CTDOT is hosting a series of meet-and-greets to incorporate our thoughts into their 2027–2030 Rail Plan.

The aim of this plan is to establish a clear vision for freight and passenger rail in Connecticut by identifying areas of need as well as potential opportunities.

If you’re subscribed to TrainTime, you are already aware of the transformative possibilities afforded by efficient train service. When it comes to commercial and cultural development, few mobility strategies are better than steel wheels on steel rails. That’s why it’s so important that people like you show up to these meetings to share your thoughts—otherwise, we’re stuck with the same outdated transportation policies that many of us are so fed up with.

Share

Meeting times and locations

New Haven

• Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026

• 5:30-7:30 p.m.

• Ives Main Library, Community Program Room

• 133 Elm Street, New Haven, CT 06510

Stamford

• Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026

• 5:30-7:30 p.m.

• Ferguson Library, Dudley H. Williams Jr. Auditorium

• 1 Public Library Plaza, Stamford, CT 06901

Hartford

• Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026

• 5:30-7:30 p.m.

• Hartford Union Station, Great Hall

• 1 Union Place, Hartford, CT 06103

New London

• Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026

• 4:45-6:45 p.m.

• Public Library of New London, Large Community Room

• 63 Huntington Street, New London, CT 06320

For more information about the vision, goals, and priorities of the Rail Plan, click here.

Share

Consider this maxim of participatory politics: if we say nothing, we can expect nothing. Put it in your calendar right now: on September 15th, 17th, 22nd, or 29th, you will show up and tell CTDOT what you want to see in Connecticut’s rail future.

We’ll see you there!

Become a Train Angel!

It’s easy to donate. Just click here to join the Train Campaign! We use Donorbox and can accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe, and PayPal. Old-fashioned checks and even ACH bank transfers are also fine!

Share

The Train Campaign is a project of the Barrington Institute, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 20-1670260. All contributions are tax deductible.

Share

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

Ian explains exactly what’s involved in making train lines more resilient in terms of extreme heat or cold as well as sea-level rise and flooding. Especially relevant to regional rail is his explanation of the options for electrifying train routes, and the ways that battery-powered cars now being used in Europe might provide solutions in North America. The discussion also included information about the manufacture of train cars—”equipment” or “rolling stock”—and how that could be made faster and less expensive.

Alstom’s webpage about sustainability puts it this way: “Helping build societies that are connected, inclusive and resilient.Our purpose is to make rail the backbone of sustainable transportation, helping build societies that are connected, inclusive and resilient.” Just what we’re about at Train Time and the Train Campaign!

Share Train Time

Show notes

Ian Hodkinson of Alstom joins Karen Christensen to discuss exactly what’s involved in making train lines more resilient in terms of extreme heat or cold as well as sea-level rise and flooding. He details the ways in which trains provide flexible and resilient transportation, and points out that they create resilience by offering alternative means of travel and moving product. Especially relevant to regional rail is Ian’s explanation of the options for electrifying train routes, and the ways that battery-powered cars now being used in Europe might provide solutions in North America. The discussion also included information about the manufacture of train cars—”equipment” or “rolling stock”—and how that could be made faster and less expensive.

And how did this podcast come about? The Train Campaign is a volunteer side project that I’m not able to devote much time to at the moment. But I couldn’t resist when a communications firm emailed a couple weeks ago, when temperatures were breaking records in Europe, to ask if I’d like to interview longtime transit expert Dani Simons, who heads Public Affairs and Communications at Alstom and served as Director of Public Affairs and Assistant to USDOT Secretary Buttigieg, about what extreme heat events in the future pose for transit, and what climate resilience in this sector can look like.

The email pitched the issue clearly: “as the country reels from last week’s temperatures and prepares for a summer of heat, reliable public transit remains a concern. Keeping trains running safely and reliably in record temperatures requires infrastructure and equipment designed to withstand increasingly severe weather.”

As it turned out, Dani Simons wasn’t available this month, but as you’ll hear (and see), her colleague Ian Hodkinson stepped up with lots of detail and specific examples.

Credits

Music on the Train Time podcast comes from Two Bit Cowboys.

Share Train Time

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

Matt Silber and Karen Christensen catch up on this Train Time talk, ranging around the region, in the way they’d be doing if there was a pub by the station. The “happy hour” kicks off with an article in the New York Times about a slowdown in the release of federal grants for public transit (gift link below). It also included news about an MTA project done under budget and ahead of schedule—an example of using new methods and technology to do things better. Karen and Matt get into legacy systems and legacy thinking, and how hard it is to get state Departments of Transportation to talk to each other. Other topics include Project 2025’s bizarre criticism of rail infrastructure, the potential for battery-powered trains, and how much we can learn from other countries about building better and faster.

“Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It.” [New York Times gift link]

Prefer to read instead of listening? You’ll see the Transcript link under every Train Time podcast. Look above for today’s episode.

Credits

Music on the Train Time podcast comes from Two Bit Cowboys.

Share Train Time

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

You might remember that I am not a fan of Amtrak, but I’m glad to say that their long-distance lines deserve some celebrating. And I’m able this summer to get a vicarious look at coast to coast travel because my son Tom Christensen is taking advantage of the USA Rail Pass.

Tom had a fellowship in western China after college and then worked in Beijing for nearly 10 years. He’s taken long trips on old-fashioned Chinese trains, and faster trips on modern high-speed rail. The Empire Builder is somewhere between the two: better than the old trains but a long, long way from Chinese trains today. He’s returned from China and has friends and family scattered across the country to reconnect with. And he has a job in Seattle that allows him the flexibility to travel for a month. He set out from Seattle a couple days ago, and we got a look at the train station there, built in 1906—seven years before Grand Central opened. A little different from waiting for a plane at SeaTac!

In 1976, as a teenager, I took Greyhound buses across the country from California to the East Coast and back. But that wasn’t at all the same because we were on the interstate highway system the whole way, not going through the southern end of Glacier National Park, or rolling through central Washington state on a beautiful evening.

Share Train Time

One asset the Amtrak trains have is an observation car on a second deck.

The USA Rail Pass is a bargain at $500 for 10 trips over the course of a month, and it’s ideal for someone like Tom who has stops to make in many cities, starting with Minneapolis where he has Grinnell friends to catch up with.

Have you taken the Empire Builder or California Zephyr or City of New Orleans? We’d love to hear your stories, and to have links to anything you’ve read about them.

Leave a comment

Next week, I’ll be recording a podcast with Ian Hodkinson, Alstom’s Technical and Business Development Director of Transit Systems, who has over 20 years of experience in the industry. We plan to discuss rail planning with extreme weather in mind, and if you have questions, please send them my way.

And Matt Silber and I will be doing a rail round-up, general chat and general rant podcast, too. When Matt and I get talking about trains and transit it gets lively—I wish there was a way for you to join us!

This 2025 podcast focused on the revival of another rail line in Montana, across the southern part of the state.

Subscribe now

The real question is What should be happening with the Berkshire Line?

We have quite a few new subscribers so I thought I should publish an update on the train line that launched the Train Campaign back in 2011. I dragged my staff down to the tracks in our new Train Campaign tshirts—yes, so very 2011!

The photo at the top of this post shows what the same tracks look like today, after an investment by Massachusetts of over $50 million. They are ready for passenger service, yet neglected by the Commonwealth and failing to provide the service to residents and tourists that that investment was intended to provide. How can get get Berkshire (Housatonic) Line rolling again? A summary from 2025 and some links to other posts follow, including one about how we could get EV service running between Pittsfield and Canaan now.

Leave a comment

What's happening with the Berkshire Line?

February 2025

Until 1971, the Berkshire Line (also known as the Housatonic Line) carried passengers from Grand Central Terminal through western Connecticut and on to Pittsfield. The tracks remain in place and have continued to be used as a freight line by the Housatonic Railroad Company (HRRC). The tracks and property right-of-way between the CT-MA border and Pittsfield were purchased for $13 million by the Commonwealth in 2014, under Gov Deval Patrick's leadership. The legislature also allotted $35 million to upgrade the 37 miles of rail line. Massachusetts also committed an additional $78.8 million to be funded when Connecticut also authorized funding for their portion of the Berkshire Line, another 37 miles.

The Commonwealth's contract with HRRC stated that the state's reason for the purchase was to restore passenger service: "The acquisition of the subject Railroad Assets is one step in what MassDOT anticipates will be an involved, multi-step process that ultimately will lead to the establishment of a new railroad passenger service route in the Northeast."

After Gov Patrick stepped down in early 2015, MassDOT downgraded the project, saying that they would not continue because Connecticut was facing major financial difficulties and did not consider the line a priority. Nonetheless, upgrade work began in July 2018, and MassDOT details the improvements made: "rehabilitation of 4 grade crossings, replacement of 45,000 ties over the entire 36 miles, 3 bridges will be replaced and 3 other bridges repaired and replacement of jointed rail with continuous welded rail." Over $50 million has now been spent, and the rail line in Berkshire County could support passenger service today.

And how about Connecticut? The current CT Rail Plan says the DOT will "study the feasibility" of expanded rail service and "update travel patterns for post-COVID. “There have been track and crossing upgrades in Canaan, and over $1 million was committed to study of track rehabilitation from Southeast to Danbury. There has been agitation for Metro-North service past Danbury to New Milford. These sections are part of the Berkshire Line. To paraphrase the late astronaut Neil Armstrong, "One small step to New Milford, and one giant leap towards passenger rail to the Berkshires.”

During the pandemic, we participated in a number of press conferences with Senator Markey, Congressman McGovern, and with Congressman Neal, talking about infrastructure investment in western Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, we've seen no leadership when it comes to the Berkshire Line, in part because coordinating across state lines seems to be too high a bar for most politicians. To date, over $50 million from MA taxpayers has been devoted to upgrading the line, but the only beneficiary at the moment is the privately owned Housatonic Railroad Company.

