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IN PROGRESS: Hartford-New Britain Busway/ CTFastrak


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Hopefully it's only a matter of time before the Busway gets scrapped in favor of rail service.

All it will take is one more big jump to high gas prices, and more people will want the trains. Hartford to Waterbury and New Haven to Springfield is just the tip of the iceberg for a statewide rail system, and we'd be a national leader in mass transit options.

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Hopefully it's only a matter of time before the Busway gets scrapped in favor of rail service.

All it will take is one more big jump to high gas prices, and more people will want the trains. Hartford to Waterbury and New Haven to Springfield is just the tip of the iceberg for a statewide rail system, and we'd be a national leader in mass transit options.

I hope the busway will be scrapped. I'd still like to see trains going to Willimantic and beyond and I'd love to see if the rumor of the Amory line being rebuilt is true!!

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I hope the busway will be scrapped. I'd still like to see trains going to Willimantic and beyond and I'd love to see if the rumor of the Amory line being rebuilt is true!!

Willimantic? More like Putnam, if not Providence. We need to get the entire state involved in this.

I just hope our legislators get things together, get some of that stimulus money to get a project like this done. Of course hell will freeze over and the Cubs will win the World Series first, but someday...

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What are these rumors and where is the Armory Line?

GHartford:

The Amory line is the railline that goes from East Hartford up through South Windsor - you can see it from Rt 5 - through East Windsor to the Hazzardville section of Enfield. It crosses into Mass at East Longmeadow (near the old Milton-Bradley plant) and continues into Springfield. It was built by the Connecticut Central and then it was the New England Railroad and then the New Haven. Now the line is operated by the Connecticut Central to East Windsor Hill and by the Central New England to Enfield. The line from the state Line to Springfield is abandoned, but CENZ, MassDot and ConnDot are trying to return rail service and use it for frieght, and emergency passenger car movements (in case of derailments, etc).

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GHartford:

The Amory line is the railline that goes from East Hartford up through South Windsor - you can see it from Rt 5 - through East Windsor to the Hazzardville section of Enfield. It crosses into Mass at East Longmeadow (near the old Milton-Bradley plant) and continues into Springfield. It was built by the Connecticut Central and then it was the New England Railroad and then the New Haven. Now the line is operated by the Connecticut Central to East Windsor Hill and by the Central New England to Enfield. The line from the state Line to Springfield is abandoned, but CENZ, MassDot and ConnDot are trying to return rail service and use it for frieght, and emergency passenger car movements (in case of derailments, etc).

You can get a good view of the line as it crosses Route 140 in Somers. Some track is still down and it looked like it use to be double tracked here.

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mr2448 Posted Today, 03:29 PM

QUOTE (JimSawhill @ Jan 8 2009, 03:14 PM)

GHartford:

The Amory line is the railline that goes from East Hartford up through South Windsor - you can see it from Rt 5 - through East Windsor to the Hazzardville section of Enfield. It crosses into Mass at East Longmeadow (near the old Milton-Bradley plant) and continues into Springfield. It was built by the Connecticut Central and then it was the New England Railroad and then the New Haven. Now the line is operated by the Connecticut Central to East Windsor Hill and by the Central New England to Enfield. The line from the state Line to Springfield is abandoned, but CENZ, MassDot and ConnDot are trying to return rail service and use it for frieght, and emergency passenger car movements (in case of derailments, etc).

You can get a good view of the line as it crosses Route 140 in Somers. Some track is still down and it looked like it use to be double tracked here.

Mr2448:

I believe it was double track there as it was the site of the Hazzardville depot. I would love to see commuter service on it!!

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mr2448 Posted Today, 03:29 PM

QUOTE (JimSawhill @ Jan 8 2009, 03:14 PM)

GHartford:

The Amory line is the railline that goes from East Hartford up through South Windsor - you can see it from Rt 5 - through East Windsor to the Hazzardville section of Enfield. It crosses into Mass at East Longmeadow (near the old Milton-Bradley plant) and continues into Springfield. It was built by the Connecticut Central and then it was the New England Railroad and then the New Haven. Now the line is operated by the Connecticut Central to East Windsor Hill and by the Central New England to Enfield. The line from the state Line to Springfield is abandoned, but CENZ, MassDot and ConnDot are trying to return rail service and use it for frieght, and emergency passenger car movements (in case of derailments, etc).

