Yes, ConnDOT says, work on that faster train really is under way
This might sound familiar: At a press conference outside the
Stratford rail station, Gov. Ned Lamont, members of Congress and transportation
officials outlined plans to provide faster service by 2035 on the New Haven
line, one of the oldest, busiest and pokiest stretches of commuter rail in the
U.S.
They did that Monday morning, just as they did on a
Monday morning in June 2021. This time, Lamont and ConnDOT could point
to concrete developments — most notably the long-awaited start on the first
piece of a three-phase, $1.6 billion project to upgrade 3.1 miles of track
between Stratford and Bridgeport.
And yes, that’s $1.6 billion for improvements to a
relatively small stretch of the 45 miles of New Haven Line in Connecticut.
Outside the project highlighted Monday are far bigger ticket items: Replacement
of four major bridges that are more than a century old and come with price tags
ranging from $1 billion to $3.6 billion.
Only one, the Walk Bridge in Norwalk, is under construction.
Design work has begun on a second, the Devon Bridge that crosses the Housatonic
River and is expected to be the most expensive of the four.
The Stratford project is a case study of how slowly major
infrastructure projects move in the U.S., especially in a curvy and crowded
rail corridor completed in 1849 to connect New Haven and Manhattan. Financing
challenges, shifting political winds and requisite environmental and historical
impact studies all are factors.
Bottom of Form
Phase one will be completed under a $340 million contract
with the Yonkers Contracting Company, with $184 million from the Federal Rail
Administration, $145.5 million from Connecticut and $11.2 million from Amtrak.
Completion of the other two will require finding about another $1.3 billion.
“We need predictable, reliable funding,” said Garrett
Eucalitto, the commissioner of ConnDOT.
Infrastructure builders struck a $1.2 trillion gusher five
years with the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
negotiated by the Biden administration. But the gusher has slowed to a trickle
and will go dry on Sept. 30 unless Congress and the Trump administration act.
While the federal government has regularly authorized
highway funding that provides a steady stream of money in five-year increments
under formulas and competitive grants, there was no similar funding for rail
until 2021, Eucalitto said.
Eucalitto and Lamont said they are optimistic that rail
funding will be reauthorized, saying the Northeast Corridor employed by Amtrak,
Metro North and other passenger rail systems between Boston and Washington is
having a moment with federal appropriators.
“They’re investing heavily in Amtrak, new fleets,” Eucalitto
said. “They’re investing in Penn Station. Well, they don’t want to invest and
then have the system failing further up the tracks because, you know, it is one
entire system from Boston to D.C., and I think that’s why we’ve been successful
sharing that message with Amtrak, with the Federal Railroad Administration.”
Officials from Amtrak, the Federal Rail Administration and
Metro North were in attendance Monday, as were U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and
U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, who is expected to regain her Appropriations chair
if Democrats regain the House majority.
Connecticut has a prominent place on the rail
administration’s project list for the Northeast Corridor. It’s just a
question of funding it.
Lamont also was upbeat about the prospects, even though his
relationship with the Trump administration has been strained over immigration
enforcement and Connecticut’s passage of revisions to the Trust Act that the
administration views as hostile to its goals of ramping up deportations of
migrants without legal status.
“Garrett and I met with Secretary of Transportation Sean
Duffy, who’s a big believer in transportation, says the president is a
builder,” Lamont said. “The president likes big projects, big projects that he
can take credit for that make a difference. This is obviously a big project
that will make a real difference in people’s lives. I think we’ll get it done.”
The work that began Monday with a ceremonial groundbreaking
— the tossing of sand that had been deposited on the edge of a parking lot — is
the smallest of three phases of a project to replace the catenary lines that
power the electric trains of Metro North and Amtrak, construct a new station,
replace several small bridges and upgrade road beds to allow faster speeds.
Connecticut sped up service from New Haven to Grand Central
in 2022 by offering “super express trains” with fewer stops, cutting about 10
minutes off the trip.
“Our Super Express trains between New Haven and Grand
Central have reduced trip times to as little as 88 minutes,” said Joe Lagana,
the vice president for operations at Metro North.
“Since then, we shaved another 11 minutes off of that
timetable due to infrastructure improvements,” Eucalitto said. Those
improvements included addressing signal problems and bad drainage that forced
slower speeds.
The goal of the current project is to raise the current
Federal Rail Administration standards from class 4 to class 6, increasing the
maximum authorized speed limit in some places from 70 mph to 90 mph — a speed
the current equipment can reach.
“Trains have the higher operating speeds, but the tracks
have always been the limitation for us in Connecticut, and so that’s where
we’re doing our part to upgrade the infrastructure,” Eucalitto said.
The third phase would create more space between sets of
tracks, allowing trains to use a function that tilts the trains on curves at
higher speeds. Currently, the tracks are set too close for the trains to tilt
safely.
But none of the planned improvements would allow true
high-speed rail. Amtrak’s existing Acela trains can go 150 mph, and the next
generation cars go even faster. Such speeds would require a new route that does
not follow the curves of the coast line, as do the rails from Boston to New
Haven and New Haven to New York.
