Even as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy threatened to eliminate funding for the Danbury branch of Metro-North Railroad, crews neared completion on upgrades that supporters hope will lead to a boost in ridership.
In late April as an outgrowth of a stalemate with unions over needed spending cuts to balance his budget, Malloy reportedly proposed eliminating funding that supports the Danbury branch, which has seven stations along its route south to Norwalk.
At deadline last week, union leaders had yet to ratify the benefit cuts and Malloy still said he was prepared to move ahead with an alternative budget.
If not exactly the Stamford Transportation Center, the small stations of the Danbury branch nevertheless provide additional foot traffic for an array of small businesses, most of them food vendors and retail shops. With a current estimated commuter base of 1,200, proponents think that number can swell to 7,000 daily within two decades as the state promotes transit-oriented developments along the line ”“ and possibly extends the line north to Brookfield and beyond.
Malloy was not the first to eye jettisoning service ”“ former governor and Brookfield resident M. Jodi Rell suggested the same option last year as part of budget negotiations with the General Assembly. Under the Rell administration, the Connecticut Department of Transportation began installing a long-sought central control system that would allow Danbury branch dispatchers to remotely siphon locomotives off onto sidings, allowing for 18 trains to run weekdays, an increase from 11 today.
Some $40 million of the $63 million project came from federal funds.
The upgrade will also give commuters access on their mobile devices to the TrainTime application that pinpoints the location of trains as they wait at the platform ”“ allowing possibly a few extra minutes to grab a newspaper or bagel before boarding.
Malloy”™s suggestion derailed some, given his focus on transportation infrastructure as a campaign plank, followed by multiple trips to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to secure federal funding for construction of a major high-speed commuter rail line and other projects in Connecticut.
Last December, a transportation working group helping Malloy transition into office noted that the Danbury and New Canaan branch lines have not received funding for upgrades even as the Connecticut State Bond Commission approved $250 million for a high-speed commuter line between New Haven and Springfield, Mass.
The working group”™s Fairfield County members included Floyd Lapp, executive director of the South Western Regional Planning Agency (RPA); Jim Cameron, president of the Connecticut Metro-North Commuter Council, which worked to block a similar proposal more than a dozen years ago to shut down the Danbury branch; and David Kooris, vice president of the Regional Plan Association, which recently secured $3.5 million to develop so-called sustainable communities in Connecticut and New York promoting quality housing options near mass-transit stations.
“Fix it first should be the branding to move the rail service ”¦ into tomorrow,” Malloy”™s working group wrote. “In so doing, a rationale is also provided ”¦ for high speed rail. ”¦To fund one without the other is an imbalanced program that makes no sense.”
Eliminating the line could also represent a blow to the Georgetown Land Development Co.”™s efforts to attract developers for a Redding village contemplated for the site of the former Gilbert & Bennett wire mill, which stalled at the outset of the recession. While the development lies adjacent to Route 7, it is to include a new Danbury branch station as a draw for residents willing to ride the rails to jobs in lower Fairfield County or New York.
Last month, the Brookings Institution ranked the tristate area 13th nationally on a list of regions that do best at providing residents with transit access to jobs ”“ as RPA points out, despite the tristate area tops for frequency of transit service, and seventh for the share of working-age residents that live within walking distance of a transit stop.
RPA stated the tristate region came in lower than one might expect for several reasons. The region ranked 25th in the share of jobs that a typical resident can reach via transit. There are still many neighborhoods in the suburbs that lack comprehensive transit service, including many low-income communities where auto ownership is low.
Still, even well north of Stamford there is evidence of growing patronage of the rails ”“ Ridgefield last year initiated parking fees at its station in a nod to the increased vehicles in its lot ”“ and of course, to the economic benefits trains can add to the town budget. Eight spots were reserved for employees and patrons of a bakery there that sells its goods both on the premises and to other local stores.
