What is going on with Shore Line East service?

I am wondering what is going on at the Department of Transportation, re: running trains and it’s priorities. The Shore Line East railroad service is being consistently downgraded, and ignored, with no reasons given, save for the usual “construction issues”.

Some examples:

For the past year, train 1640 from New Haven to New London (a rush hour train) is canceled almost daily with the suggestion that we take the next train (which is always late or itself canceled). Once we actually were advised to drive into New Haven. When we asked for bus service, DOT advised that they could not get drivers, yet it found bus drivers to cover the Hartford Line work.

The heavily used State Street Station is a disaster. The metal steps are broken and are a lawsuit (or worse) waiting to happen. The walkway bridge is filthy, and as slippery as ice when it is wet. Using the elevator is not an option since it is … well… disgusting.

Riders are being impacted. Families, finances and jobs are being affected. Folks must either use vacation time to catch an earlier train or drive in, wasting an expensive ticket. We sometimes get an excuse that “equipment availability” is the problem, yet we see SLE equipment pulling Hartford Line cars. (What happened to the “refurbished” leased equipment for Hartford?)

Letters to DOT/SLE result in the usual canned response that it is being looked into. We are not getting answers, and if we do, they defy logic and credibility. Michael John Castellano Guilford