Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield Line Construction Will Cause ‘Bustitution’

Hartford, Ct., August 2, 2015 –

On the heels of Connecticut Governor Malloy’s statements in a scathing letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in June, terming Amtrak’s poor management of the project that they "failed to manage budgeting and staffing for what was supposed to be a $365 million job.” He later added that the project was way over budget and significantly behind schedule.

On Friday July 31, apparently things have now changed for the line that once had 2 tracks in service. If Amtrak agrees, buses will provide gap service for about a year while the work is in progress for Amtrak service between the 2 cities in a joint statement by the state and national carrier – a significant modification of service delivery.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office was ecstatic that shovels will soon be in the ground and the project will be moving forward.
A switch allowing trains to operate on a parallel set of tracks that will be owned by Amtrak (since they own the roadbed) will allow workers to get the project done faster in the long run. The second set of rails is a feature ConnDOT was looking to be implemented by December 2016.
Photo caption: Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield shuttle pulls into Hartford Union Station in 2013.

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