Talking Transportation 2022
Old Saybrook Railroad Station Old Saybrook Train Station

What If You Could Take a Train to Mystic and Make a Quick Connection to the Casinos?

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Imagine taking a train — a one-seat ride — all the way from Grand Central Terminal to the sandy shores of Mystic. Or connecting there for a quick run up to the Indian casinos. Such a thing should be possible and may yet happen — if Shore Line East gets its act together. Shore Line East is the state-owned commuter line from New Haven to Old Saybrook opened in 1990 in anticipation of heavy traffic delays on I-95 during reconstruction of the Q Bridge. Initially it was only rush-hour service, west to New Haven in the morning and back east in the evening.

Talking Transportation 2022
Acela tunnel Amtrak

Decrepit, at Risk: No Way for Weakest Yet Most Crucial Northeast Transportation Link to Go Through Life

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It should have been done by now. 2018 was the expected completion date of the new railroad tunnels under the Hudson River, first proposed in 2009. At that time the $9 billion project was the biggest infrastructure project in the country. Now it may finally happen. Why do rail tunnels from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey matter to us here in Connecticut?

Talking Transportation 2022
Metro-North New Haven Line MTA Metropolitan Transit Authority An M8 car on the tracks

Talking Transportation: Progress Around the Edges of Metro-North, Not Much at the Heart of It

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Yes, there are new trains on the Waterbury branch — and three new express trains from New Haven, but overall our rail service in Connecticut is still too slow. Why? Governor Lamont and CDOT Commissioner Guilietti ballyhooed their new train PR last week as if they’d solved the commuting problem. They have not. Still, kudos to Commuter Council Chair and Waterbury branch rider Jim Gildea for his tireless efforts to build up service on that branch line.

Cameron on Transportation
Amtrak train crash

It Can Happen on Trains: ‘We Were Crashing. The Sound of My Own Scream is the Last Thing I Remember’

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When we get on an airplane we buckle up, read the safety card and are given a demonstration on the oxygen masks and emergency exits. Those things can save lives should something go wrong. But when we get on a train, either Metro-North or Amtrak, we settle into our seat and zone out. We assume we’re safe. That’s what passengers on an Amtrak train in Missouri thought this past week… until their train’s locomotive hit a dump truck on an unguarded private grade crossing and derailed.