You can get a good view of the line as it crosses Route 140 in Somers. Some track is still down and it looked like it use to be double tracked here.

Mr2448:

I believe it was double track there as it was the site of the Hazzardville depot. I would love to see commuter service on it!!

Thanks for the info! I would love to see commuter rail service anywhere. Sounds like a cool line, although I'm not sure how useful it would be with the New Haven Springfield line's station stops in Enfield and Springfield. I have driven by the old East Longmeadow station and wondered what line that was. EL would be a great place for Transit Oriented Development...

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What are the planned stations for this Waterbury Hartford line?

I looked at some stuff on line and best I can tell is anyones guess is as good as mine.

Waterbury to Terryville is 9.5 miles.

Terryville to Bristol is 3.6 miles (from the mall the city is tearing down that would be part of a tranist based development including a station)

Bristol to Plainville is 4.1 Miles (no idea where station would be but close to downtown)

Plainville to New Britain is 4.7 Miles (at the intersection of Columbus and Main)

New Britain to Elmwood is 5.8 Miles

New Britain to Hartford is 9.0 Miles or 3.2 miles from Elmwood to Hartford

So under my imaginary possibly overbuilt plan, this rail link would read as follows

Waterbury

Terryville

Bristol

Plainville

New Britain

Elmwood

Hartford

The Terryville stop being the least important.

The Elmwood one the next less important.

So a minimum build would be

Waterbury

Bristol

Plainville

New Britain

Hartford

Either way this line would connect a couple hundred thousand to Hartford, while connecting Hartford to Metro North.

The Hartford/Springfield/New Haven line would be quite impressive as well.

of the two were to be done in conjunction and as a unified commuter rail syatem I think the results would be quite impressive.

the maximum build out for S-H-NH include stops at

New Haven

State Street

North Haven

Wharton Brook

Wallingford

Meriden

Berlin

Newington

Hartford

Meadows

Windsor

Windsor locks

Bradley Airport

Enfield

Springfield State Street

Springfield

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am a happy guy reading this.

the part I pasted below is pretty much all you need to know regarding the argument between train and bus.

TRAIN WINS

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-train...,0,163350.story

Officials with Pan Am Railways told lawmakers that for $52 million, their company could bring the tracks on the Waterbury-to-Berlin stretch up to federal standards for passenger service and also build small stations in Bristol, Plainville and New Britain

"We could get this [rail line] ready in 18 months, and we could do it for $50 million. I think that's less than the cost overruns for the New Britain busway will be," state Rep. David McCluskey, D- West Hartford, said Wednesday.

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I am a happy guy reading this.

the part I pasted below is pretty much all you need to know regarding the argument between train and bus.

TRAIN WINS

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-train...,0,163350.story

Officials with Pan Am Railways told lawmakers that for $52 million, their company could bring the tracks on the Waterbury-to-Berlin stretch up to federal standards for passenger service and also build small stations in Bristol, Plainville and New Britain

"We could get this [rail line] ready in 18 months, and we could do it for $50 million. I think that's less than the cost overruns for the New Britain busway will be," state Rep. David McCluskey, D- West Hartford, said Wednesday.

I saw this article. I'm very happy to see that there are some people in the legislature that get it. I actually emailed the Rep. from Glastonbury quoted in the article and told him he will always have my vote as long as he keeps pushing mass transit and smart growth.

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Regarding to the current proposed rail lines

Waterbury to Hartford looks like it would be made up as follows.

Waterbury to Bristol is 13.1 miles.

Bristol to Plainville is 4.1 Miles

Plainville to New Britain is 4.7 Miles

New Britain to Berlin is 2.6 Miles

Berlin to Hartford is 10.7

Hartford 125,000

Newington 30,000 (Station for commuter rail)

Berlin 20,000

New Britain 72,000

Plainville 18,000

Bristol 61,000

Waterbury 109,000

Serving a population of 435,000 including Hartford

The Hartford/Springfield/New Haven line would be quite impressive as well.

