The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
More trains going to Shore Line East, Hartford Line
NEW HAVEN — Commuters got more opportunities to ride the train to work or other destinations Monday, with seven new trains added to both Shore Line East and the Hartford Line.
The added trains restore much of the service that was cut because of the coronavirus pandemic. Four of the added Shore Line East trains will run to New London. The rest stop in Old Saybrook.
One rider, who would only give his name as Steve, was boarding the
12:24 p.m. Shore Line East train in New Haven. “Beginning today they have trains going home at this time to Clinton, so that helps,” he said.
He said additional trains mean he doesn’t have to drive to Guilford in the morning to catch a train to New Haven “because there was no morning train at that time in Clinton.”
The Hartford Line now is running at pre-pandemic levels of service, while Shore Line East is about 65 percent, according to Rich Andreski, chief of the state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Public Transportation. “Part of the reason for that is we had more service on Shore Line East than we had on Hartford Line,” but the north-south line, which runs from New Haven to Springfield, Mass., has had far more riders, Andreski said.
He said adding back trains that were cut during the pandemic is important to keep riders from opting for their cars. “The COVID schedule on the Hartford Line and Shore Line East had a lot of gaps, two-, three-hour gaps in service, and frequency matters,” Andreski said. “People aren’t willing to rearrange their life around a three-hour train schedule.”
Neven Desouki of Windsor Locks said the additional Hartford Line trains will make a big difference.
“It’s going to give me more options timewise. I go to New York every day,” she said as she boarded the 4 p.m. train. Now, she can take a 5:28 a.m. train south. “Before my husband had to drop me off every day” in New Haven so she could catch a Metro-North train to New York.
Calvin Johnson commutes every day from Springfield to New York for his construction job. “The new trains will be beneficial because it will help [with] different time selections,” he said. “A lot of times when I get off work I have to wait for trains so if we have more trains ... I will have more time to be with my family.”
All the Shore Line East trains now reach New London, as well. That was good news to Thecla Abbrati of Waterford, who was boarding the 3:24 p.m. train in New Haven. “I’m very pleased as long as they can continue it,” she said. “Prior to today, you had 12:30, 5:30 and 9:30 [to New London], so this allows for a lot more flexibility.”
Carmen Blanco of the Bronx, N.Y., said more Shore Line East trains will make visiting her daughter in Guilford easier. “I was waiting two hours over here in New Haven,” she said, getting on the 12:24 p.m. train. “I’m coming from New York and to connect it’s very difficult.”
Metro-North is at 67 percent and is scheduled to increase service to 83 percent on weekdays and 70 percent on weekends, according to Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi. She made the statement in a letter in the Connecticut Examiner.
Rinaldi was responding to criticism from Jim Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group and a Hearst Connecticut columnist. On Monday, Cameron said the additional Hartford Line service was good news. “That line has been a success story since it opened,” exceeding ridership targets, he said.
“Unlike Metro-North, which is slow to react to increased ridership in adding more trains, the Hartford Line and Shore Line East seem to be getting ahead of expected increases in ridership,” Cameron said. “They’ve got the cars; they’ve got the personnel. I don’t know why they’re not adding more service,” he said of Metro-North. “Some of the Metro-North trains are standing room only.”
Rinaldi had written that 24 new peak trains were being added to the New York-Connecticut service June 21.