All contents of this blog are (c) Cameron Communications Inc. Jim is also the founder of a new advocacy effort: Disclaimer: his comments are only his own. Ironic, no?Ĭommentary on transportation in Connecticut and the Northeast by JIM CAMERON, for 19 years a member of the CT Rail Commuter Council. By the time it’s done, crowding could be so bad on our trains that getting on a four-lane wide interstate might just be better alternative. Meanwhile, the Malloy administration is pushing an almost $10 billion, multi-year plan to widen I-95 and I-84. So even if we were to call Kawasaki today, we couldn’t get new cars until probably 2020 even if we could find the money. The latest single-car order took 4 years. Were we to try ordering more M8 cars today, who knows the price… or delivery time.įrom the legislature’s approval of the M8’s in 2005 through design, testing and construction, the first M8’s took 6 years. This time, just single un-powered cars, so trains could run with 7 or 9 cars, not just 6, 8 or 10 using the “married pairs” in the original order.īut by then, Kawasaki whacked us $3.3 million per car… and those newest single cars don’t even have motors. That worked out to $2.54 million per car.īy the time those cars finally went into service in 2011, CDOT and Metro-North realized they should order more. The problem is, we didn’t order enough new M8 cars back in 2005 when we placed our order: just 300 cars for $762 million. More riders without additional capacity means crowding, and we’re hearing more reports about that, especially at rush hour when some trains are SRO. Good news, right? Yeah, but in the long run, not so good news because we’re not keeping up with demand. So for all of these reasons, a lot more people are taking the train. Interiors and amenities, such a power plugs at each seat. That means more options.Īnd we have the spiffy new M8 railcars, at last. There’s more service too: at least two trains per hour, even in off-peak. And off-peak and weekends, it’s a lot cheaper. There have been no fare increases (at least in Connecticut), even though our fares are still the highest in the nation. It’s much more dependable than last winter. Yes, running slower than in years past, but what’s a few minutes if it means better safety? What matters most is that the 7:37 shows up at 7:37, plus a minute or so, and arrives pretty close to on-time. That works out to more than 3000 additional riders every day!Ĭertainly this ridership gain is a sign of more people finding jobs, but with gasoline prices near a record low, there’s a reason these folks are training instead of driving: they like what they see. The best metric of that is the recent surge in ridership, up 1.7% compared to last year. Good News (and Bad) for Metro-North “Talking Transportation” by Jim Cameron But it finally seems like service and safety are coming back. It’s been a rough few years for Metro-North what with derailments, crashes and commuter deaths.
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