All aboard for better Shoreline rail service

You don’t often see as much public support for proposed legislation in Hartford as the comments and testimony that poured in for this week’s hearing on a bill calling for restoration of more robust Shoreline East train service from New Haven to New London.

I’d say, based on all the heartfelt pleas to legislators, a lot of eastern Connecticut wants the train service restored to at least its pre-pandemic levels, as S.B. 277 would require.

Actually, many of the people who took the time to write or attend the hearing made it known they also want a longer Shoreline East route, extending beyond New London to Mystic and Westerly, R.I.

The only opposing opinion I could find among the dozens filed with the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which is expected to take up the measure soon, came from a resident of Old Lyme, who said he lives along the rail tracks.

An unfortunate consequence of living near railroad tracks is that society may decide it needs more trains, which I’d suggest is where we should be in Connecticut. Maybe we are there.

The Shoreline East bill also seemed to generate an all-handson-deck response from the region’s legislators, most of them submitting cogent and persuasive arguments in favor of the legislation.

Democrats Rep. Anthony Nolan of New London, Rep. Aundre Bumgardner of Groton and Christine Conley all signed a letter to the committee, noting, among reasons for restoring service, the explosive job growth at Electric Boat.

“As it stands, Groton’s street parking and local park and rides are at full capacity, unable to support an impending influx of employees,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Parking strains will continue in the region as New London prepares for the construction of the National Coast Guard Museum and the subsequent tourists that’ll arrive with it.”

Conley, who sits on the committee, told me she expects the bill to make it out of committee by a March 22 deadline.

Lawmakers were not the only ones trying to breathe life into restored funding for Shoreline East.

Remember, this is simply restored funding, not even new service.

I was impressed by arguments made by Rich Martin, chairman of the New London Cultural District, who noted the benefit of more trains to tourism and cultural

institutions, by Pete Harrison, director of DesegregateCt, who promoted the benefits to equitable, sustainable land use reforms, and by Groton Town Manger John Burt, who cited benefits such as reduced traffic congestion, lower carbon emissions, highway maintenance and, of course coping with the impacts of growing tourism in Mystic and thousands of new jobs at EB.

Gov. Ned Lamont has been wishy-washy on giving eastern Connecticut more train service, saying it’s not a priority.

Sure, the governor is glad to subsidize profit-making wind farm construction for rich utilities, but he’s not so quick to put a little money, pocket change, into Green transportation for the forgotten part of the state, environmentally-respectful subsidies for real, voting constituents.

But of course he’s neglecting the region for traditional transportation spending, too.

Let’s hope the governor is embarrassed enough by the strong legislative and constituent support the bill has received so far to sign it if it gets to his desk. Otherwise it’s just a full-on insult by him to eastern Connecticut.

Pre-pandemic service on commuter lines in other parts of the state has already been restored.

Budget curmudgeons complain that not enough people are riding Shoreline East. But the service has been so curtailed it’s impossible to commute on the line.

Even more robust service, financed at a fraction of what we pay for car travel subsidies, could finally make it a viable alternative to highways, which the state should do everything it can to encourage.

There’s another Shoreline East bill still languishing in this short legislative session, to provide summer weekend service all the way to Mystic on the line.

Of course I’d be glad to see that get attention, too, as a prelude to full train service from New London to Westerly, a logical and reasonable expansion of mass transportation, for a region expected to have the most robust job growth in the state in the decades to come.

So, it’s all aboard already for restored Shoreline East train service.

Next stop: Westerly!