But in terms of infrastructure dollars, the Pittsfield-Grand Central service would be a small investment. The DOTs together with an efficient operator could take this shovel-ready project and get trains rolling again to Grand Central within a couple of years. Its return on investment would be higher than any rail project I have yet to see in the United States, whether regional or high speed.

Leave a comment

Thanks to our sponsors and supporting subscribers!

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

It’s hard to get excited about US train news when I’m reading world train news, too. But we have to start where we are, and there are some good things on offer in the United States. One that I long to try is the Amtrak USA Rail Pass. $499 for 10 trips within a month, anywhere in the country. Think of it: a chance to go from coast to coast and back again, stopping to see friends and family, with the ease of train travel instead of increasingly unpleasant (and expensive) flight travel. As soon as I can clear a full month, I’ll be doing this, and with luck I’ll soon be able to share someone else’s experience here at Train Time.

This headline echoes my reaction. Here at Train Time, we’re fond of vintage train projects but our focus is modern passenger train service that will replace and improve on car travel.

Train service returning to Torrington, sort of

“For the first time since 1958” is the opening line of an article entitled “Train service returning to Torrington, sort of.”

“The Litchfield County Clipper is exactly the kind of experience the Railroad Museum of New England was built to provide — one that connects people to history, to place, and to the communities along the line,” said RMNE Passenger Operations Manager Orion Newall. “Restoring passenger boarding in Torrington after more than 65 years is a remarkable milestone, made possible through years of preservation work, partnership, and investment in the rail corridor. We’re proud to help bring visitors directly into downtown Torrington and Thomaston, where they can spend the day exploring local shops, restaurants, arts, and attractions while experiencing the region from a truly unique perspective.”

By connecting visitors directly with Torrington’s downtown arts district and small-business community, the Litchfield County Clipper is expected to serve as both a tourism experience and an economic development driver in both communities.

We are thrilled to welcome the return of passenger boarding in Torrington for the first time in decades,” said Torrington Mayor Molly Spino. “With stops at Railroad Square and Market Street Creatives, passengers will experience the creativity, culture, and energy that make Torrington such a unique destination in Northwest Connecticut.”

We wish them luck, but would like to see this turn into a regular passenger service.

Spain is the latest country to ban short-haul flights—but it won’t be the last

This is a great development in Europe, and it’s interesting to consider how it would apply in the US. The problem is that our trains are so very slow. Two and a half hours here is only about 125 miles, but in Europe it might be 3 or 4 times that. People fly between New York and Washington, and New York and Boston, when they could take a train (the busiest routes in the US). These are probably the best equivalent routes. But the US trains take more than 2-1/2 hours.

Spain is the latest country to announce plans to reduce short-haul domestic flights. Following a move from France last year, Spain will bar domestic flights between destinations that are less than 2.5 hours away from each other by train. Last year, France was the first country in the world to implement such a ban.

On paper, this may sound like a jarring move, but in practice, not all of these flight routes will be canceled. Short-haul options will still exist to connect international travelers with their final destinations, for example. Plus, when you think about how much time it takes to arrive early for a flight to get through security—and the fact that most airports are not located in the center of a city, unlike train stations—the total travel time is likely not going to be significantly different.

Read the whole thing.

West Coast train rided for the bucket list

Share

The Cascades train trip is beautiful, and you can read about at the link below. That line is getting new generation carriages, too, which will be doing their first runs this summer. News about the new equipment is here.

Beyond the Rails

A Scenic Ride on the Cascades Train from Seattle to Vancouver

The Amtrak Cascades train from Seattle to Vancouver is among the most scenic train rides I have ever taken. The route hugs the coastline for most of its 5-hour journey and, if you’re lucky, you can even get a glimpse of both the Olympic and Cascades Mountains rising in the distance. With its stunning views of the Pacific Northwest and slow pace, this jo…

Read more

3 months ago · 6 likes · 3 comments · Beyond the Rails

Become a Train Angel!

It’s easy to donate. Just click here to join the Train Campaign! We use Donorbox and can accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe, and PayPal. Old-fashioned checks and even ACH bank transfers are also fine!

The Train Campaign is a project of the Barrington Institute, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 20-1670260. All contributions are tax deductible. Your support makes it possible for our volunteers to do these things:

• keep you up to date on policy developments and make it easy to contact legislators* provide regular updates about new train and transport projects

• extend our outreach to business and government leaders across the region

• create a series of podcasts so you can listen to rail experts & get updates

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

A public gathering Wed., May 27 at Williamstown’s Milne Public Library. “Finding Community: News, social media and the new town squares” is a public circle-round gathering Wed., May 27 at the Milne Public Library in Williamstown (Mass.) from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. You’re invited to come listen, join the conversation and bring ideas! Bill Densmore billdensmore@greylocknews.org

Have we lost touch with real-world local communities and neighborhoods in the digital age? How do we reconnect and share community information and needs? Join a group of engaged neighbors as we share what’s working and see if more collaboration will help!

Public transportation is also essential, and restored service on the Housatonic Berkshire Line would mean that northern Berkshire County would be much, much closer!

A decade ago, we held a pop-up meeting at the Williamstown Library when we were doing a pop-up series across the region with Trains in the Valley. I’m hoping this week’s gathering can be the beginning of new collaboration on all kinds of community building and social connections. If you’re in the area, please join us!

Share

Diana Walczak made a short film about the Train Campaign in 2013 as part of a series of “turn off your cellphone” messages for Images Cinema.

Become a Train Angel

Click here to sign the petition

It’s easy to donate. Just click here to join the Train Campaign! We use Donorbox and can accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe, and PayPal. Old-fashioned checks and even ACH bank transfers are also fine!

The Train Campaign is a project of the Barrington Institute, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 20-1670260. All contributions are tax deductible. Your support makes it possible for our volunteers to do these things:

• keep you up to date on policy developments and make it easy to contact legislators* provide regular updates about new train and transport projects

• extend our outreach to business and government leaders across the region

• create a series of podcasts so you can listen to rail experts & get updates

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

I have mixed feelings about high-speed rail. I’m for it, but I’m also a realist about the United States. And I see regional passenger service restoration as a way to build support for the big projects.

The US has a vast network of rail track that used to support passenger trains and is now used only for freight. The Housatonic Berkshire Line is one of many, but probably the best example in the country of a line that offers excellent return on investment.

In any case, we appreciate all politicians who pay attention to rail. Rep Seth Moulton, who is challenging our friend Senator Ed Markey in the Democratic primary, is one of them. Here’s his pitch, pulled from a recent podcast interview:

Let’s talk about affordability, affordable housing. You connected to high-speed rail. Come on, there’s no other place you’re going to get to nerd out on quite as great detail as this. So talk about how you tie those two things together.

Well, let’s bring it home to Massachusetts. You know, Massachusetts, we’ve got Boston, the whole Boston economy out east. But then we got the amazing city of Springfield that’s about two, two and a quarter hours away by car without traffic. But according to the current plan to improve the existing rail service between Boston and Springfield, it’ll be two and a half hours longer than driving to get there by train. Now, this is actually longer than the trains took in 1950, which is insane. And so what I’m just saying. How does anybody come up with that? Honest to God. It’s crazy. It’s totally crazy.

And yet, you know, that’s what the senator I’m running against supports. I’m just saying, let’s do what the rest of the world is doing. And we know that Japan does it. We know that France does it. How about the fact that Morocco does it? Morocco has one third the GDP of just Massachusetts, and yet they just completed a high speed rail line. that’s just a little bit longer than Boston to Springfield goes almost 200 miles per hour and that would mean getting from Springfield to Boston in 40 minutes. That would be transformative for the economy of Springfield but it would also be transformative.

And I’m going to push you to go further because sort of like New York State needs it. But, you know, there are some plans that would say, you know, do Boston is Chicago. you know they’re right I mean there are there are more ambitious plans.

So Boston to Chicago 20 years ago would have been considered a little bit too far for high-speed rail but given how difficult and aggravating it is to travel by plane these days distances like that are now in the high-speed rail market share now no one’s talking about taking a high-speed train from Boston to Los Angeles I mean that that would take quite a while um you know we’re talking about 24 hours or something like that and so most people wouldn’t take it although there would be some who really don’t want to fly or just really want to see the country.

But the point is that when you look at all these different markets across America where high-speed rail does make sense, not just Boston to Chicago, but Chicago to Atlanta. Chicago to Atlanta is about the same distance as the most popular high-speed rail line in the entire world, Beijing to Shanghai. And what’s amazing about these lines is that that’s not just good for the economy of Chicago or the congestion at O’Hare or the economy of Atlanta and the congestion at that airport. It’s good for all these amazing cities in between that feel very left out right now, because it’s great for Indiana.

You know, it’s great because all these, all these, the middle America states. So the point is, if you put all these different corridors on a map that makes sense for high-speed rail across America, you get a national system. Not because a lot of people will take the train from Boston to LA, but because Boston to Chicago makes sense, and Chicago to Omaha makes sense, and Omaha to Salt Lake City makes sense, and Salt Lake City to Los Angeles makes sense.

And so is the connection to affordable housing then essentially that you increase the radius of where people can live and it’s much cheaper to live in Springfield? Incidentally, this would be great for the NBA Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame. But is that how it connects or is there a development component you could see as well?

