According to The New York Times, the plan to run a commuter rail line from New Haven to Springfield isn’t dead yet:
The proposal calls for service every 30 minutes during peak hours at 11 stations each way. Amtrak trains now run more than an hour apart. Proponents say the project would ease traffic congestion, expand the state’s business corridor and help revitalize several long-struggling cities in the center of the state hurt by continuing declines in manufacturing jobs, even as the state as a whole has the nation’s highest per capita income. But the project would be a big money-loser, even by the standards of subsidized rail, where deficits are taken for granted.
How big a loser could depend on which of several versions of the idea, ranging in cost from $162 million to $600 million, is selected. The so-called fare-box recovery ” the percentage of operating costs paid by fares ” would be only 11 percent under a $291 million plan advocated by the state’s Transportation Strategy Board. The State Department of Transportation expects a total of 2,428 people to ride the 62-mile line each day by the year 2025, though some estimates say ridership could reach 5,000.
I had forgotten that the rail line was re-energized in the State of the State speech, and I’m glad to see that it might still have legs, even if it’s going to be annoyingly expensive.
However, I would like to point out (on the off chance that a ConnDOT person is Googling by) that you could boost ridership levels a little bit if they could convince MBTA to extend their commuter rail service out to Springfield.
As someone who spends time working in both Boston and New York, and who lives just a few miles from the mighty-mighty Windsor Locks pan-galactic train station, I would love to have a bit more flexibility in getting to either office.