If the two were to be done in conjunction and as a unified commuter rail syatem I think the results would be quite impressive.

the maximum build out for S-H-NH include stops at

New Haven 131,000

State Street

North Haven 24,000 Hamden 60,000

Wharton Brook

Wallingford 46,000

Meriden 56,000

Berlin 20,000

Newington 30,000

Hartford 125,000

Meadows

Windsor 29,000

Windsor locks 13,000

Bradley Airport 0

Enfield 46,000

Springfield State Street

Springfield 151,000

total population between the two systems is just over 1 million

ProposedRails.jpg

Edited by The Voice of Reason
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi. I used to be very active on these forums, but for some reason stopped. Now I'm back again. I remember when they were discussing the Hartford/New Britain Busway back in the early 2000s. I thought it was a dumb idea then and I think it is now. It's a abandoned rail corridor, so it should be brought back as a rail line. Count me in as a supporter of a Hartford/Waterbury commuter rail service. I would like to see them use self-propelled railcars to provide the service.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hartford Courant

Perhaps the biggest sign of change at the DOT was Marie's response to a question about reviving the Griffin Line proposal, which predecessors at his agency helped kill in 1998. Marie left open the possibility of reconsidering that plan, saying, "In Minneapolis, it took 32 years from conception to the start of [light rail] service

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I'm glad to see the Griffin Line being reconsidered too. I remember hearing about it while I went to school at UConn. Dust off those 11-year old light rail plans and get some electric- or diesel-powered light rail trains running on the Griffin Line. I also believe ConnDOT should scrap those busway plans and run light rail from Hartford to New Britain. It's only nine miles, definitely doable as light rail. If they go all the way to Waterbury, then maybe go with commuter rail, although New Jersey Transit runs diesel light rail from Trenton to Camden, which is about the same distance as Hartford to Waterbury.

Edited by Mike D
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I much prefer commuter rail. The tracks are allready set for heavy guage, so its just a matter of the rolling stock and of course switching concerns and stations. But most of the same ammount of work would have to be done either way as I understand it.

I would always prefer a system that is more flexible long term. Ideally whatever is done on Waterbury-Hartford should be compatable with NewHaven-Springfield.

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I much prefer commuter rail. The tracks are allready set for heavy guage, so its just a matter of the rolling stock and of course switching concerns and stations. But most of the same ammount of work would have to be done either way as I understand it.

I would always prefer a system that is more flexible long term. Ideally whatever is done on Waterbury-Hartford should be compatable with NewHaven-Springfield.

Agreed, I don't see the point of light rail in this region. With so many cities in close proximity, there should be a unified heavy gauge rail system. Just like there was. As far as light rail, maybe down Farmington Avenue to West Hartford Center, at some distant point. For now, the bus will have to suffice. But the commuter rail line should be a priority.

As far as the Griffin Line, at some point it might be feasible. But I think it's more effective at this point to connect Windsor Locks with commuter rail and have a shuttle service to the airport.

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  • 1 month later...

I want to slap this guy.

I wish I were a New Britain resident so I could call him and tell him its all about the rail and to look towards the future and not the short term. look at the region and not just New Britain.

The development he wants will happen with the rail just as much as it will with the bus.

Call anyone you know in New Britain and tell them to pressure the mayor to get on board with the train NOT the bus.

I got a co-worker helping me out.

Also call State Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie and explain that the $52 Million rail upgrade to the freight line might be low, but the system would be larger and more compatable with the New Haven-Springfield commuter rail than the busway, and the busway will cost at least $570 million according to his people. 10:1 is enough to make his doubt a farce. doubt all you want, the bus plan is way overpriced.

I will be making a few calls

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I just wanted to point out another benefit to upgrading the Hartford to Waterbury rail line that I don't think anyone has focused on: MetroNorth services Waterbury. If someone at the DOT could convince MetroNorth to extend operations into Hartford, I don't think anyone would complaint that they could take ONE train from Hartford into nyc! We need to exploit this wonderful plus we have as a region: proximity to nyc. It seems like we are close enough to be attractive, yet all the transportation planning seems to put it just out of everyday reach.

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