Yes, I mean, that is correct. That’s sort of the first level. The second is that a lot of people love being able to live in a place where they can walk to a train station and get, you know, amazing places very quickly and easily. And not only faster than driving, but often a lot nicer than driving and certainly way nicer than flying. And so you get a lot of housing that gets developed not through taxpayer subsidies but just through the private sector all around these train stations across America it also decreases regional inequality um because we all know that like let’s go to Boston Chicago right we all know that the economy of Chicago is thriving the economy of Boston is is thriving Syracuse South Bend Indiana Buffalo not so much but all of a sudden those those cities are included in this and that’s the Buffalo and Syracuse have great futures if they had something like this I mean they’ve got great futures but I agree with you it’d be transformative it’d be totally transformative and when you just have a highway and airport based system as we do today you leave Syracuse Buffalo South Bend Indiana they get left off the map because you just can’t get there fast enough or the airlines don’t serve them. That’s what’s so transformative about high-speed rail. It reduces regional inequality at a time when it’s been exacerbated with our latest economic trends.

Here’s the whole podcast. The discussion about trains is at 35:33.

As gas prices rise, here’s an idea from bigger cities. Could something like this work in our smaller cities and towns?

Leave a comment

Slugging 101: A Practical Guide to Car-Free Commuting

As more commuters look for smarter alternatives to driving alone – especially with return to office and increasingly congested traffic – slugging has re-emerged as a highly-effective form of commuting smarter, not harder. While it may be unfamiliar to some, slugging has been a long-standing transportation option in DC. Learn more about what slugging is, how it works, and how you can get started on your slugging journey.

Read more.

This video is about slugging, or “casual commuting,” in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Share

Click here to sign the petition

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

If you take the train to New York from Wassaic, you’ll know that the Harlem Line ends there in a yard. You may also have noticed as you stand on the platform that there is a paved path heading north on the opposite side of the track. That is the beginning of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, which the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association (www.hvrt.org) hopes will eventually extend 46 miles, all the way to Chatham, NY.

Across the country, many passenger train lines went out of business during the early 1970s (we’ll write that story another time). A movement began, Rails to Trails, with the aim of using those routes for recreational trails. This was a sensible step: making the corridors useful and keeping them intact for possible future transportation uses. “Rail trails” have become a popular feature in many communities, in the United States and in Europe, for walking, rollerblading, and cycling.

When the Train Campaign began in 2011, rail trails would come up occasionally. People would ask about the old railroad station in Chatham, NY, for example, and whether the train line from Wassaic couldn’t be extended on the old route via Hillsdale. They would ask if the Housatonic Berkshire Line to Pittsfield might be extended to North Adams.

At the Train Campaign, we took note, and we had the same questions. But we always got the same adamant response, a flat negative. It’s rails or trails, we were told. Take your choice, but it’s one or the other. Once there’s a trail, there’s no going back to rail service.

Guess what? That official dictum is not true.

We first got an inkling that there were other ways to approach this subject at a Train Campaign pop-up meeting in Sheffield, MA in February 2018. Two of our steering committee members met Dan Bolognani from the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area. He told them about efforts to promote trails in northwestern Connecticut and introduced us to Tom Sexton, Northeast Regional Director for the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a national nonprofit organization.

In 2019, Tom spoke at a Train Campaign event in Great Barrington. We learned that rails and trails are not pieces in a zero sum game. There are 350 rails-with-trails in the US, and nearly a thousand miles of rails-with-trails. Tom showed photographs of people jogging, cycling, and walking next to freight, passenger, and light-rail lines. He explained the economic, security, environmental, and social benefits of combining rails and trails, and went over the challenges as well.

While there are challenges, there are ways to overcome them, with many working examples. It was clear from the audience’s questions that this story struck a chord: recreational trails fit with the character and ethos of the Berkshires, and of course offer a chance to bring people to beautiful spots that are otherwise inaccessible.

Railroads benefit, too, from a security perspective. Most railroad fatalities are the result of people walking on the track. But if there is a path, people use it and not the tracks. There have been only two fatalities on rails with trails, a remarkable safety record (one was the direct result of using headphones that entirely blocked train warning signals).

At that meeting, we discussed ways to map particular stretches of our region that might be suitable for trails. We’ll be talking to the BRPC and town planners about this, and setting up a group to look at this addition to the plan for restored passenger service on the Housatonic Berkshire Line.

One important benefit of rails-with-trails is that trails can make it far easier for people to get to train stations without driving. By prioritizing trails as part of passenger services in the Berkshires and western Connecticut, we could reduce the need for parking at stations. If you can easily ride a bike and lock it up securely, you may well choose to leave your car at home. In fact, we met two people in the audience who routinely ride their bikes to Wassaic from the Berkshires to get a train to New York.

It’s also worth noting that there is federal funding for rails-with-trails.

Here’s the podcast we recorded with Tom Sexton, at Spotify. And take a look at the video below, as well as the Shenandoah Rail Corridor initiative.

Become a Train Angel!

It’s easy to donate. Just click here to join the Train Campaign! We use Donorbox and can accept Google Pay, Apple Pay, Stripe, and PayPal. Old-fashioned checks and even ACH bank transfers are also fine!

The Train Campaign is a project of the Barrington Institute, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 20-1670260. All contributions are tax deductible. Your support makes it possible for our volunteers to do these things:

• keep you up to date on policy developments and make it easy to contact legislators* provide regular updates about new train and transport projects

• extend our outreach to business and government leaders across the region

• create a series of podcasts so you can listen to rail experts & get updates

Share

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

The publisher gave us permission to republish Jim Cameron’s important and relevant article in full, but it seems I can’t paste HTML code into Substack. Instead, I’m quoting a bit from the article, which you can read in full online. But you’ll get the point from these extracts. No doubt the points Jim is making are true of MA rail planning and perhaps one of our readers will do some research and share it with us. Read the whole article in the CT Mirror.

In CT, a cathedral for trains… but no trains

By Jim Cameron | Columnist in the CT Mirror April 26, 2026

In Connecticut, when it comes to transportation we don’t seem to have a transportation strategy… we just have a construction strategy.

Sure, the plans for redevelopment of the New Haven Union Station are certainly impressive… the new European-style roof and canopy over the tracks, the redone passenger tunnel, etc. All of it serving as a beautiful gateway to The Elm City and a new TOD (transit oriented development) project on adjacent state land.

But why are we spending $402 million on this while we can’t find a paltry $3 million to restore some train service on Shore Line East? We seem to be able to afford a cathedral for trains, just not the trains themselves. . . .

More from Jim Cameron’s article:

Why has CDOT plans for another 5% fare hike this July on Metro-North with no expansion of service and no increase in speed? And the governor’s campaign of super-fast express trains to New York City… just that, a campaign promise never fulfilled.

Why is Amtrak suing the Metropolitan Transit Authority (parent of Metro-North) instead of cooperating to provide better train service? MTA claims that Amtrak is slowing development of their new commuter service to the East Bronx while Amtrak says the railroad is denying it the right to run non-revenue and test trains on the New Haven line.

Why does Amtrak bicker with CDOT over The Hartford Line, limiting U-pass (student) riders’ access to its too-short, always-crowded, trains between Springfield and New Haven?

Why have high access and power costs charged by Amtrak made running the shiny, new M8 electric trains on Shore Line East uneconomical, persuading CDOT to pull out old passenger cars and run diesel locos just to save money? Another nail in the coffin of Shore Line East.

It seems that we’re not investing in transportation. We’re investing in transportation projects… real estate, not real people. And riders (voters) can tell the difference.

Read the whole article in the CT Mirror.

Click here to sign the petition

Share

See the red balloon! We love trains, and Grand Central Terminal.

Share Train Time

Share

Leave a comment

We have written a little about this before. Links below.

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

Continuing conflict in the Middle East has all kinds of implications. One of them is that rail is more important in future planning because it can so drastically decrease energy needs while moving goods and people around. This letter in the Financial Times struck a chord with me. In Europe, passenger rail is far more extensive and important than freight, while in the United States the situation is reversed. The point made in this letter is that both are of value and need to be considered, and planned for, in unison. “Unlocking rail’s full potential” sums it up. Below is a reminder about how you can help make this happen in Connecticut.

Sign the CT petition

A compelling case for shifting goods and passengers to rail

Reading Frank Elderson’s recent commentary on Europe’s destabilising dependence on fossil fuels, I was struck by how much money still flows out of the EU for oil imports despite having tools at hand to reduce this vulnerability (“Europe’s fossil fuel dependence poses risks to price stability”, Opinion, April 7).

Transport is a prime example: it is one of Europe’s largest consumers of oil and one of the sectors with the greatest potential for transformation. Recent analysis by the Brussels think-tank, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies, shows that despite its modest share of total traffic, rail freight transport already saves the EU 144,000 barrels of diesel-equivalent oil a day, with passenger rail saving a further 220,000 barrels. These are not marginal efficiencies but strategic buffers that reduce exposure to volatile global fuel markets.

At recent peak prices, this represents more than €10bn a year retained in the European economy. The economic case for shifting more goods and passengers to rail is compelling. Doubling rail freight and connecting the continent by high-speed rail would not only cut emissions; it would strengthen Europe’s balance of payments, improve energy security and support the price stability Elderson rightly argues is essential for long-term prosperity. Modelling for a European high-speed rail network indicates cumulative savings by 2070 of more than 5bn tonnes of CO₂ and energy equivalent to 11.6bn barrels of oil, with net benefits estimated at €750bn.

Unlocking rail’s full potential could save Europe over €1.5tn over the next 50 years, money otherwise burnt in imported oil. Just as with clean energy, Europe has the technology and capability for a world-class rail system. What is needed is a bold investment push. As the EU debates its next long-term budget, hard choices will be required. If Europe is serious about reducing its exposure to external shocks, the time has come for decisions that will deliver lasting benefits for future generations.

