(The following story by Lynn Doan appeared on the Hartford Courant website on August 5.)
HARTFORD, Conn. — The state is spending almost $5 million to upgrade the nearly century-old wires that power Metro-North trains traveling between New Haven and New York.
The State Bond Commission approved $4.8 million Monday to replace some of the rail’s catenary wires — the lines that feed power to trains — and the system that suspends them between Stamford and Bridgeport. $19.3 million in federal funding has also been set aside for the upgrades. The approval comes at a time when both politicians and commuters are clamoring for more public transportation to battle high gas prices.
The wires will be replaced in two phases, first from Stamford to Norwalk and then from Norwalk to Bridgeport. The replacements, scheduled to be completed by late 2011, are part of a larger state project — expected to cost $200 million — to replace the power lines and bridges along the entire New Haven-New York route up to the state line.
The system’s “reliability is continually declining,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. “The Metro-North Line between New Haven and New York is one of the most heavily used commuter routes in the country. … Any disruption in service can have a ripple effect on businesses and business productivity.”
The state Department of Transportation has already replaced lines from roughly Stratford to New Haven and from Stamford to the Connecticut-New York border. All new wire installations and bridgework, expected to cost more than $200 million, should be complete by 2015, said Gene Colonese, DOT’s rail administrator.
Jim Cameron, chairman of the CT Metro-North Rail Commuter Council, said the investment in new power lines is much needed and long awaited.
“Much of this system dates back to the Woodrow Wilson administration. It’s old,” he said.
Unfortunately, Cameron said, it’s an investment that could go largely unnoticed, “except for the fact that the trains will keep running and the wires won’t snap.”
State legislators are still debating a $1.2 billion plan to add 300 new rail cars and build a commuter rail maintenance center in New Haven to service the Metro-North commuter line. The center’s originally projected cost was $300 million when it was first proposed in 2005.