation Strategy Board’s plans to improve transportation in Connecticut over the next 20 years.
The TSB will present a plan on Dec. 15 that includes projected costs and suggestions on how to pay for them.