Alberto Mazzola Executive Director, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), Brussels, Belgium

Here at home, we can encourage Connecticut right now to put passenger rail on track. Here’s Matt Silber’s explanation and request for your help.

How YOU Can Help

Transit authorities like CTDOT often justify service cuts because they think nobody is paying attention. Let’s prove them wrong. On April 22nd, we’re heading to the public meeting to share our thoughts on CTDOT’s draft Connecticut 2055 plan. We want to show them thousands of signatures that say loud and clear, “We the people want more trains!”

If you envision a Connecticut with cleaner skies, cheaper homes, and less traffic, the Train Campaign humbly asks you to sign our petition today.

Click here to sign the petition

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

First, because this needs as many people as possible to weigh in, could you please share this post with 3 or 4 friends? (Share button below, or simply forward.)

Share

News just out: CTDOT is releasing its draft 30-year long-range transportation plan, and the Train Campaign needs YOUR help to bring passenger rail back to Connecticut!

For years, dormant rail lines have sat idle while traffic gets worse. Other states are already restoring their lines, and it’s time for Connecticut to do the same. We are at a turning point, but it won’t happen without YOUR VOICE.

We at the Train Campaign are demanding that CTDOT study the restoration of service on two critical corridors by 2027:

1. The Maybrook Line: Connecting the Danbury, Waterbury, and Harlem Metro-North lines.

2. The Housatonic/Berkshire Line: Connecting Danbury to Pittsfield, MA.

The tracks are already there. The stations are already there. This isn’t a pipe dream, but a practical solution to our housing and traffic nightmares. Thanks to HB 8002 and its transit-oriented development (TOD) provisions, towns are incentivized to build housing close to public transit stops, creating walkable downtowns and attracting new growth without increasing car traffic. Expanded passenger rail + TOD is a win-win for communities.

Share

How YOU Can Help

Transit authorities like CTDOT often justify service cuts because they think nobody is paying attention. Let’s prove them wrong. On April 22nd, we’re heading to the public meeting to share our thoughts on CTDOT’s draft Connecticut 2055 plan. We want to show them thousands of signatures that say loud and clear, “We the people want more trains!”

Sign the CT petition

If you envision a Connecticut with cleaner skies, cheaper homes, and less traffic, the Train Campaign humbly asks you to sign our petition today. (Note: this is the second iteration of the petition, as we moved from Change.org to Moveon.org, and the total signatures are approaching 700. We want to get to 1000!)

• Donate: If you’d like to donate to our cause, you can click here to access our donor box.

• Stay Informed: Learn more at traintime.substack.com and traincampaign.org.

All the best, Matthew R. Silber

Share Train Time

Here’s how to find the transcript (in yellow), if you prefer to read a (rough) text instead of listening. You’ll see the Transcript link under every Train Time podcast. Look above for today’s episode

Some of our past episodes are on YouTube, too.

Sign the CT petition

Credits

Music on the Train Time podcast comes from Two Bit Cowboys.

Share Train Time

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

I recently took an MBTA commuter train from Cambridge to Concord, Mass. After reading about the vast amount of money spent on the MBTA, I was shocked by everything about that short ride. The tracks, the speed, the frequency, the train carriage itself—everything was miles short and decades behind the services I’ve used in the past year in other countries. Yet we spend more money, mile per mile, than anyone else.

Share

The US off track

The book Breakneck China: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future brought this into focus, reminding me that the first high-speed train I took in China, which inspired me to found the Train Campaign, was in 2011the service was newly opened:

THE YEAR 2008 OFFERS a direct comparison between California’s speed and China’s speed. That year, California voters approved a state proposition to fund a high-speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles; also that year, China began construction of its high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai. Both lines would be around eight hundred miles long upon completion.

China opened the Beijing-Shanghai line in 2011 at a cost of $36 billion….

You can see the Chinese train in this video produced by Diana Walczak in 2013 as one of a series of trailers for Images Cinema in Williamstown.

… In its first decade of operation, it completed 1.35 billion passenger trips. California has built, seventeen years after the ballot proposition, a small stretch of rail to connect two cities in the Central Valley, neither of which are close to San Francisco or Los Angeles.

The latest estimate for California’s rail line is $128 billion. Why does it cost so much? Partly because some politicians have demanded that the train add a stop in their district, forcing the line to take a more tortuous route through an extra mountain range. And partly because California’s rail authority prefers to tout the number of high-paying jobs it is creating rather than the amount of track it has been laying. The first segment of California’s train will start operating, according to official estimates, between 2030 and 2033. Which means that the margin of error for estimating when a partial leg of California’s high-speed rail will open is the same as the time it took China to build the entire Beijing-Shanghai line.

And from Europe

In January, I was traveling from Swindon, a major train hub in the west of England, into London for a day of meetings. My ticket was for a cheap day fare and I needed to get an earlier train. I was able to change the ticket, go through the gates and onto a train about to depart, in 3 minutes—getting to London in time for my first meeting across the city, at a coffee shop at the beautiful St Pancras station. Imagine trying to do that in the Boston area, or anywhere in the US!

Share

The previous week, I’d bought a lunch on the French high-speed TGV, which included an empty paper cup and an espresso pod. After eating my salad and apple compote, I went back to the counter, where there was a long line of people ordering lunch. The hostess swept the cup from my hand. Moments later she returned it to me, saying cheerfully, “Le café de Madame,” all the while explaining the lunch options to the next customers.

A bit more from Breakneck China:

The United States wasn’t always like this. American mayors and governors used to love attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies. These are now few and far between. American cities have broadly failed to build adequate housing or infrastructure. What they do complete-a public bathroom, a bus stop, or, my goodness, a subway station arrives embarrassingly late or over budget. Americans live today in the ruins of an industrial civilization, whose infrastructure is just barely maintained and rarely expanded.

Once upon a time, America, too, had the musculature of an engineering state, building mighty works throughout the country: lengthy train tracks, gorgeous bridges, beautiful cities, weapons of war with terrible power, and missions to the moon. George Washington was a general, the first of many national security types who appreciated the value of building. As a young army officer, Dwight Eisenhower spent two months driving, or, more precisely, juddering, from coast to coast on unpaved roads. As president, he built the Interstate Highway System. When the United States had surging population and economic growth through the nineteenth century, political elites agreed that its vast territories needed canals, rails, and highways. Some of the leading figures in the Progressive Era embraced social engineering-and they conducted enough eugenics experiments to prove it.

China today resembles the United States of a century ago….

Get the book at Amazon.

Click here to sign the petition

Here’s what I said on WAMC back in 2013:

“What I want more than anything else is to have people here understand that this is a real prospect and then, because they know its something real - it’s something close - then we will all have a common voice and we will say to the political leaders that we need some of that money to come here to make this happen fast because this is going to change our lives for the better,” said Christensen.

— Advocacy Group Launches New Effort To Support Passenger Rail Expansion In Berkshires

Our open tabs

— European Sleeper relaunches Paris-Berlin night train, giving business travellers a low-carbon alternative

— Mexico’s Maya Train could cost $30bn and draws 5% of passengers | Fortune

— Spain is rightly proud of its high-speed trains. But pride alone doesn’t ensure safety | María Ramírez | The Guardian

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

  Leave a comment

It’s primary season, as well as town election season, with state and national elections in November. This is our first chance to talk to one of the candidates. Co-host Matt Silber invited CT rep Josh Elliott, who is running for governor of Connecticut in the Democratic primary in August, to join us on Train Time. We were keen to get his perspective on public transportation and the role trains play (and could play) in Connecticut, as well as to ask about the transit policies he would prioritize as governor.

Leave a comment

Josh has a lot to say about Connecticut finances, based on his experience as Deputy Speaker and Majority Caucus Co-Chair and as a member of the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee, the Public Health Committee, and the Judiciary Committee. We were also able to discuss the importance of governors in supporting rail restoration in our region.

We’ll try to get other candidates to join us, and if there’s someone you’d especially like to hear from, please drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do. The support of our Washington DC legislators is also vital.

In addition, here are clips from our interviews with former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, US congressman Richard Neal, and former state senator Eric Lesser, all of whom have been keen supporters of rail service.

Here’s how to find the transcript (in yellow), if you prefer to read an admittedly imperfect text instead of listening. You’ll see the Transcript link under every Train Time podcast. Look above for today’s episode.

Credits

Music on the Train Time podcast comes from Two Bit Cowboys.

Share Train Time

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

I learned a lot about how local transit is being managed. This passage from someone far more expert than I speaks to the major issue:

When transit is frequent, safe, and reliable, it’s more than just a service. It’s infrastructure.

You don’t wait for the sidewalk. You don’t check an app to see if it’s working. You don’t wonder if it’s meant for someone else. Sidewalks are just there—always available, always on. And when they’re well-designed, you barely notice them. They quietly support everything: commerce, mobility, safety, health, and freedom of movement. Sidewalks don’t require instructions. They’re intuitive. Step on, move forward.

That’s the framing we need for local bus service. A well-run bus system is an express sidewalk—a piece of infrastructure that dramatically expands the number of destinations within walking distance.

Unfortunately, buses aren’t thought of that way. In most American cities, public transit is treated like a last-resort service, a social program for people who can’t afford cars, something to be endured rather than embraced. And so they’re designed that way: infrequent, inconvenient, hard to use, and often stuck in traffic.

Read the whole thing at Urbanism Speakeasy.

I have been told that all of the Comprehensive Regional Transit Plans had been released but two and those two should be out in no more than a couple of weeks. It seems the BRTA is one of those two. I have asked for a date for the release of that plan. The BRTA board meeting minutes are online and give one some sense of what’s going on and where the focus is. Here is an example.

