Campaign Hopes to Restore Passenger Rail Service from NYC

By Ruth Melville

On August 14, a group of about 40 residents of Litchfield County crowded into the Wandering Moose Café in West Cornwall to discuss the possibility of restoring passenger train service from Grand Central Station in New York City to northwest Connecticut and the Berkshires. The meeting was moderated by Karen Christensen, from Great Barrington, founder of the Bring Back the Trains Campaign. Her question to the local audience was, “How can we build cooperation across our states to bring trains back?”

Christensen began the Train Campaign in 2011. She argues that restoring passenger train service from New York City will stimulate economic activity in the region, revitalize fading downtowns, encourage tourism, improve social capital, and enable young people, many of whom can’t or don’t want to have cars, to live and work in the area. Initial plans call for eight trains a day in each direction, running from Metro-North’s Southeast station to Pittsfield, Mass.

The campaign has already made great headway in Massachusetts. The state’s Department of Transportation has agreed to purchase the track from the Housatonic Railway Company (HRRC) for $12.13 million, and the state recently approved $35 million for immediate track upgrades. The old jointed tracks and ties need to be replaced with welded rail suitable for passenger service. The improved tracks will also help preserve the existing freight service, Christensen says. Between Canaan and Pittsfield, there are 1,000 manufacturing jobs that rely on freight service along that route, and the current tracks, installed in 1920, are deteriorating.

In total, Massachusetts has allocated $113 million, but the rest of the money won’t be spent until Connecticut commits to join the project. State representative Roberta Willis reported that Governor Deval Patrick and Governor Dannel Malloy have had discussions about the issue, but that Connecticut has concerns about the lack of federal funds and the state’s already extensive bonding commitments. Malloy is also facing a tough reelection battle, and may well be reluctant to go ahead at this time.

Nathaniel Karns, executive director of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, passed out copies of a just-completed study, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to determine the feasibility of the proposed Berkshire Line in Massachusetts. Karns admitted to his Connecticut audience that both states should have been included, and he hopes there will be a new, joint study.

Also speaking at the meeting was Colin Pease, vice president for special projects at the HRRC, which would operate the Berkshire Line. The HRRC hopes to run the line as a public-private partnership. James RePass, of the National Corridors Initiative, later noted that the line’s profits could be keyed to economic development along its route.

Although the meeting was the first public presentation of the rail campaign in Connecticut, there already is a group actively supporting the project in North Canaan. Their signs, proclaiming “Restore Our Railway,” have popped up along routes 7 and 44. Supporter Jayne Fagan-Cosentino spoke passionately about the value she feels passenger train service would bring to her town. “I have children, and I want them to be able to stay and work here when they grow up.”

The exact location of the stations is still to be determined. Pease stressed that it would be up to local communities to choose the locations. “All we at the HRRC care about is that the stations be at least 10 miles apart, and on a straight piece of track.” The Massachusetts study analyzed stations in downtown Lee, downtown Great Barrington and the Sheffield/state line area.

Possible stations in Connecticut include North Canaan, the Cornwall area, Kent or New Milford and near Danbury. Jocelyn Ayer, from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, which does regional planning for 21 towns in Litchfield County, told the meeting that the council will be conducting discussions in the individual towns about the line and the station locations. The chambers of commerce in Canaan, Kent, and the Northwest Corner have all shown support for the project.

Most of the people at the meeting were from the Cornwall/Kent area, with several from Canaan and at least two from Norfolk, Judy Maxwell and Suzanne Colt. Several attendees raised concerns about the project with the presenters, especially about its expense. At a time when federal transportation dollars are drying up, might the money be better used to upgrade roads and bridges?

Another major concern was the possible negative effects on people living near the tracks Will the trains be too noisy? Will the vibration damage houses close to the tracks? The backers of the Berkshire Line argued that the new rails and lighter passenger cars would substantially reduce noise and vibration, and communities could mandate “quiet zones,” where engineers could not sound their horns.

Christensen acknowledged that the State of Connecticut might need convincing to join its neighbor state to the north. This meeting in West Cornwall was intended to be a first step in encouraging Connecticut to get on board. Christensen said that we are just “calling for negotiations to take place. We would like a joint study to begin as quickly as possible. Passenger train service would change, maybe not everything, but a whole lot. This is not nostalgia. This is about the future, the 21st century.”