“The only way to get to what a lot of people would say is
true high-speed rail, you would have to build a completely new alignment,”
Eucalitto said. “That’s not feasible. So we’re going to live within the
geographic constraints we have and do the best possible infrastructure we can
within that alignment.”
Connecticut begins $1.6 billion rail project to speed up train trips on the New Haven Line
Imagine a train picking up riders in New Haven and
arriving in New York City about 25 minutes faster than it does today.
A $1.6 billion project that broke ground in Stratford on Monday will
help the state eventually achieve a goal of shaving that much time off the
train trip between the two cities, Connecticut officials said.
But it will take about nine years to complete the
three-phase project, which includes upgrades to the tracks and overhead wiring
on a 3-mile stretch between Stratford and Bridgeport.
“Infrastructure takes a long time,” state Department of
Transportation Commissioner Garrett
Eucalitto during a press conference at Stratford’s train station.
“Especially on the railroad, because unlike the highway, where you can have
detours, the railroad, there is no detour. There's no other way to get around
the Northeast Corridor, so we have to do the work while the trains are moving.”
Come 2035, Amtrak and Metro-North trains
will be able to travel as fast as 90 mph in some spots, officials said.
Currently, the maximum speed in the area is 70 mph.
To get those “long-term improvements in speeds,” Eucalitto
said riders will have to endure the “short-term pain” of trains slowing down in
certain areas while work is underway on that section of the New Haven Line.
Phase 1, which is expected to cost more than $340 million,
includes installing new overhead wiring, replacing a bridge over the tracks in
Stratford and upgrading the signals and tracks.
The Federal Railroad Administration is providing $184
million in funding for the first phase, while the state and Amtrak are
supplying $145.5 million and $11.2 million, respectively.
Phase 2 is scheduled to start in 2030 and will include
improvements at the Stratford train station as well as track widening, wiring
upgrades and four bridge replacements. The final phase will follow in 2031 with
more bridge, wiring and track work.
How much federal funding will go toward the later phases,
and to rail infrastructure projects in the state in general in the coming
years, is an open question.
“The key is going to be in the next surface transportation
bill,” Eucalitto said, referring to federal legislation that will authorize
funding for highway, transit and rail programs for
the next several years. The current law, which passed when Joe Biden was
president, is set to expire Sept. 30.
“We need to make sure the next bill has dedicated funding
for passenger rail in it. That's going to be the big push,” Eucalitto said.
Asked whether he expected the federal government to continue
to invest in long-term infrastructure projects under President Donald
Trump, Gov. Ned Lamont voiced
confidence.
“Well, Garrett and I met with Secretary of Transportation
Sean Duffy, who's a big believer in transportation, says the president is a
builder. The president likes big projects, big projects that he can take credit
for that make a difference,” Lamont said. “This is obviously a big project that
will make a real difference in people's lives. I think we'll get it done.”
The nine-year project is part of the Track Improvement
Mobility Enhancement, or TIME, program, which the state
launched in 2021 to speed up trains across Connecticut.
Since then, Eucalitto said a “super express” service between
New Haven and New York City combined with drainage and signal improvements has
saved riders up to 20 minutes of travel time.
Also tied to the effort to speed up train service are
several projects to replace
aging rail bridges along the state’s shoreline, including the Walk
Bridge in Norwalk and
the Connecticut River Bridge between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. Each project
is expected to cost more than $1 billion and wrap up in 2030 or 2031.
Meanwhile, DOT is designing the replacement for the Devon
Rail Bridge between Stratford and Milford, with construction
expected to begin in 2030. That project is expected to cost about $3 billion.
In the future, DOT plans to replace bridges in Westport and Greenwich as
well.
DOT also noted that the state has procured new
rail cars for the Hartford Line, New Haven branch lines and Shore
Line East. Amtrak’s executive vice president for strategy and planning,
Jennifer Mitchell, touted the rollout of Amtrak's NextGen
Acela trains in 2025 and plans to run its Airo
trains in Connecticut next year.
Despite investments in infrastructure and rolling stock,
officials said trains still can only
go up to certain speeds in Connecticut.
“We have a lot of curves,” Eucalitto said. “This railroad
was built in the 1850s, '60s, '70s, throughout the 1890s and 1900s, and it
follows the curve of the coast. And so the only way to get to what a lot of
people would say is like true high-speed rail, you would have to build a
completely new alignment. … That's not feasible.”
Connecticut, New York lawmakers push to speed up Greenwich flood-control bridge project
GREENWICH — A group of congressmen from Connecticut and
New York are calling for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize bridge
replacements over the Byram
River in Greenwich due
to flooding.
Connecticut's Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy
and Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, along with New York's Rep.
George Latimer, D-6th District, sent a letter to the commander of the New
York district of the Army Corps of Engineers, Col. Eric Swenson, last week to
urge the replacement of two bridges they say are long overdue.
The group is calling for improvements to the West Putnam
Avenue and Hillside Avenue bridges, which span the Byram River and contribute
to flooding in the Pemberwick neighborhood of Greenwich.
Improvements were authorized years ago, yet the projects
remain unfinished, according to the federal officials.