Please send comments to info@berkshirerta.gov

Press links

About last week’s meeting: “BRTA Accepting Public Comments on Route Realignments,” iBerkshires. I also have a transcript; email me if you want a copy.

Last week: “What will it take to end BRTA’s driver shortage?” Mitchell Chapman, The Berkshire Eagle

From 2024: “BRTA is reducing service on some routes in Pittsfield and South County” Greg Sukiennik, The Berkshire Eagle

If you would like to get news (and opinion!) about the BRTA, we have set up a separate Train Time (BRTA) section that you can sign up for by clicking to your account and choosing that button - it’s really easy. Just click here for your own account.

Transit helps people who don’t use transit. Full buses are a car commuter’s dream.

Urbanism Speakeasy with Andy Boenau

Another necessary reframe for the transit narrative

Better public transit makes your drive better…

Read more

6 months ago · 46 likes · 5 comments · Andy Boenau

Share

Mass Transit magazine did a profile on MEVA, the former Merrimack Valley RTA. It can be found at How MeVa Rebuilt Its Transit Identity

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

A subscriber suggests we—and especially our legislators in MA and CT—take a look at this:

A new bill would finally restore basic fairness to federal transportation law by giving metro regions the money they deserve to build the transportation networks they need — rather than letting state DOTs monopolize those funds to build endless highways.

The bipartisan Bridges And Safety Infrastructure for Community Success Act Introduced today by Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R–Penn.) and Kristen McDonald-Rivet (D–Mich.) would make a slew of bold changes to federal transportation formula funding, ensuring that metro areas get back more of the money they disproportionately pour into our national coffers — and that human-centered infrastructure projects stop sitting on the shelf and start getting into the ground where they can actually save lives.

Read the whole story.

Here’s a detailed conceptual plan for the Berkshire Housatonic Line, which includes a section of the Maybrook Line, written by a rail expert before the pandemic. It focuses on Connecticut.

Please read the introduction so you’ll understand why there is some repetition. In brief, this is in order that the two parts could conceivable be staged one after the other. Getting some of that federal funding directly into local control would make a big difference.

DANBURY/NEW MILFORD GOALS

The purpose of this paper is to provide the towns of Danbury and New Milford with a conceptual plan for connecting to existing rail passenger services presently operated by Metro North Railroad under contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation and MTA. New Milford has expressed an interest in developing a strong rail connection to lower Fairfield County, particularly Norwalk and Stamford as well as New York City. Danbury has expressed an interest in developing an efficient rail connection with Metro North’s Harlem line at Southeast Station to provide an efficient rail connection to New York City as well as points in Westchester County. While the two services should complement each other, their potential operations are different.

Therefore after a general description of the facilities and ownership, we have separated the New Milford service and so-called shuttle service into their own stand alone sections. WE initially tried to write this as though it were one single service and it became quite complicated. If both services were to be operated clearly there would need to be some additional work to make sure they complement each other and support the maximum ridership possible to and from the region.

Using this somewhat stand-alone format also means that in some sections there will be some repetition as some requirements for a Southeast shuttle service and New Milford extension service are similar.

RAIL LINE OWNERSHIP

Housatonic Railroad owns the rail lines in Connecticut that would be used to achieve Danbury and New Milford’s goals while protecting Housatonic’s ability to provide efficient daily rail freight services to a number of large industrial customers. Housatonic serves industries located in the towns of New Milford, Brookfield, Danbury and other towns in the region. The portion of the rail line that is located in New York State that would be used to connect to the Southeast Station to Danbury is owned by Metro North Railroad and Housatonic Railroad has the right to operate rail freight services over the New York lines. Housatonic does not presently have any customers in New York and thus does not operate west of Danbury but must protect its ability to serve future customers. Since the addition of rail passenger services to Housatonic Railroad’s lines would have an impact on the operation of both existing and future rail freight services, it is critical that any conceptual plan include provisions for the continued operation of efficient rail freight services in conjunction with the operation of passenger rail.

Obviously suitable agreements would be required for the use of Metro North and Housatonic owned tracks.

Share Train Time

DESCRIPTION OF THE RAIL LINE AND TRACK

As stated above the rail lines that would be required for use by a proposed passenger service are owned by Housatonic Railroad in Connecticut and Metro North Railroad in New York. Beginning in New Milford the line is part of Housatonic’s north south Berkshire line that extends from Pittsfield, MA south through New Milford and Brookfield where it connects to a line that runs east west from Derby to Danbury and on into New York to Brewster and beyond. The east-west line is called the Maybrook line. Beginning in New Milford a passenger service would probably begin at a site that is just north of the existing station at approximately mile post 11 on the Berkshire line. Service would extend south 11 miles on the Berkshire line to a point where the Berkshire line meets the Maybrook line. The lines meet at milepost 0.0 on the Berkshire line and mile post 80 on the Maybrook at a location called Berk Junction. From Berk Junction passenger services would continue south to a point near the existing Danbury Station at approximately milepost 77 and continue southward down the Danbury Branch.

The service originating in New Milford would provide through train service between New Milford and points in Southern Fairfield County and New York City.

A shuttle type service between Danbury and Southeast would begin at approximately milepost 77on the Maybrook and operate westward approximately 15 miles on the Maybrook line to a point where the line would connect with Metro North’s Harlem line into the Southeast station. It will be necessary to construct a more efficient connection between the Maybrook and Harlem lines in or near Brewster to assure an efficient connection into Southeast station.

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SERVICE - NEW MILFORD

RAIL - Rail is generally classified by the weight per yard of rail and other characteristics that are levels of detail not necessary for this conceptual paper. The rail that is presently on the Berkshire line is generally 107 lb. rail or lighter that was manufactured in the early 1920’s. Freight speeds over the rail today are generally restricted to 10 - 25 miles per hour. None of the existing rail is suitable for use in passenger service and would not be sufficient to handle the stresses and forces created by the operation of higher speed rail passenger services. In order to accommodate both passenger and freight services efficiently it will be necessary to install double track over most of the line between New Milford and Danbury Double track enables freight services to operate and serve local industries without interfering with the efficient operation of passenger services.

STATIONS

Studies conducted by ConnDOT and perhaps others have reviewed numerous potential station locations. The ideal situation from a cost perspective is to construct where surface parking can be built v multiple level parking garages and where stations can also serve as connectors to towns/villages or serve as major collectors of traffic from the regions highways. In addition some caution needs to be exercised in the planning for new stations as each station stop will add as much as five minutes to train schedules. Too many stations add transit time and actually can become an impediment to developing ridership.

If stations can be constructed such that passengers don’t need to cross tracks to access platforms from the car park, station costs can be reduced significantly. If ramps can be used for access by taking advantage of local topography instead of costly elevators and escalators considerable construction and operating costs can be saved. The station itself can and should be a simple structure including a high level platform designed to provide efficient boarding and departing trains and proper handicap access, efficient parking, shelter such as a canopy over the platform, facilities for purchasing tickets and good parking access. In addition stations can serve as important connectors to village/town centers and provide a sound economic base for promoting private sector business development. It may be possible to share station development costs with private sector interests and use the locations as incubators for privately funded in town investments. Housatonic has designed a sample station that includes a high level platform, shelter facilities, large surface parking areas, fencing, drainage, and lighting. Excluding the cost of land acquisition and major surface work, an efficient station facility using private sector costing could be constructed for approximately $2.5 million.

While local authorities may have different thoughts it appears that a proposed service could operate well with new stations in New Milford and North Danbury/Brookfield and at the existing or relocated Danbury station. Because of the configuration of the tracks that extend north to New Milford and west to Southeast, it will be necessary to relocate the Danbury Station if it is to be used for both a New Milford service and a shuttle service to Southeast. The existing station is situated so that it serves passengers using the Danbury Branch but could not be used for an efficient service between Danbury and Southeast. A new Danbury Station located near the existing rail museum with nearby surface parking could provide a good connection to the community while at the same time providing efficient access to all passenger rail services to the south, west and north.

SIGNAL SYSTEMS/PTC

Signal systems are not necessarily required for the operation of passenger services if train volume is relatively light. However the level of service being discussed and the need for efficient and safe control over passenger and freight trains suggests that a new signal system will be necessary between Danbury and New Milford. In addition new rules that apply to passenger services will also require that the service area be equipped with a new technology called Positive Train Control (PTC). Simplistically the new system is designed to monitor train movements and to over ride certain operations to prevent accidents. I’m not aware of a situation in which a new signal system and PTC is being installed at the same time and it may be possible to utilize the new technology to provide the benefits of both PTC and a signal system and do it in a cost effective manner. The private sector standard for installing a new Signal System is approximately $1 million per mile. While specific costs associated with installation of PTC are not available it is reasonable to assume that costs can be significantly reduced as many components already exist on Metro North such as base station computers and PTC equipped locomotives. . The Danbury Branch south of Danbury has a sophisticated signal system and ConnDOT/Metro North are in the process of completing installation of PTC on the branch.

OPERATIONS

No service plan can be created without detailed involvement of Metro North, ConnDOT and Housatonic Railroad.

The following is based on reviewing existing schedules and makes some assumptions that may not be valid but is done to provide a starting point for further discussions. .

It appears that with some planning it may be possible to extend existing morning and evening trains that presently originate and terminate in Danbury to New Milford. Presently Metro North operates four early morning through trains that originate in Danbury and operate into Grand Central Station and four evening trains that terminate in Danbury. It should be possible to establish a layover facility in New Milford, stage those through train sets in New Milford at night and then commence service in the morning in New Milford and not negatively impact the existing Danbury schedules. Including a layover facility in New Milford in the package might provide some extra benefits for Metro North. If existing through trains can be extended to New Milford, any proposed service could be started for significantly less money as it would avoid the necessity of purchasing new or rebuilt locomotives and coaches for the proposed service.

