Amid investigations of a Metro-North train collision and an employee fatality, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is asking Connecticut residents to submit their dream public transportation initiatives as a way to increase public outreach on transportation issues.
On a new interactive website, TransformCT.org, Malloy and the Connecticut Department of Transportation are asking users to submit feedback related to public transportation initiatives as the state builds a strategic vision for the future.
By logging on with Facebook, LinkedIn or Google, the website is an attempt to solicit new ideas on how to improve the state”™s bus lines, bike paths and rail infrastructure.
In just one day online, the state has already received a number of responses on the site, which is a positive sign, said Paul Mounds, Malloy”™s director of government affairs.
As the state looks for federal funding to build its Metro-North rail line from New Haven to Hartford and make other improvements, Mounds said the state is hoping to use the site as a way to show the state”™s need for funding.
But when it comes to future railroad improvements, Connecticut may already have a leg up on the regional competition in having its voice heard.
James P. Redeker, commissioner of Connecticut”™s Department of Transportation (DOT), was recently named chairman of the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which governs the nation”™s busiest train line stretching from Boston to Washington D.C.
In light of the recent train accidents in Connecticut, Maryland and Missouri, Redeker is likely up for a term of sweeping new measures, too.
Charged with the corridor”™s maintenance and development, the NEC commission consists of representatives from Amtrak, eight states and the U.S. DOT.
“The charge to the commission is enormous,” Redeker said. “The challenge is to reach agreement on those outcomes among all members.”
Within the next two years, the commission plans to create a five-year investment strategy, update its critical needs report, develop a cost allocation methodology and develop options for potential changes in NEC governance. But among those plans, Redeker also said the state of Connecticut could stand to benefit from his position as NEC chairman.
“I will be able to easily bring forward Connecticut issues and ensure that they are addressed successfully,” Redeker said. “I believe that will result in positive changes to the service, performance, costs and capital program for Connecticut.”
Considering the public outcry following the recent train derailment in Fairfield and employee fatality in West Haven, the state will likely need all the help it can get, too.
On May 17, roughly 73 passengers were injured when a train heading east along the New Haven line derailed before getting sideswiped by a westbound train. Just 11 days later a Metro-North track foreman was also struck and killed by a train when it was routed onto a track believed to be out of service.
Damage from the train derailment alone is estimated at $18 million.
Over the summer, the state plans to make several track upgrades and continue implementing safeguards. Ahead of formal recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the cause of the accidents, Metro-North officials say they have taken several steps to review its processes and make necessary changes.
So far the operator has built in additional safeguards, increased inspections using specialized equipment, inspected all joints similar to the one where the train derailment occurred and worked to identify more ways to improve the track”™s maintenance and inspection programs.
