The “Time for CT” plan would also reduce the impacts of climate change by encouraging train ridership, provide a new fleet of train cars for faster trip times, and generate an estimated 45,000 direct construction jobs over 15 years.
“We now have PTC on these trains, which make them safer now we can make them faster,” said Sen. The Metro-North Watebury branch is the last branch without complete signalization, and will have it by the end of the year, which will allow additional trains to be run. Signalization improvements and the addition of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems will help shave off minutes for commuters, Giulietti said. “Beyond that, it’s going to go segment by segment,” he said. The upgrades necessary to speed up commutes would use existing assets and stay within Metro-North’s existing right-of-way.Ĭonnecticut Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said that the 10-minute travel time reduction would largely be achieved by running additional express trains on the New Haven Line, and other improvements. Overall, the 1-hour, 52-minute train ride from New Haven to New York City would be reduced to less than 90 minutes. Federal funding has already been secured to cover improvements enabling a 10-minute travel time reduction on Metro-North’s New Haven Line, which is among the busiest commuter rail lines in the country.Īccording to a summary of the plan, a 26-minute trip from New Haven to Bridgeport would be cut to 20 minutes by 2023 the 34-minute trip from Bridgeport to Stamford would be reduced to 22 minutes and the 52-minute trip from Stamford to Manhattan would be cut to 45 minutes. Roughly 90% of the funding for the “Time for CT” plan is expected to come from the federal government, officials said, though the specifics largely depend on the final form of the American Jobs Plan. “We have this transformational opportunity that we haven’t seen at least in five or six decades to get federal infrastructure dollars,” Lieutenant Gov. The White House’s sweeping infrastructure proposal, which is currently being debated in Congress, would fix highways, bridges, airports and rail lines across the country, as well as deliver clean drinking water and high-speed broad band to all Americans. Since taking office in 2019, Lamont has advocated for reduced train times between Connecticut and New York City and the American Jobs Plan, the Biden administration’s proposed $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan, may soon put the wind in his sails.
“We’re making extraordinary progress but we’re not going to be able to continue to make that progress unless we put people to work, speeding up our rail system,” he said. As Connecticut’s economy approaches a near-complete recovery from the pandemic, Lamont argued that now is the time to invest in the state’s infrastructure.
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