During off peak (and some peak) hours Metro North operates a shuttle type train between Danbury and S. Norwalk. The Danbury Branch shuttle trains as presently scheduled do not appear to have sufficient slack in their schedule to enable an extension to New Milford. However, it may be possible to reschedule some off peak Danbury - S. Norwalk service to enable extending some mid day service to New Milford.

It should be noted that requiring passengers to change from one train to another can be an impediment to ridership growth. This conceptual plan assumes that trains originating north of Danbury to and from New Milford will operate seamlessly down the Danbury Branch. Thus passengers who live in or near New Milford and Brookfield who would prefer to go to NYC via the Harlem line would have to change trains in Danbury to board the shuttle and then change trains again in Southeast. Another option would be to drive down Route 7 and board the Danbury- Southeast shuttle in Danbury.

A well structured ridership analysis could provide better insight to develop the optimum operating structure.

EQUIPMENT/ROLLLING STOCK

While a New Milford extension appears possible using existing rolling stock, it will require some schedule changes and modifications. However, using existing cars and locomotives will enable saving substantial sums of money while expanding utilization of an existing asset.

RIDERSHIP

In 2010 Housatonic Railroad completed a comprehensive ridership analysis to determine if there was interest sufficient to support a rail passenger service between New York City and the region served by Housatonic between Danbury and Pittsfield. The study was conducted using sophisticated survey techniques and the market research evaluated interest along a narrow region near Housatonic’s service area as well as the five boroughs of New York City. Because the study could not use census data as the census doesn’t provide origin/destination information for large markets such as visitors to the region, second homeowners and students at local schools, it was also not able to provide detailed ridership information by smaller regions such as the greater Danbury-New Milford area.

In order to estimate ridership along the Danbury-New Milford corridor Housatonic used data generated in a study sponsored by CONNDOT that performed a comprehensive review of the Danbury Branch. The work was conducted over ten years ago by a firm then called The Washington Group. A small component of that study reviewed several options for extending service from Danbury to New Milford. The study evaluated several options for extending service including electrification of the line, a very expensive option. It also recognized the importance of making the entire Danbury Branch competitive with service offered on the Harlem line.

Share

The most cost effective option was a relatively modest investment to bring speeds on the Danbury/New Milford section up to 50 mph and add new passenger stations at locations in North Danbury, Brookfield and New Milford. Ridership projections suggested that a relatively modest investment in the 14.2 mile extension of service would generate new AM boarding’s on the Danbury Branch of 500 to 800 riders, a significant increase over ridership at that time. A passenger service that provides quality service between New Milford/Danbury that also captures the efficiencies of the Harlem line service while minimizing driving by Connecticut residents should support similar or greater ridership. Likewise equalizing commuting times via Danbury and Southeast could also accomplish the goal of capturing Connecticut commuters in Connecticut minimizing driving and congestion on Connecticut.

COSTS

The only publicly available costing for extending service from Danbury to New Milford was contained in the study sponsored by ConnDOT. I’m not aware of any study that focused on Danbury to Southeast. The 2005 ConnDOT study reviewed a number of options to extend passenger service to New Milford. For all alternatives the study estimated the cost to perform the work and the impact on ridership. The results in the 2005 draft are as follows:

• Use existing track, construct high level platforms at Danbury North, Brookfield and New Milford, build surface parking lots with a possible garage in New Milford, operate at a maximum of 30 mph. (Est. $22.4 million)

• Perform minor track geometry, resurfacing and at-grade crossing improvements, and do some tie and rail replacement to increase speeds to 40 mph. Build high level platforms at Danbury North, Brookfield and New Milford. Build Parking facilities.(Est. $41 million)

• Perform more track geometry improvements within the existing right of way, install ties, bridge timbers and replace rail in order to permit operations of passenger service at 50 mph. Build high level passenger platforms in Danbury North, Brookfield and New Milford. Build parking facilities. (Note – operations at 50 mph do not require a signal system) (Est. $41-$47 Million)

• Replace all rail with new CWR and install a signal system including remote controlled turnouts. Perform all track improvements within the existing right of way and increase speeds to 60 mph. Build platforms and parking as above. (Est. $71-$77 million)

• Double track Danbury to New Milford. Rebuild/replace some overhead and under grade bridges and widen the railroad ROW in some places to permit alignment changes. Build high level platforms, parking and overhead pedestrian overpass to connect northbound and southbound platforms at each station. (Est. $102 million)

• As an alternative to double tracking put in short and long passing sidings between Danbury and New Milford. Operations would be very similar to double track operation. (Est. between $77 million and $102 million depending on siding configuration)

• Electrify Danbury to New Milford and perform service with self propelled MU equipment. (Est. $140 million)

• The Department also considered various service options including morning and evening through service to Grand Central using diesel/electric duel power locomotives and coaches, shuttles between New Milford and Danbury or shuttles between S. Norwalk and New Milford using diesel locomotives and coaches.

• The Department chose what they called the third option above as the best option for The Danbury-New Milford Extension. That option included:

  • Extend service 14.3 miles to New Milford

  • Improve track alignment within the existing right of way.

  • Upgrade track to permit speeds of 50 mph

  • Construct high level platforms at Danbury North, Brookfield and New Milford

  • Construct parking facilities, including possible multilevel garage in New Milford.

  • Cost estimates for this alternative were $11.5-$17.5 million for new stations, $18.7 million for track and alignment improvements and $11 million per new train set for a total of $41 to $47 million.

While the study is now over ten years old and the costing out of date the study provides a good base of information. Further it should be noted that often public costing for projects can be different (higher) than private sector costs for a similar project.

Share

In today’s world, in the private sector the cost to purchase material and install a new mile of continuous welded rail on an existing right of way is about $1.3 - 1.5 million per mile. In order to extend passenger rail from Danbury north to New Milford, a distance of approximately 14 miles it would be necessary to double track the full 14 miles to assure efficient passenger and freight services on the corridor. Using private sector guidelines the cost for new rail would be about $43 million.

Station costs can be relatively modest or extremely expensive depending one’s views regarding stations. The reality is that stations themselves can be relatively simple - high level platforms with canopies, some modest shelter to get out of the weather, handicap access, ticket vending and parking. Having said that stations also offer an opportunity to attract private development not only at the station site itself but also in the surrounding area. Careful planning of station locations and their connection to communities will attract people to the area and offer opportunities for private sector development. Combining those private sector interests with relatively modest public investments in the basics of the station create an opportunity for attractive and successful development in town centers. This exercise assumes that the New Milford extension will require 2 new stations, in Danbury North/Brookfield and New Milford and share a relocated station in Danbury, and that many stations can be constructed for a cost of about $2.5 million each excluding land acquisition and preparation.

Signals - A reasonable cost assumption for construction of a new signal system in the private sector somewhat simplistically is $1million per track mile. Total track miles for the proposed New Milford extension are about 28 miles and thus the cost for estimating purposes is $28 million. It will be necessary to provide a transition from signals on the Housatonic system to the signals on the Danbury Branch owned by ConnDOT and controlled by Metro North. There may be an additional cost for the transition and that is not known.

PTC (Positive Train Control) - As mentioned earlier PTC is a new technology that will possibly be required for the new service. Housatonic has no experience with the installation of PTC but it would be required for passenger operations on the Housatonic system. Both Metro North and ConnDOT are involved in developing and installing sophisticated systems to protect their commuter systems on the properties they operate and would have a better understanding of their operations and costs. However the Metro North existing system is sophisticated and substantial and it should be possible to piggy back on their base system and keep PTC costs to a minimum.

Train Sets - ConnDOT’s consultant in the Washington group estimated the cost of a train set at $11 Million in 2005. The concept above envisages the use of existing equipment for an extension of service from Danbury to New Milford. . ConnDOT is presently evaluating the use of rolling stock and locomotives for use in the new service being created that will run on the Hartford line and will likely have current costs for coaches and locomotives. Likewise, the Hartford Line envisages purchasing new equipment for the service and it might be possible to take equipment now being leased from MBTA and use it in a shuttle service if in fact additional coaches are needed. As stated above with sound planning it may be possible to adjust the use of existing Danbury Branch rolling stock and accommodate a New Milford Extension.

Structures - It is not known what (if any) bridges would require upgrading to accommodate the increased stresses associated with a passenger service. In order to assess the cost an analysis of each structure will be needed. Bridgework on any rail line is an ongoing cost and after an initial investment bridge work can be budgeted in future years.

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE SERVICE - DANBURY SHUTTLE (MAYBROOK)

Rail on the Maybrook line between Berk Junction and Brewster/Southeast is a heavier weight rail but it is also a very old section manufactured under techniques not used today in the manufacture of modern rail. In order to operate at speeds in the range of 60 mph or possibly faster the existing rail must be replaced with a modern rail section. In order to accommodate both passenger and freight services efficiently it will be necessary to install double track over at least portions of the Maybrook line between Danbury and Brewster. It may also be necessary to enable passenger trains to operate efficiently between Danbury and Southeast if high frequency service requires that east bound and west bounds pass each other between Danbury and Brewster.

In the area near Brewster, the Maybrook line does connect with Metro North’s Harlem line but in a way that supports services heading to the north. The existing connection would make operating competitive passenger services difficult and would increase transit times between Danbury and Southeast. If at all possible a new connection should be built with a so-called loop track that would permit trains operating from Danbury to make a direct head-on move south onto the Harlem line and operate south into Southeast station so that passengers could quickly transfer from Danbury trains to Harlem line trains. An even more ideal situation would be one in which some Danbury trains continue on directly into New York City along the Harlem. Construction of a loop track, connections in Southeast Station and possible extensions of service south of Southeast are all issues that need comprehensive discussion with Metro North.

