Even as a panel reviews the operations of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, residents of Norwalk and towns north are awaiting the release of a study that determines improvements to the commuter rail line that runs to Danbury.
Four years ago, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) hired Washington Group International Inc. (WGI) to study ways to improve the corridor, from inexpensive upgrades in the signaling process to the pricey option of double-tracking the current single-track line beyond Danbury to Litchfield County.
In 2006, the consultants completed the first phase of the study and are in the process of finalizing the review”™s second phase this year, which will include an environmental impact report and potential alternatives.
A WGI consultant referred questions to ConnDOT, which did not respond at deadline to a request for comment.
WGI”™s initial study discussed several options, including the possibility of electrifying the corridor and adding rail sidings to allow trains to pull aside, which in turn would allow for more frequent service.
As of 2000, 1,130 commuters used the Danbury branch each day; WGI projects with no improvements 460 more people will use it by 2020. Phasing in improvements over that time would add 100 riders; extending service to New Milford in southern Litchfield County would more than double the number of commuters on the line.
The study undercounts potential riders at least fourfold, contends Toni Boucher, who represents Wilton in the Connecticut General Assembly.
Boucher notes that many commuters drive or take shuttle buses to the New York towns of Brewster and Katonah, to catch trains on the Harlem line of Metro-North. She says she gets calls from New York officials who carp that Connecticut residents use up available parking at Westchester County stations.
Boucher said improvements to the New Canaan branch of Metro-North, including electrification of the line, have succeeded in attracting New York commuters to catch their trains in Connecticut.
“It”™s gangbusters over there (in New Canaan),” Boucher said. “Over here, people use (the Danbury branch) when they have no other choice.”
Terri Cronin, a Norwalk resident who is vice chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, agrees.
“I came here from commuting in Westchester, and I was appalled at the state of commuting in Connecticut,” said Cronin, who commutes to New York City where she works at Booz Allen Hamilton. “It”™s amazing how backward this whole corridor is.”
The initial 23-mile track was laid between 1850 and 1852; today, the line between Norwalk and Danbury is owned by ConnDOT, with Metro-North railroad providing service following its 1983 formation. Housatonic Railroad Company Inc. owns 14 miles of track between Danbury and New Milford, running freight trains on the line.
Currently, Danbury branch service offers three peak-hours trains mornings and evenings from Danbury to Grand Central Terminal in New York City; trains are kept to a speed limit of 50 miles per hour.
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Floyd Lapin, executive director of the Southwestern Regional Planning Association, said not to expect a second rail, which would entirely eliminate the service gap problem. To lay and electrify a second rail to New Milford would cost nearly $3 billion, or about $3 million for each new rider added according to WGI”™s initial estimates.
With a $6.5 million investment, WGI estimated that Danbury trains could shave 5 minutes off their running times by banking some track curves to allow trains to increase their speeds. Due to the twisty course the line follows, any additional savings would cost exponentially more money.
WGI found that electrifying the corridor and adding sidings would knock 13 minutes off the trip time between Danbury and Norwalk, at a cost between $144 million and $174 million, including the purchase of new locomotives and coaches.
It is unclear to what degree the federal government would foot the cost of any improvement or extension of service. The Federal Transit Administration pays between 40 percent and 80 percent of new service or modernization projects, but projects throughout the country compete for the funding.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has made rail improvements a transportation priority, freeing up funds for hundreds of new cars along coastal lines that feed into New York City.
And as the state widens to four lanes the Route 7 roadway connecting Norwalk and Danbury, commercial and residential projects are springing up, including Georgetown Land Development Co.”™s large mixed-use development in Redding that is to include a new rail station.
“The Georgetown developers are building a new town center complex around (the station),” Boucher said. “You have a huge potential around rail improvements.”
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