The publisher gave us permission to republish Jim Cameron’s important and relevant article in full, but it seems I can’t paste HTML code into Substack. Instead, I’m quoting a bit from the article, which you can read in full online. But you’ll get the point from these extracts. No doubt the points Jim is making are true of MA rail planning and perhaps one of our readers will do some research and share it with us. Read the whole article in the CT Mirror.
By Jim Cameron | Columnist in the CT Mirror April 26, 2026
In Connecticut, when it comes to transportation we don’t seem to have a transportation strategy… we just have a construction strategy.
Sure, the plans for redevelopment of the New Haven Union Station are certainly impressive… the new European-style roof and canopy over the tracks, the redone passenger tunnel, etc. All of it serving as a beautiful gateway to The Elm City and a new TOD (transit oriented development) project on adjacent state land.
But why are we spending $402 million on this while we can’t find a paltry $3 million to restore some train service on Shore Line East? We seem to be able to afford a cathedral for trains, just not the trains themselves. . . .
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Why has CDOT plans for another 5% fare hike this July on Metro-North with no expansion of service and no increase in speed? And the governor’s campaign of super-fast express trains to New York City… just that, a campaign promise never fulfilled.
Why is Amtrak suing the Metropolitan Transit Authority (parent of Metro-North) instead of cooperating to provide better train service? MTA claims that Amtrak is slowing development of their new commuter service to the East Bronx while Amtrak says the railroad is denying it the right to run non-revenue and test trains on the New Haven line.
Why does Amtrak bicker with CDOT over The Hartford Line, limiting U-pass (student) riders’ access to its too-short, always-crowded, trains between Springfield and New Haven?
Why have high access and power costs charged by Amtrak made running the shiny, new M8 electric trains on Shore Line East uneconomical, persuading CDOT to pull out old passenger cars and run diesel locos just to save money? Another nail in the coffin of Shore Line East.
It seems that we’re not investing in transportation. We’re investing in transportation projects… real estate, not real people. And riders (voters) can tell the difference.
Read the whole article in the CT Mirror.
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Taking aim at a 20th-century rail bureaucracy
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January 29, 2025
Karen Christensen loves trains but is no fan of the transportation bureaucracy, in Massachusetts or in the US as a whole. In this show, she runs through a list of examples of waste and bloat, and highlights a sensible, economical proposal that never saw the light of day. How many proposals of that sort get squashed because they aren’t business as usual?…
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