STATIONS

The ideal situation for Station development from a cost perspective is to construct where surface parking can be built v multiple level parking garages and where stations can also serve as connectors to towns/villages or serve as major collectors of traffic from the regions highways. Obviously stations must be constructed in locations the are convenient for potential riders. In addition some caution needs to be exercised in the planning for new stations as each station stop will add as much as five minutes to train schedules. Too many stations add transit time and actually can become an impediment to developing ridership.

If stations can be constructed such that passengers don’t need to cross tracks to access platforms from the car park, station costs can be reduced significantly. If ramps can be used for access by taking advantage of local topography instead of costly elevators and escalators considerable construction and operating costs can be saved. The station itself can and should be a simple structure including a high level platform designed to provide efficient boarding and departing trains and proper handicap access, efficient parking, shelter such as a canopy over the platform, facilities for purchasing tickets and good parking access. In addition stations can serve as important connectors to village/town centers and provide a sound economic base for promoting private sector business development. It may be possible to share station development costs with private sector interests and use the locations as incubators for privately funded in town investments. Housatonic has designed a sample station that includes a high level platform, shelter facilities, large surface parking areas, fencing, drainage, and lighting. Excluding the cost of land acquisition and major surface work, an efficient station facility using private sector costing can be constructed for approximately $2.5 million.

While local authorities may have different thoughts it appears that a proposed service could operate well with new stations in Danbury and in the Mill Plain area. While it would add some complications it may also be feasible to extend service to a station at Danbury North/Brookfield. Because of the configuration of the tracks that extend north to New Milford and west to Southeast, it will be necessary to relocate the Danbury Station in order to accommodate the shuttle as well as trains moving to and from New Milford. The existing station is situated so that it serves passengers using the Danbury Branch but could not be used for an efficient service between Danbury and Southeast. A new Danbury Station located near the existing rail museum with nearby surface parking could provide a good connection to the community while at the same time providing efficient access to all passenger rail services to the south, west and north.

SIGNAL SYSTEMS/PTC

Signal systems are not necessarily required for the operation of passenger services if train volume is relatively light. However the level of service being discussed and the need for efficient and safe control over passenger and freight trains suggests that a new signal system will be necessary between Danbury and Southeast. In addition new rules that apply to passenger services will also require that the service area be equipped with a new technology called Positive Train Control (PTC). Simplistically the new system is designed to monitor train movements and to over ride certain operations to prevent accidents. I’m not aware of a situation in which a new signal system and PTC is being installed at the same time and it may be possible to utilize the new technology to provide the benefits of both PTC and a signal system and do it in a cost effective manner. The private sector standard for installing a new Signal System is approximately $1 million per mile. WE am not aware of specific costs associated with installation of PTC. The Maybrook line between Danbury and Southeast and would require a new signal system and PTC in order to operate the shuttle.

Share

OPERATIONS

No service plan can be created without detailed involvement of Metro North, ConnDOT and Housatonic Railroad

The following is based on reviewing existing schedules and makes some assumptions that may not be valid but is done to provide a starting point for further discussions. At this stage it seems very unlikely that a service between Danbury and Southeast can be created by extending existing trains operating between Grand Central Station and Southeast. Morning and evening commuter trains are scheduled very tightly and have no flexibility to extend service to Danbury without significant schedule changes on the Harlem line. Through trains that operate to Southeast and north to Wassaic would clearly not be available. Therefore it appears that the best option for a Southeast service between Southeast and Danbury is the creation of a shuttle that provides an efficient cross platform transfer in Southeast

It should be noted that requiring passengers to change from one train to another can be an impediment to ridership growth. This conceptual plan assumes that trains originating north of Danbury in New Milford will operate seamlessly down the Danbury Branch. Thus passengers who live in or near New Milford and Brookfield who prefer to go to NYC via the Harlem line would have to change trains in Danbury to board the shuttle and then change trains again in Southeast. Another option would be to drive down Route 7 and board the Danbury- Southeast shuttle in Danbury.

A well structured ridership analysis could provide better insight to develop the optimum operating structure.

RIDERSHIP

In 2010 Housatonic Railroad completed a comprehensive ridership analysis to determine if there was interest sufficient to support a rail passenger service between New York City and the region served by Housatonic between Danbury and Pittsfield. The study was conducted using sophisticated survey techniques and the market research evaluated interest along a narrow region near Housatonic’s service area as well as the five boroughs of New York City. Because the study could not use census data as the census doesn’t provide origin/destination information for large markets such as visitors to the region, second homeowners and students at local schools, it was also not able to provide detailed ridership information by smaller regions such as the greater Danbury-New Milford area. In order to estimate ridership along the Danbury-New Milford corridor Housatonic used data generated in a study sponsored by CONNDOT that performed a comprehensive review of the Danbury Branch. The work was conducted over ten years ago by a firm then called The Washington Group. A small component of that study reviewed several options for extending service from Danbury to New Milford. The study evaluated several options for extending service including electrification of the line, a very expensive option. It also recognized the importance of making the entire Danbury Branch competitive with service offered on the Harlem line. The study did not evaluate the feasibility of routing trains from the Danbury/New Milford region to Southeast to take advantage of the efficiencies of the Harlem line but did make some assumptions about establishing parity between the Danbury and Harlem lines.

The most cost effective option was a relatively modest investment to bring speeds on the Danbury/New Milford section up to 50 mph and add new passenger stations at locations in North Danbury, Brookfield and New Milford. Ridership projections suggested that a relatively modest investment in the 14.2 mile extension of service would generate AM boarding’s on the Danbury Branch of 500 to 800 riders, a significant increase over ridership at that time.

I’m not aware of any studies that provide a clear estimate of how many Connecticut riders who live in the Danbury/New Milford region or along the I-84 corridor presently use the Harlem line service. The 2005 study seems to have assumed that some of the Harlem riders would switch over to the Danbury branch but no clear information is available. Since most of the existing riders are commuters the inventory of potential riders should be available from census data providing a good base of information from which future ridership can be predicted. Metro North planners or ConnDOT planners may well have the information now. Therefore it should not be difficult to generate good ridership data to support the concept of a proposed shuttle. Clearly one key variable is whether it is possible or likely that service on the Danbury Branch can equal the efficiencies of the Harlem line service while minimizing driving by Connecticut residents should support similar or greater ridership.

COSTS

Track - The distance between Danbury and Southeast is approximately 15 miles and the existing rail would need to be replaced in order to accommodate competitive passenger speeds. There are presently no freight operations in the corridor in New York though any upgrade must provide sufficient assets to protect the freight option and provide for efficient passenger services. For the purpose of this concept paper WE have assumed replacement all 15 miles of existing rail and installation within the existing right of way of 8 miles of double track/passing sidings at locations to be determined. Nearly all of the line belongs to Metro North and their cost structure is not known. Using a private sector guideline the estimated rail replacement costs are $34 million.

Station costs are influenced by many factors. The ideal situation from a cost perspective is to construct where surface parking can be built v multiple level parking garages and where stations can also serve as connectors to towns/villages or serve as major collectors of traffic from the regions highways. Obviously stations must be constructed in locations that are convenient for potential riders. In addition some caution needs to be exercised in the planning for new stations as each station stop will add as much as five minutes to train schedules. Too many stations add transit time and actually can become an impediment to developing ridership.

Share

If stations can be constructed such that passengers don’t need to cross tracks to access platforms from the car park, station costs can be reduced significantly. If ramps can be used for access by taking advantage of local topography instead of costly elevators and escalators considerable construction and operating costs can be saved. The station itself can and should be a simple structure including a high level platform designed to provide efficient boarding and departing trains and proper handicap access, efficient parking, shelter such as a canopy over the platform, facilities for purchasing tickets and good parking access. In addition stations can serve as important connectors to village/town centers and provide a sound economic base for promoting private sector business development. It may be possible to share station development costs with private sector interests and use the locations as incubators for privately funded in town investments. Housatonic has designed a sample station that includes a high level platform, shelter facilities, large surface parking areas, fencing, drainage, and lighting. Excluding the cost of land acquisition and major surface work, an efficient station facility using private sector costing can be constructed for approximately $2.5 million.

Stations also offer an opportunity to attract private development not only at the station site itself but also in the surrounding area. Careful planning of station locations and their connection to communities will attract people to the area and offer opportunities for private sector development. Combining those private sector interests with relatively modest public investments in the basics of the station create an opportunity for attractive and successful development in town centers. This exercise assumes that a Danbury/Southeast shuttle service would require new stations in the Mill Plain area and a new relocated station in Danbury. If parking for each station can be constructed at grade and all passenger train access is made from the same side of the track as the parking it should be possible to construct the basic station facilities for a cost of about $2.5 million each. A review of station construction in Freeport, Maine and Brunswick Maine for Amtrak’s Downeaster service can be instructive both in evaluating station construction costs and how to integrate station facilities into the community

Signals - A reasonable cost assumption for construction of a new signal system in the private sector somewhat simplistically is $1million per track mile. Total track miles for the proposed Southeast shuttle are about 23 miles and thus the cost for estimating purposes is $23 million. There will be additional costs for integrating the new signals on the Maybrook line with the existing signal system on the Harlem line and those costs are not known and can be substantial.

PTC (Positive Train Control) - As mentioned earlier PTC is a new technology that will be required for the new service. Housatonic has no experience with the installation of PTC but it would be required for passenger operations on the Housatonic system. Both Metro North and ConnDOT are involved in developing and installing sophisticated systems to protect their commuter systems on the properties they operate and would have a better understanding of their operations and costs.

