Metro-North to add more trains to New Haven line

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, at podium, talks at Union Station about adding new trains to the Metro-North New Haven Line. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, at podium, talks at Union Station about adding new trains to the Metro-North New Haven Line. Photo: Ed Stannard — New Haven Register Photo: Ed Stannard — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Metro-North to add more trains to New Haven line 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> Off-peak weekday and weekend Metro-North trains will run every half-hour starting Nov. 9, adding seven trains during the week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday.

The new schedule also will add nine trains on Saturdays — three leaving New Haven and six leaving New York — and eight on Sundays.

Under the new schedule, “weekdays and weekends we will add trains so you will effectively have half-hour service throughout the week,” Malloy said at a news conference at Union Station.

In a statement, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley dismissed the announcement as “another example of Malloy running around the state promising things he knows he can’t deliver in an attempt to curry votes.”

Service on the Waterbury line also will be increased with the new schedule, with a 10:10 p.m. train departing the city on weekend nights, as well as a train leaving Grand Central Terminal at 10:04 p.m. and one departing Bridgeport at 11:41 p.m. to serve late-shift workers.

“It’s huge for Waterbury,” said Mayor Neil O’Leary. “We have been identified, if you will, as the red-headed stepchild of the railroad.” However, with improvements to the Waterbury train station — long “a source of neglect” — a new track siding and other upgrades totaling $21 million, “Our ridership has been continuing to go up,” O’Leary said.

“This is about serving the customers after listening to customers about what they need and what they want,” said state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, said Connecticut commuters “are right in the middle of the most heavily traveled commuter area in the country.”

She said Metro-North handled 39 million riders in 2013 and 200,000 more in July than in July 2013. “This is not a luxury but a necessity,” DeLauro said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, “This schedule change is a big deal, giving priority to Waterbury and the Valley not only for their sake but for the sake of our economy.”

In his statement, Foley said, “Connecticut’s roads and bridges were rated by the White House as the worst in the nation and Metro-North service has had serious service outages due to deteriorating infrastructure — all helped along by the governor’s underinvestment in transportation infrastructure and his annual raids on the Special Transportation Fund.”

Malloy, who is running for a second term, and Foley faced off Sept. 15 in a forum on transportation, in which Foley accused his opponent of pushing a “progressive agenda.”

At Wednesday’s press conference, John Hartwell, representing the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said convenience will be enhanced by the added trains: “A commuter can go to the train station virtually any time of the day and not have to worry about the schedule, because there will be a train coming very soon,” he said.

Jim Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group, said in a statement, “The Governor deserves credit for pushing Metro-North to expand service. With the delivery of the last of the new M8 cars, we clearly will have the needed equipment for more service. And I think the ridership demand is there: ‘If you offer it, they will ride.’”

Officials had no information about additional costs or how the new schedule will affect Metro-North’s subsidy from the state, but said, “We believe that this will drive additional passengers to the system.” Metro-North now runs 275 trains a week, Redeker said.

The new schedule will add weekday trains from New Haven at 11:25 a.m., 12:25 p.m. and 1:25 p.m., and from Grand Central at 9:34 a.m., 10:34 a.m., 11:34 a.m. (which now goes just to Stamford) and 12:34 p.m., according to the governor’s office.

New Saturday trains will leave New Haven at 2:25 p.m., 3:25 p.m. and 6:25 p.m., and from Grand Central at 10:34 a.m., 11:34 a.m. 12:34 p.m., 1:34 p.m., 2:34 p.m. and 10:34 p.m. Sunday trains will be added from New Haven at 2:25 p.m., 3:25 p.m. and 7:25 p.m., and from New York at 11:34 a.m., 12:34 p.m., 1:34 p.m., 2:34 p.m. and 10:34 p.m.

Also, according to The Associated Press, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is proposing to extend Metro-North’s New Haven Line to Penn Station to ease crowding and provide access to Manhattan’s West Side as part of a $32 billion capital improvement program.

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