Southern New England Transportation Summit in CT

[doz180]

HARTFORD --- Senior elected leaders from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, as well as representatives of the transportation and environmental advocacy community, will gather in Hartford April 12 to hear Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Tim Murray address the region on the growing transportation crisis, and how the New England states might work more closely together to solve it.

Assembled by the National Corridors Initiative at the request of the Connecticut state legislature

[HartfordTycoon]

HARTFORD --- Senior elected leaders from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, as well as representatives of the transportation and environmental advocacy community, will gather in Hartford April 12 to hear Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Tim Murray address the region on the growing transportation crisis, and how the New England states might work more closely together to solve it.

Assembled by the National Corridors Initiative at the request of the Connecticut state legislature

[MadVlad]

This is exactly what is needed. While being absolutely skeptical of what will come out of this, at least they are looking in the right direction. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and something positive will come out of this in the coming years...

[Yankee.Peddler]

Nothing CT, MA, and RI do by themselves will matter much on the big scale unless NY gets involved. I noticed that NCI recommend NY's participation. This is absolutely critical. Hopefully, NY can attend future summits.

[doz180]

The rest of the world is not so shy. Returning from a recent Far East trip, Lyle Wray, executive director of Connecticut

[ctman987]

Nothing CT, MA, and RI do by themselves will matter much on the big scale unless NY gets involved. I noticed that NCI recommend NY's participation. This is absolutely critical. Hopefully, NY can attend future summits.

[doz180]

They published an article about the transportation summit. They mention some positive things like this:

It is in New England's economic interests to invest in a high-speed regional rail network, said Kip Bergstrom, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, a state consortium of officials, businesses and universities.

"We could blow the rest of the world away," Bergstrom said. "No one would touch us."

Connecticut would have the most to gain from a high-speed regional rail network because the state is between New York and Boston, Bergstrom said. If its residents could reach each city in an hour, Connecticut could be a "gatekeeper" of a majority of New England's labor force.

"Connecticut should be the biggest cheerleader for high-speed rail in this country," Bergstrom said.

www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-summit4apr13,0,1125731.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines

[MadVlad]

We should be the biggest cheerleaders, yet, here we are, having a meeting about it when it should have been done years ago. It kills me how long this type of thing takes to get off the ground, and the resistance that it would inevitably get.

[drc72]

We should be the biggest cheerleaders, yet, here we are, having a meeting about it when it should have been done years ago. It kills me how long this type of thing takes to get off the ground, and the resistance that it would inevitably get.

[doz180]

They published a follow up article on the summit.

www.nationalcorridors.org/df2/df04162007.shtml

I like what they say at the end and I assume they are talking about using Amtrak's tracks:

One highly unifying idea which could precede the longer range planning is to introduce a regional high speed, electrified, 4-across-seating commuter rail service by acquiring the ultramodern doubledecker Bombardier trainsets of the type NJ Transit is buying. This type of seating is far more comfortable than the five-across seats on the Metro North cars, yet the passenger capacity of the Bombardier cars is actually higher.

These trainsets could be run from Route 128 all the way to Trenton, New Jersey offering a seamless ride on the line - Providence-New London-New Haven-Stamford-New York City-Trenton, at increasingly higher speeds as we get the catenary fixed from New Haven to the NY state line. We can use these trainsets to create an

[JimSawhill]

They published a follow up article on the summit.

www.nationalcorridors.org/df2/df04162007.shtml

I like what they say at the end and I assume they are talking about using Amtrak's tracks:

[JimSawhill]

The rest of the world is not so shy. Returning from a recent Far East trip, Lyle Wray, executive director of Connecticut

[doz180]

www.nationalcorridors.org/df2/df06182007.shtml#Massachusetts

June 22nd they will have part two of this meeting up in Springfield Mass.

Their agenda includes the "knowledge corridor" so maybe some positive things will happen for the New Haven to Springfield line.

Also the vice-president from Bombardier will address the group. I may be wrong but isn't that the company that is making the double decker trains for NJ Transit(similar to what LIRR has). Maybe CT is going to order some for the New Haven - Springfield project.

[doz180]

who noted that three of the New England states together were the size of Switzerland --- CT+MA+RI --- but were 50% denser in population, yet rail critics claim America is

[Lowerdeck]

They made it sound like Worcester-New London is being considered heavily.

[JimSawhill]

Doz:

Some interesting things about the second meeting I read about on National Corridors website:

They made it sound like Worcester-New London is being considered heavily. They propose a Worcester

[RMT]

A summary of the Springfield Summit can be found here: http://pvacr.blogspot.com/ --the blog for the new Pioneer Valley Advocates for Commuter Rail.

The director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission read the summary, pronounced it accurate, and underscored a few points, also provided on that page.

(membership is open--just click on the links )

[doz180]

The third in the series of regional summits with representation from all states between Jersey and Canada was recently held in Boston. Here are a few quotes from Connecticut State Senate President Donald E. Williams which may provide some insight into the direction New England transit is going.

As an example: From Connecticut

[Lowerdeck]

Sounds promising

[MadVlad]

Not one mention of Hartford specifically.....

[PCGrad02]

This would be fantastic for the entire region, which Hartford plays a role in. Freight rail would provide a huge reduction in truck traffic on congested highways. There should be regional freight distribution centers in five sections of the state, forming a web of transportation: Bridgeport, New Haven, New London, Willimantic, and Hartford. Here in Memphis, we have 220 trains a day, second only to Chicago, it is a massive industry. New England needs investment in its rail systems, not only for passenger traffic, but especially freight, there are too many trucks on the road, and with the way the oil game is running, it's not going to be sustainable in the long run.