Amtrak Route Skips City

by Staff | Oct 1, 2010 7:26 am

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Posted to: Transportation

Trains from New York to Boston would zip by at 220 miles per hour—and skip right over New Haven. That was one takeaway this week, as Amtrak released its “Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor.” The report proposes a series of routes that would slash commute times by building a high-speed rail system by 2040. Trains on “Next Gen High-Speed Rail” lines (pictured below) would complete the trip from Washington to Boston in a mere three hours. The train would zoom up from New York City to Westchester Airport, to Danbury, to Hartford, bypassing New Haven altogether. The Elm City would still be served by a “Shoreline Express” route, but would be excluded from the new, high-speed paths. Click here to read the report. Click here to read a press statement released Tuesday.

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posted by: Townie on October 1, 2010 8:50am This seems like an Acela redux. But, maybe they’ll be sucessful this time. Bypassing the shoreline would mean less intereference from municipalities. A shoreline express could even link to Hartford where one could catch the high speed to Boston. But, knowing Amtrak and the Government we shouldn’t get our hopes up.

posted by: Logic on October 1, 2010 9:19am Wouldn’t it make more sense to cluster around existing business and transit. Try Westchester, Stamford, New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, Boston…. link the airports and the biz that does exist. There is limited biz, you’ll just incentivise them to move from one place to another, and i bet big tax breaks would help them get there.

posted by: nutmeg on October 1, 2010 9:33am A conceptual plan and just that. If this ever gets built, it will need to consist of two or three different routes between Boston and New Haven to serve all the population centers in Southern New England, like the interstate highways (and the original Boston Post Road.)

posted by: The Professor on October 1, 2010 9:49am With three major international airports already connected to the city and several smaller ones not much further away (Islip, Westchester), you’re not going to convince me that a high speed rail line going to one of the smaller airports is going to accomplish much. Really, I think this choice of route comes down to shameful NIMBYism from people along the shoreline. It’s too bad, really.

posted by: streever on October 1, 2010 9:51am New Haven could definitely be a viable stop for this—not sure why we’re being cut out with no discussion or comment.

posted by: yz on October 1, 2010 10:05am Don’t worry. I highly doubt congress would ever commit this much funding to amtrak.

posted by: Jeffrey Kerekes This is stupid for at least a few reasons. One. Why skip Stamford and New Haven for Danbury? Please! And why make a trip to Westchester Airport and skip Bradley? I know they might be looking to relieve pressure on the NYC and Newark airports but then skip all the major points in Connecticut and Bradley? They do stop for Rt 128 biz corridor but what about Stamford and New Haven? Maybe you can say Stamford to NYC is not that far but making New Haven more accessible to NYC would be smart. I got a good idea, lets spend $30M to build a high speed train in a circle just on the Yale Shuttle route?

posted by: Millie on October 1, 2010 10:31am This is a big blow to New Haven and its economic development in the (very) long term. Think of what the proximity to NYC has done for Hoboken and Jersey City as residents look for less expensive housing and companies look to build data centers within a short commuting distance to Manhattan. The current Acela train, while comfortable, from New Haven to NY Penn can sometimes take as long as MetroNorth. Representatives from the newly minted Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Operations Advisory Commission met for the first time this week - I wonder who represented CT - the DOT Commissioner?

posted by: Pedro Soto on October 1, 2010 10:56am While disappointing, there is really no way around this, unless CT and NYC decide to pay some serious dough and overcome some pretty huge obstacles. As the report makes clear, the New York to New Haven portion of the corridor is currently congested like nobody’s business with commuter rail, and is a tight and curvy mess. East of New Haven, the immense controversy and bowing to local pressure for the electrification of the shoreline route shows that further widening and straightening to get the track right for high-speed just isn’t going to be feasible.



