A two-year-plus project to rebuild rails and track beds is already delivering smoother, safer and more reliable service, Metro-North Railroad officials said Monday.
The railroad has replaced nearly 100,000 ties, laid 16.5 miles of continuous welded rails, rebuilt 88 switches and made other systemwide improvements, according to a progress report on the Metro-North website.
“The reconstruction work has significantly enhanced the state of our infrastructure,” said Metro-North President Joseph Giulietti. “Our rails are safer today as a result of this concerted increase in track renewal work. This is a team effort that requires the coordination of dispatch operations and the dedication of our employees to be able to accomplish.”
The Federal Railroad Administration is loaning Metro-North $967 million for its infrastructure upgrades and the state of Connecticut has allocated $115 million for its share.
The upgrades come at a time when ridership is increasing.
In its September report, Metro-North claims to have carried 375,400 more New Haven Line passengers through the first seven months of this year than over the first seven months of 2014, an increase of 1.7 percent.
The latest work has largely gone unnoticed by regular riders, said Jim Cameron, head of the Commuter Action Group.
“The ride is a bit smoother and undoubtedly safer, but the absence of a rough ride or an accident isn’t what riders are looking for,” Cameron said.
“They assume the tracks and ties are in good shape,” Cameron said Monday. “They expect a safe ride. Still, the railroad deserves a lot of credit for how far they have come in recent months. Service seems much more reliable and on time.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
City Council hesitant on Route 82 overhaul
NORWICH — Norwich’s new City Council appears slow to embrace a proposed $42 million overhaul of a 1.3-mile section of Route 82 that would include the installation of a half-dozen roundabouts.
Though no votes were taken during a Monday informational session presented by the state Department of Transportation, engineers said without support from Norwich, the venture would not move forward. “I’m not sold on this. I’ll be very honest with you,” alderman Peter Nystrom said, expressing concern about access by firefighters. Others on the Republican-heavy council said the roughly two-year construction window could have a negative financial impact on existing businesses. DOT is proposing an estimated $42 million plan to raise the median, place six roundabouts between New London Turnpike and Asylum Street, and reduce the four lanes between Osgood Street and Mechanic Street to two. State planners have identified the roadway as a top priority because of the number of crashes in the area since 2010 – an average of 11 a month through 2014, officials said Monday. “This is more than a local problem. It’s a regionally significant problem,” Will Britnell, a principal engineer in the DOT’s highway division, said Monday. “There’s a lot of crashes out here, and it’s really something we feel compelled to address.” Of the state’s 2,500 locations identified as having higher-than-normal crash ratios, nine of them are on the Route 82 site, Britnell said. But transforming the roadway is a complicated proposition that involves property acquisition, raising medians and other steps over a two-year period during which businesses on the route would be impacted by construction. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Winter power, gas supplies, new pipelines – a volatile mix in CT
Another winter, another warning from the folks who run the power grid.
“Especially during the coldest weeks of the year, the natural gas infrastructure in New England is inadequate to meet the demand for gas for both heating and power generation,” said a recently emailed statement from Vamsi Chadalavada, executive vice president and chief operating officer of ISO-New England, the Independent System Operator that runs the New England power grid.
The warning has become a seasonal ritual, along with the announcement, for the third consecutive year now, that ISO’s Winter Reliability Program will be in effect during the Dec. 1 to March 1 heating season.
The warning once again focuses all eyes on natural gas pipelines – viewed as either a big answer to the region’s power difficulties or a big problem, depending on whom you talk to.
“We have a system that’s only working when the weather is mild or when world oil prices are low. We need a grid that can work all the time – especially in the winter,” said Katie Dykes, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s energy chief, who oversees implementing the state’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy, created three years ago.
The strategy’s core is increased use of natural gas, which is seen as cleaner than oil or coal for electric generation or oil for heating. And even with oil at its lowest price in years, gas is still about 20 percent cheaper. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Hard Rock Plans Hotel, Cafe In Hartford
HARTFORD — The company that owns the chain of Hard Rock Cafes wants to open a hotel in Hartford's Downtown North neighborhood with the entertainment venue as a key attraction.
Orlando-based Hard Rock International said Monday the 170-room hotel would be privately financed and built by Centerplan Cos., the master developer of the Downtown North, or "DoNo." Hard Rock would manage the hotel — expected to open in 2018 — located at the corner of Main and Trumbull streets.
Hard Rock International operates more than 200 venues in 64 countries, including 157 cafes, 22 hotels and 11 casinos. In 2013, Hard Rock International sought to build an $800 million casino, hotel and live-entertainment venue in West Springfield, in a bid to win a casino license for western Massachusetts. Voters in West Springfield rejected the plan.
Now, Hard Rock has turned its attention 20 minutes to the south.The hotel — Hard Rock Hartford — would be built as part of the next phase of the $400 million Downtown North project, which includes a minor league baseball stadium for the Yard Goats, now under construction. Cost estimates for the hotel are still being worked out, Centerplan officials said Monday, but it would be part of the $125 million mixed-use plan for the next phase, which also includes 180 apartments, a grocery store, restaurants, shops and other entertainment venues. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Financial woes confront firm behind New England gas pipeline
Kinder Morgan Inc., the energy giant proposing gas pipelines in the Northeast, is grappling with financial woes linked to falling energy prices and a steep drop in its stock price, forcing it to find new sources of capital. The Houston-based company announced Tuesday a 75 percent cut in its quarterly dividend to 12.5 cents per share to conserve cash for financing expansion projects. In addition to a $3.3 billion pipeline through western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, Kinder Morgan also is proposing a pipeline network in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania. Analysts say cutting the dividend helps reduce risk to financing pipeline construction.
The company avoids issuing stock to raise capital or take on debt that could jeopardize its credit rating.