‘A region that is custom made for rail’
Officials tout investment in New Haven Line
NEW HAVEN — What could result from cutting 10 minutes off the train ride from New Haven to New York City? How about 25 minutes by 2035? What about, someday, cutting the trip to an hour flat?
City officials, along with members of Connecticut’s federal and state delegation, suggested Friday that such improvements could transform the way we live and work in the region, as they came to Union Station to celebrate the appointment of Stephen Gardner as Amtrak’s new CEO and laud the planned investment of $30 billion in the Northeast rail corridor.
Gov. Ned Lamont, Gardner and state Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti noted the state’s vision for the rail system recently had been laid out in two plans — the TIME FOR CT initiative, which, among other goals, plans to cut travel time from Union Station to New York by 25 minutes by 2035 — and the Northeast Corridor Commission’s CONNECT NEC 2035 (C35) initiative, which focuses on infrastructure and speed throughout the region.
Lamont likened the investment to the expansion of the road system in America under the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, describing it as a “transformative moment” with environmental, transit and quality of life benefits, as fewer people use the state’s highways and travel with greater convenience.
“This is a region that is custom made for rail. This is a region, and a state, that’s very dense; this is a state that’s part of a greater metropolis, from Boston all the way to New York,” said Lamont. “These opportunities don’t come along very often.”
Lamont said that shortterm efforts to improve outdated track between New Haven and New Rochelle — owned by the state, officials noted, in a unique arrangement — could cut 20-odd minutes off travel
time in the near future.
Gardner said that, with added investment, Amtrak can launch into replacing century-old infrastructure and begin a “new era of modernization for our service.”
He said he was the “luckiest CEO in Amtrak’s history,” saying that, after half a century of underinvestment, “we actually have the resources available, and the leadership, to meet not only Amtrak’s ambition, but fundamentally, the requirements and needs of the nation in the 21st century.”
“The focus on getting more trains to more people is at the heart of everything Amtrak thinks about every day. We think rail needs to do a whole lot more for the U.S. than it has,” said Gardner, noting that there were 120 million more Americans than there were in 1971, when the railway was founded, but the route map was fundamentally unchanged. “The nation has moved well, well past where we started, and our job is now to catch up.”
As part of the continuing effort, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said $30 billion has been set aside for the Northeast in the recently-passed federal infrastructure bill.
He said he and U.S. Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn., had been fighting — “literally, almost physically fighting” — to get the additional funding, noting its importance to his vision of the future in the state.
“I believe in rail. I believe that it is transformational for our economy and our quality of life — literally. Environmentally and economically ... rail is our present and our future,” said Blumenthal, “That’s what we need to do — to build rail that is the world’s first class, (when it comes) to reliability, safety, comfort and speed. There is no reason that we can’t build a rail system that will move passengers from this station to New York City in one hour. That ought to be the goal, and it ought to be the minimum.”
Murphy said greater investment in rail could help economic expansion throughout the state, both in New Haven and Bridgeport. The main difference in economic development between Bridgeport and Stamford, he said, was the time it took to take the train to New York City.
“This is the biggest investment in Northeast rail in the history of the country. We’re very proud of it,” said Murphy, noting the bill also had eased Amtrak’s ability to borrow money to invest in infrastructure. “Something really special is happening on the rail lines here in Connecticut and across the Northeast.”
Mayor Justin Elicker and state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, also voiced their support for the planned investment.
“This is the welcoming mat to our city for thousands and thousands of people, and it sets the tone of the type of city we are,” said Elicker, noting that the city was planning to create a transit hub at the station in partnership with the state, creating a central point for the bus system, expanded parking and additional commercial space. “This is a site that is vital for our city right now, but will grow in impact in the future.”
“This line — the New Haven Line — is probably the most important piece of infrastructure that we will invest in for the next generation,” said Lemar. “If we get this right, we will transform business opportunities, where people choose to live, where people choose to work, where people choose to invest.”