Malloy: $3.9B rail investment will bring billions in return, thousands of jobs

Last July D.O.T. Commissioner James Redeker, left, and Governor Dannel P. Malloy toured a new Metro North commuter train car following Malloy's announcement on improvements for the New Haven Line at Union Station in New Haven, Conn. less Last July D.O.T. Commissioner James Redeker, left, and Governor Dannel P. Malloy toured a new Metro North commuter train car following Malloy's announcement on improvements for the New Haven Line at Union ... more Photo: Brian A. Pounds / File Photo Buy photo Photo: Brian A. Pounds / File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Malloy: $3.9B rail investment will bring billions in return, thousands of jobs 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is calling for $3.9 billion in rail upgrades, and promising a nearly 250 percent return on investment. But where the state will find the money is still up in the air.

On Friday, Malloy publicized a Boston-based Economic Development Research Group study forecasting that an overhaul of the New Haven Line could yield 4,000 to 6,000 construction jobs as the upgrades progress, and between 2,000 and 3,100 new permanent jobs.

Were the improvements to go forward, Malloy suggested that service could double during peak hours, cut travel time from New Haven to New York City by 15 minutes, quadruple the numbers of express trains and quintuple the numbers of local trains.

“The New Haven Line has the potential to carry thousands of additional commuters, and do so at a faster and more frequent rate,” Malloy said in a prepared statement. “That means we will be far more attractive to businesses — our economy will benefit greatly from these investments.”

The governor’s figures anticipate having four tracks in use at all times, rather than two or three at a time.

The economic study raises a slew of questions, such as how to shoehorn more commuter trains into an already crowded terminus in New York, as well as how to move trains faster in a corridor that as recently as two years ago saw a calamitous derailment.

Finding funding

More Information Malloy’s Metro-North Numbers Investment $3.0 BILLION Projected benefits $9.7 BILLION Business sales and output $6.2 BILLION Added gross state product $3.9 BILLION Added wage income $2.8 BILLION Construction jobs 4,000-6,000 Permanent jobs 2,000-3,100

The most obvious question the release raises is where the money will come from. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said rail upgrades would be a welcome, provided the state could find the money.

State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, a ranking member on the General Assembly’s joint Transportation Committee, said she “absolutely” supported revamping the commuter corridor, but that there were still major pieces of information missing.

“You can’t pull money out of the air; you have to have a way of showing where you’re going to fund it,” Boucher said.

Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, said he had not had a chance to review details of any possible upgrades, but agreed that upgrades were all good news, as long as the money is available. He suggested that there were probably some federal dollars the state could tap into, but that Connecticut would likely have to pick up some of the slack.

Ultimately, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Judd Everhart, funding would fall to the governor’s appointed Transportation Finance Panel.

In Bridgeport, home to a major commuter rail station, officials heralded the proposed upgrades.

“It’s great news to us; it’s more trains and shorter train times,” said city spokesman Brett Broesder.

Throughout Fairfield County, three suburban spurs are in need of upgrades.

“The Waterbury and Danbury branches need new signalization and additional tracking for more service,” said Everhart. “Currently, trains need to be pushed or pulled by locomotives on those branches.”

The third suburban spur, to New Canaan, is already electrified.

But not everyone along the New Haven Line, which parallels the Long Island Sound and Interstate 95, was as sold on the governor’s figures.

Jim Cameron, a commuter advocate who works with the Commuter Action Group, said increasing rail service should obviate the need to widen the interstate — which Malloy has pegged as a priority.

Crowded tracks

“The railroad parallels I-95, and increasing rail service, making the stations more accessible, I think, would take the traffic off of I-95,” Cameron said. “And I would put money into the rail first, I don’t think we need to widen I-95.”

There are also some major logistical hurdles. The Federal Railroad Administration ordered Metro-North to update trains to brake automatically in certain places. And train stations in New York can only accommodate so many trains. Cameron said moving trains faster would require new signalization.

Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro-North, applauded the idea of Connecticut investing in the New Haven Line, but added that congestion at the New York end could be an obstacle.

“There are serious and significant capacity restraints in the 12 miles from Woodlawn to Grand Central — where the New Haven Line shares tracks with the Harlem Line and Hudson Line — that cannot be overlooked,” Donovan said.

While MTA has serious concerns about capacity within New York, Donovan said the utility would “work closely” with Connecticut officials to “identify creative approaches” to the issues.