“As members of Congress representing communities in
Connecticut and New York that are directly impacted by the hydrodynamics of
Byram River and its bridges, we write to express our serious concern regarding
the continued delays to the years-long plan to replace the U.S. Route 1
bridges,” they wrote.
The group noted Hurricane Ida in 2021 brought eight inches
of rain that resulted in flash floods in the area and flooded basements of
Pemberwick residents.
Fortunately, no lives were lost, the legislators said, but
“replacing these bridges is an important component of improving the region’s
long-term flood resilience and protecting the public as we enter another
hurricane season.”
Blumenthal, Murphy, Himes and Latimer urged the Army
Corps of Engineers to prioritize the Byram River bridges, expedite all
remaining reviews and approvals, coordinate closely with Connecticut and New
York state and local officials, and provide regular updates to Congress.
“The residents of our region have waited long enough for
these critical improvements, and we look forward to working with you to ensure
this project advances as expeditiously as possible,” the officials wrote.
First Selectman Fred Camillo said he’s been working with
various entities involved with the bridge replacements for years.
“I share the frustration because we worked really hard to
get this project moving and done as quickly as possible, without any shortcuts
being taken, and then to hear that there’s been another delay is extremely
frustrating,” he said. “I support the effort by the federal officials to
advocate to the federal government to get this project started and completed.”
In 2020, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a Byram River
Basin Flood Risk Management Feasibility Study, which recommended removing and
replacing both the West Putnam Avenue and Hillside Avenue bridges because they
were major contributors to flooding the area.
The federal officials said they are “extremely disappointed
to learn that the project schedule has slipped once again.”
The current projection has the design not being completed
until 2027 and more funding may be necessary to complete the design phase,
which the group called “deeply concerning,” particularly considering Congress
approved the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act specifically to move
authorized projects from planning to construction.
“The consequences of these delays extend well beyond the
project schedule,” the federal legislators wrote. “They represent a massive
risk to life and property. Continued delays in replacing these bridges leave
surrounding neighborhoods vulnerable to potentially lethal flooding.”
“We have a nearly 100-year-old problem of flooding on the
Byram River and it has gotten very dangerous in several of these recent
storms,” Camillo said. “Before there’s a loss of life, in addition to
destruction of personal property, they really need to focus on getting this
started and completed.”
Blumenthal, Murphy, Himes and Latimer said
they are requesting a meeting with Swenson and his staff to discuss the
status of the projects, the remaining obstacles to completing designs and
beginning construction, the anticipated construction schedule, and how the Army
Corps of Engineers is utilizing federal funding to move the projects forward.
Amazon warehouse developer appeals Killingly denial
Sara Bedigian
Killingly — The developer of the proposed 1.3
million-square-foot Amazon distribution center on Westcott Road has appeal the
Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission's denial of a permit for the
project earlier this month.
In the July 22 appeal filed in Putnam Superior Court,
attorneys representing developer Ryan Companies, contract purchaser WE
Acquisitions LLC, and the owners of the more than 25 properties that make up
the site, alleged the commission was "biased and illegally predetermined
an intent to deny the application” at its July 6 meeting.
Commission member Corina Torrey made the motion to reject
the project application, also known as “Project Husky,” because it would cause
"irreversible and irretrievable loss of wetlands or watercourse
recourses," by impacting more than a half-acre of wetlands.
The commission voted
3-2 to deny the permit without prejudice, meaning Ryan could change and
resubmit the plan, which it did on July 15 before the town
approved a moratorium on new warehouse applications beginning July 20.
The 1.3 million-square-foot project would be built on 324 of
the 558 acres on the site. The remaining 216 acres would be reserved for open
space and conservation, according to the developer’s application.
Torrey also said at the July 6 meeting that Ryan Companies
failed to “exhaust feasible and prudent alternatives.” These alternatives,
reducing the building footprint and creating a tiered parking structure, were
not mentioned during the meeting.
Ryan's lawyers said in the appeal that the allegation the
company ignored feasible and prudent alternatives is improper because the
commission chose not to raise the issue during the hearing.
They also said the developer reduced the building’s size by
87,000 square feet.
They added that Torrey was “not qualified to opine on
technical issues such as the success of wetlands mitigation strategies.”
Ryan Companies submitted its application to the commission
on Jan. 26 and the commission then held five nights of public hearings due to
public interest.
During that time, residents spoke
against the project, stating the warehouse would create traffic, road
safety, pollution and environment problems.
Michelle Murphy of the Keep Killingly Rural coalition said
Monday she and the coalition will continue to fight the project.
“The Town of Killingly will be changed forever with a
project so gigantic,” Murphy said. “This is an industrial project and it
belongs in an industrial zone, not in the middle of the woods filling in all of
the wetlands.”
The proposed Amazon fulfillment center would operate around
the clock, employ 500 workers, bring in more than 400 trucks a day, and serve
as the company’s “most advanced robotics facility” in the state, according to
Amazon Economic Development Director Brad Griggs.
Ryan Companies has asked a judge to sustain its appeal,
reverse the commission's denial, and direct the commission to approve its
amended application. The town has until Aug. 25 to respond to the complaint.