[Urbanization]

Is there any talk of a light rail system to connect the greater hartford area?

[JayCT]

ConnDOT will begin constructing a Bus Rapid Transitway (BRT) between New Britain and Hartford in the next couple of years. There are also plans to have commuter rail service between Springfield, Hartford and New Haven which is scheduled to begin in about 4 or 5 years. Light rail along Farmington Avenue was investigated as part of the Hartford West Transportation Study (which recommended the BRT line) but it was opposed by the locals primarily in West Hartford. There are also plans for a BRT line from Hartford to Manchester and from Hartford to Bradley Airport along the old Griffin rail line. Why do you ask? Jay

[JiminCT]

one..question. What is taking so long? If Waterbury can have a link on Metro North...I would think Hartford should. They even built Shoreline East before anything in Hartford.

[JayCT]

The Waterbury line is owned by the state and offers very limited service. Hartford's rail line is controlled by Amtrak and it only has a single track which makes it difficult to run the commuter rail service proposed properly without interfering with Amtrak service. It also makes it very expensive to build (you need to provide double tracks in certain sections) and maintain. Right now they are going through the extensive environmental review process that all projects must go through. In addition the state must get an agreement with Amtrak to use their line. This is not easy since Amtrak would basically be giving up any passengers it now has going from Springfield to Hartford or New Haven and right now Amtrak needs all the passengers it can get. Another problem is that there is not sufficent room to store and facilities to maintain the trains that will be needed for this service and ConnDOT is spending $800 million to upgrade the New Haven railyard in anticipation of this service. That project alone will take years to complete.

It was easier to implement the Shoreline East service because it was on an already established multi-track line and there was no major construction needed. With housing costs booming in Fairfield county, it was logical that an extension of commuter rail service to the east of New Haven would be smart. Shoreline East however costs the state a lot of money to run which not recooped from the fares they charge. Several years ago, then Governor John Rowland wanted to halt Shoreline East Service because of the money the state was losing on it. He couldn't stop service because ConnDOT committed to maintaining and improving Shoreline East to respond to environmental concerns raised by opponents of the massive Q Bridge project in New Haven. ConnDOT agreed to improve stations along the line and build a station in the heart of downtown New Haven as a way to relieve traffic problems during reconstruction of the 7 miles of I-95 that are part of that project.

The downtown station was a key element in Mayor John Destefano's plan for the downtown area. Union Station is kind of out of the way and removed from downtown and he knew that to get rail service into the heart of downtown, it would have to be part of Shoreline East, The Mayor is the head of the regional planning agency which approves money spent on highways within its region. The agency basically held the Q bridge hostage until it was agreed the station would be built. I know htis is a kind of long story but the point is all of these things are pretty complex and that is why they take so long. Jay

[JiminCT]

I would think that the Hartford line would need to add additional track as well for the N/B and S/B routes to operate at the same time? Also, does Amtrack actually own the rail lines or do they merely lease/rent/etc... from the owners of the rail line (the state?)?

Good explanation..although it seems like a track was removed in Hartford at some point. If you get up on the platform at the station in Hartford, you can see this. Maybe they thought rail usage was going into permanent decline?

[Groilent Seen]

Well you see, the idea is SO good that it won't work here.

[JayCT]

The tracks are owned by The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (which is Amtrak), not the State. It is one of the few lines that the state did not get when the old railroad companies went out of business. I believe there were two tracks many years ago, but when Amtrak upgrade the line years ago they only replaced one line. For the amount of train traffic on the line, they could not justify the expense of replacing the second track. Now the second track has to be added, at least in portions. Jay

[westender]

The line that runs along Homestead Avenue and then up through Bloomfield and Windsor Locks (I think this is the Griffin line referenced above) might also be an option for CT DOT service, rather than the existing AMTRAK line north of Hartford. This would require improvements to the existing track, not to mention addition of the double track near Hartford Union Station, which was removed several years ago.

The service would provide University of Hartford, Bloomfield, and Bradley airport access to downtown Hartford and beyond to New Haven. Presumably AMTRAK would continue to service the river trackage to Springfield.

[JayCT]

The Griffin line is a very narrow rail line that runs off Homestead Avenue in Hartford, through Bloomfield, before ending just north of the Windsor town line. It is currently for frieght used by several large warehouses in that area including one for Home Depot. That line would need a lot of work to allow it to accept both passenger and frieght service. Studies have shown that this line would be very expensive to build and would not have the ridership necessary to support it. It also would require a major expense to extend the line further north to Bradley Airport including crossing the Farmington River. that is why this project was never built and has been dropped by ConnDOT. Jay

[skytrekker]

A light rail system or monorail has been a dream for many years in central Connecticut.
There has been talk of building such a line from New Haven to Hartford and up to Springfield. Such a system would enhance the entire Connecticut valley in southern New England.

I think the Governors we have had in the last quarter of century and the legislature have struck out on this issue. Such a plan would help the state in so many ways, and ease some of the traffic problems as well as adding a very attractive venue of traveling the scenic Connecticut river valley.