STAMFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — Connecticut lawmakers on Monday announced a new plan to make rail service throughout the state faster.
Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joe Giletti says officials scrutinized every inch of railroad track in the state and found that trains could be moving much faster with some improvements.
“We learned that we could achieve time savings on the rail line of up to 25 minutes,” he said. “Happening now are infrastructure improvements such as straightening track curves, improving movable bridges, creating [passing] sidings for trains – so that they don't have to wait for others.”
Positive train control has also improved safety on trains and allows for them to travel at higher speed, according to Giletti.
“The railroad has been saturated with slowdowns that were out there,” he said. “We've been able to clean up those slowdowns and, on top of that, what we're doing now is we've looked at all the drawbridges and all the fixed bridges and we've looked at whether or not we can ballast deck them, which to allow us to increase some of the speeds.”
Ultimately, the transportation commissioner expects that commuters will save 82 hours per year once the improvements are completely. He also hopes that by 2022, commuters can shave 10 minutes off the trip from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal.
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The improvements are expected to cost $8 billion to $10 billion, but state officials are hoping for some help.
“The federal government should pay for rails in the northeast corridor,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
He and other lawmakers are hopeful the federal government will step in as Congress looks to pass an infrastructure package.
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