What is left is the straightest route through the least densely populated section of CT It should be noted, that this not only cuts off New Haven, but the entire gold coast and Providence, RI as well from high-speed rail in the singular pursuit of Boston to DC in an hour and a half. HOWEVER, I think some hope remains. What is needed is to have an express feeder line from New Haven to Hartford, which could be easily done, considering that the new commuter rail will be aligned along this route. An express at even 70 mph could make the trip in a half hour, making an 80 or so travel time to Boston a possibility. Hartford does really win out in this scenario, since they would now have a commutable line to Boston. It might take less time to use the HSR than it would to live in Boston’s own suburbs!

posted by: political_incorrectness on October 1, 2010 12:38pm This is just a study at this point and I was somewhat disappointed as well. I think the idea is to avoid a chunnel to Long Island. Although I believe using a tunnel to connect to Long Island and going through New Haven would be a good idea. I would also like to upgrade New Haven-Providence to true high-speed. This will bring the true tracks that high-speed service will need. It will be interesting to debate over which route to use whether tunneling to Long Island and utilizing the Interstates to New Haven will be the better route or going inland. A route via Stamford simply isn’t viable due to the required eminent domain takings would be on the scale of an Interstate Highway. So far, both plans want to upgrade the current NEC from DC-New York to true high-speed standards. Now it is a matter of how best to get from Boston-NYC.

posted by: Lori on October 1, 2010 12:47pm From an economic standpoint, this plan does not make sense. I live NYC, and I KNOW what’s in Stamford and New Haven and why people would travel to those cities on a regular basis or from time-to-time. For example, Yale student and employees are basically a steady source of revenue for Amtrak. And, not to knock on Danbury and Waterbury, I have no idea who travels to those cities on a regular basis and would be willing to pay for a high-speed rail ticket. If Amtrak will invest money (actually, our money) and time on building something new, why don’t they think about their “Vision” in terms of ROI like a normal business would? Oh, wait, it because they’re so heavily subsidized by the government they have no incentive to.

posted by: Anon on October 1, 2010 1:35pm Wasn’t part of the deal with having the locomotive repair yards in New Haven (taking up land and creating pollution) that New Haven would have the benefit of being a guaranteed regular stop and major hub in the high speed rail system?

posted by: robn on October 1, 2010 2:45pm WTF!!!!

posted by: oinonio “Staff” didn’t evidently read the Amtrak plan too clearly. The route in red is the analyzed route, the one that gets trains from Washington to Boston the fastest. The shoreline route is too twisty and congested for such speeds, at least with current FRA train design specs. The other lines are other possibilities.This plan is the first step. If rail in the USA had the level of financial capital and political support it has in, say, Germany, then ALL the lines on the map would be true highspeed lines. The line that intrigues me the most is the one that, if built, would leave Manhattan via JFK and cross the Sound to New Haven at Ronkonkoma. This line could continue north from Hartford towards Brattleboro theoretically continue on the Montréal. So before the Register writes off the whole project, look at all the possibilities something like this could bring. PS the auto-spell check feature is one of the most annoying things I’ve seen on a website since the <blink>tag. PLEASE disable it.

posted by: Ben Berkowitz on October 1, 2010 7:17pm This sucks

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on October 1, 2010 8:32pm The report proposes a series of routes that would slash commute times by building a high-speed rail system by 2040. Why worry about this. Most of us will be riding the graveyard train.

posted by: Bill on October 2, 2010 4:24pm It’s always seemed to me that one of the best ways to ensure New Haven’s prosperity would be to put it within one hour of New York and Boston. This is a goal the city and state should establish.

posted by: E K Kadiddlehopper on October 2, 2010 6:16pm Undoubtedly, two routes should be constructed. Small portions may need to be elevated or in tunnel. A major problem at present is that there is no “through” route through Boston. This needs to be resolved for the present, as well as foresight for the future. How can future rail travel be encouraged without people from Maine being able to take direct trains to New York? The 30-year proposed construction plan is ridiculous!! If China can build routes of this length in two to four years, the USA should also! Build it NOW and in no more than five or six years! Thirty years would mean people would work an entire career on this project alone and then retire!