Train Sets - Conndot’s consultant in the Washington group study estimated the cost of a train set at $11 Million in 2005. This concept paper assumes it will be necessary to acquire two train sets for a shuttle service between Danbury and Southeast. Some spare equipment would also be desirable to accommodate repair and down time of operating equipment. The cost of the shuttle train will obviously depend on the size of the trains and the availability of used equipment that can be refurbished for the service. ConnDOT is presently evaluating the use of rolling stock and locomotives for use in the new service being created that will run on the Hartford line and will likely have current costs for coaches and locomotives.

Southeast Loop Connection - Construction of an efficient connection to the Harlem line to permit a direct move from the Maybrook line into Southeast station would connect two lines that are owned by Metro North. How the connection impacts Southeast Station and accesses the Harlem must be determined by Metro North and once a conceptual plan is developed costs can also be developed.

Structures - It is not known what (if any) bridges would require upgrading to accommodate the increased stresses associated with a passenger service. In order to assess the cost an analysis of each structure will be needed.

Report ends here.

The Train Campaign, which hosts the Train Time media project, was inspired by people who longed to see passenger rail service in the US to rival the services they had enjoyed elsewhere in the world. That vision remains strong today!

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

I will be driving to Pittsfield this afternoon—driving, because there are no buses running!—to attend the second and last in-person meeting about the proposed changes to Berkshire County bus service.

What should I ask this afternoon?

Leave a comment

“Fare Free” non-existent buses—is this what we should be paying for?

The BRTA has had grants to provide free bus service for over a year, yet service has been steadily declining, with endless cuts and cancellations. Fewer and fewer working people can depend on the BRTA. Now they propose to change existing routes to run buses in the middle of the day while cutting the morning/evening service that working people depend on!

Service has already be cut, across the county. (Note that the list below is only the AM cancellations.)

Leave a comment

Here’s my list of questions:

• What exactly has led to the drastic decline in services of late?

• Where can I find your financial reports? I’m especially interested in the grants to provide free service for the past year, and driver and equipment costs, as well as management costs. If buses aren’t running, one expects to see surpluses somewhere.

• What is the management structure and who is making these route decisions?

• Do your managers, advisors, and board members ride the buses?

• Has there been a loss of many drivers of late? I have heard accounts of poor treatment of drivers—denying them bathroom and rest breaks, among other things.

• Are you losing drivers to other services, including the South County Connector?

• Have you assessed the consequences of these drastic service cuts to seasonal workers and south county businesses?

  Leave a comment

Residents may submit comments online at www.berkshirerta.gov/contact/, by email at info@berkshirerta.gov, by mail to BRTA, 1 Columbus Ave, Suite 201, Pittsfield, MA 01201, or by phone at (800) 292-2782 ext. 2895.

Share Train Time

The Train Campaign, which hosts the Train Time media project, was inspired by people who longed to see passenger rail service in the US to rival the services they had enjoyed elsewhere in the world. That vision remains strong today!

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

Share

SB 237, officially “An Act Concerning Public Transportation,” will be discussed by the Transportation Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly on Monday, February 23rd, starting at 10:00 AM. The Act’s exciting pro-transit provisions include:

• Restoring Shore Line East’s pre-COVID operational capacity.

• Establishing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system between Hartford and Storrs (Go Huskies!).

• Increasing bus frequency between the Naugatuck Valley and New Haven.

• Most importantly for us: The expansion of the New Haven Line’s Danbury Branch to New Milford.

This would be a massive win. New Milford’s downtown is already well-suited for transit-oriented development, and plans to update its riverfront park would make a train station a popular destination, spurring local cultural and economic growth. Additionally, extending the Danbury Branch to New Milford is the vital first step toward restoring the Berkshire Line for passenger service, a long-standing goal of the Train Campaign.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. We need all hands on deck to show the Transportation Committee that there is widespread support for these initiatives. They are the beginning of a cleaner, greener, and better-connected Nutmeg State.

Share Train Time

How You Can Help

We are asking all supporters to make their voices heard:

1. Speak via Zoom: If you can join the meeting, click here and select “Register to Speak” to express your support for SB 237 personally.

2. Submit Written Testimony: If you cannot attend, please submit written testimony! Click here, enter your name, and select the hearing time as “2/23/2026 10:00:00 AM”. Under Bill Number, select “SB00237 - AAC PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION” to ensure your testimony is directed correctly.

Please submit your testimony before the committee meets this Monday! We know it’s a quick turnaround, so we have provided an exemplar template below to help you get started.

Testimony Exemplar

Click here, enter your name, and select the hearing time as “2/23/2026 10:00:00 AM”. Under Bill Number, select “SB00237 - AAC PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION” to ensure your testimony is directed correctly.

List your name, title/organization, where you live/work

Distinguished members of the Transportation Committee, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony.

[I/we] respectfully request that the Transportation Committee support S.B. 237 - An Act Concerning Public Transportation.

These pro-transit provisions are desperately needed. Currently, our highways are clogged and our air quality suffers from congestion. The state should do everything in its power to expand and improve public transportation options.

• Shore Line East: Restoring pre-COVID scheduling is essential to rebuilding ridership. While some suggest de-electrifying these tracks due to current numbers, the better solution is restoring service frequency. Reliability and “headways” drive ridership, not the other way around.

• Hartford-Storrs BRT: This is smart policy. It better connects UConn students and employees to CTrail and CTfastrak, creating better mobility while reducing traffic on I-84.

• Danbury Branch Extension: Expanding service to New Milford is a game-changer. New Milford’s downtown is perfectly aligned with state goals for transit-oriented development. Furthermore, reaching this critical juncture makes future regional rail expansion much more feasible.

[Personalize your closing statement—Example below]

Thank you for your role in shaping a cleaner, greener, and better-connected Connecticut. Through your leadership, we can connect customers to businesses, workers to employers, and friends to friends conveniently and sustainably.

Sincerely,

Your Name, Email/Phone Number

Share

The Train Campaign, which hosts the Train Time media project, was inspired by people who longed to see passenger rail service in the US to rival the services they had enjoyed elsewhere in the world. That vision remains strong today!

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.

This makes our work to bring back passenger trains even harder because our “last mile” options are worse than ever. The Berkshire Edge ran a story about the proposed cuts:

“Are they going to change their name because they’re not in service to Berkshire County anymore?” Selectboard member Ben Elliott asked.

South County state representative Leigh Davis has spoken out:

Rep. Leigh Davis Opposes Proposed BRTA Service Cuts, Urges Public Participation

Great Barrington — State Representative Leigh Davis today announced her opposition to proposed service reductions under consideration by the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA), pledging to fight to protect bus service across South County and urging residents to make their voices heard before a final vote.

The proposed changes would significantly reduce South County Routes 2 and 21 and eliminate the 921 Express — the direct link between Pittsfield and Great Barrington.

“I am firmly opposed to these cuts,” said Davis. “Public transportation is not a luxury in the Berkshires — it is a lifeline. We do not have commuter trains or subways. When bus service is reduced here, there is no alternative waiting around the corner.”

Davis said the affected routes are essential for residents traveling to work, medical appointments, school, and other daily needs.

“A decline in ridership is not a decline in need,” she said. “Reliability drives ridership. When service becomes unpredictable, people can’t risk missing work or medical care. That doesn’t mean they don’t need the bus — it means they can’t depend on it.”

BRTA has cited driver shortages and lower ridership as justification for the proposal. Davis said that if staffing is the root cause, the public deserves more clarity.

“What vacancies exist today? What progress is being made on recruitment and retention?” she asked. “Cutting service should be the last resort — not the first response.”

“New initiatives like the 413 Link pilot are promising steps toward improving regional connectivity,” Davis said. “But expanding new services cannot come at the expense of reliable local routes. Core service must come first.”

Davis said she will continue working with state and local partners to explore options that preserve high-impact routes and protect South County riders.

“In rural Western Massachusetts, reducing service deepens isolation and reinforces the sense that our region is being left behind,” she said. “Reliable transportation is fundamental to economic stability, health care access, and opportunity.”

With a final vote by the BRTA Advisory Board expected March 4, Davis is urging residents and businesses to speak up and participate in the public process.

“These decisions directly affect working families, seniors, students, and employers across South County,” she said. “If you rely on BRTA — or if someone you love does — attend a hearing, submit a comment, and speak up.”

I tried joining one of the Teams online meetings today and got an error message. Judging from past experience, this was not a surprise. But we will be sending in comments and you should, too. Here’s my list of questions:

• Where can I find your financial reports? I’m especially interested in the grants to provide free service for the past year, and driver and equipment costs, as well as management costs. If buses aren’t running, one expects to see surpluses somewhere.

• What is the management structure and who is making these route decisions?

• Do your managers, advisors, and board members ride the buses?

• What exactly has led to the drastic decline in services of late? I hear accounts of poor treatment of drivers—denying them bathroom and rest breaks, among other things.

• Are you losing drivers to other services, including the South County Connector?

• Have you assessed the consequences of these drastic service cuts to seasonal workers and south county businesses?

Residents may submit comments online at www.berkshirerta.gov/contact/, by email at info@berkshirerta.gov, by mail to BRTA, 1 Columbus Ave, Suite 201, Pittsfield, MA 01201, or by phone at (800) 292-2782 ext. 2895.

Leave a comment

The Train Campaign, which hosts the Train Time media project, was inspired by people who longed to see passenger rail service in the US to rival the services they had enjoyed elsewhere in the world. That vision remains strong today!

All content in Train Time is shared under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND):

• Attribution (BY) – Always credit the author and Train Time as the original creator with a tag or link to https://traintime.substack.com.

• Non-Commercial (NC) – Content cannot be used for commercial purposes.

• No Derivatives (ND) – Content may not be modified, adapted, or repurposed.