TESTIMONY

 

By Jim Cameron, Darien CT

Before the House Committee on Transportation

March 24, 2003

 

 

RE:           HB 6671      Implementing the Recommendations of the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board Concerning

                  Transportation                               

 

My name is Jim Cameron and I am a resident of Darien.  I am Vice Chairman of the Metro-North / Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, and have served on the Southwest Corridor Action Council and the Coastal Corridor TIA. However, my testimony offered today is personal and does not necessarily reflect the positions of those groups.

 

I speak today in only partial support of House Bill 6671.

 

I salute the TIAs and the TSB for all their hard work in developing a long term strategy to solve this state’s transportation crisis.  But a strategy is not a laundry list of projects and therein lies my concern with Bill 6671 which lacks the long term vision and strategy so eloquently stated by the TSB.

 

Let me focus on one example:  the long-term growth of commuter rail.

 

Even the TSB fell far short of the suggestions of the Coastal Corridor TIA’s number one suggestion:  ordering more rail cars for Metro-North now!  The TSB called for, and Bill 6671 recommends, just 12 new locomotives and 40 coaches for use on Metro-North. And if you read the TSB report closely, you’ll see that these proposed trains are of a design that cannot run into Grand Central Terminal in NYC.  Does that make any sense?

 

Bill 6671 falls far short of even what the Connecticut DOT estimates we will need…  not a few dozen new cars, but  400 to 500 new cars by the year 2030.

 

Our current train fleet is literally falling apart.  The cars are 30 years into a 25-year life expectancy.  At last week’s Commuter Council meeting, we were told that 69 of our 343 rail cars were in the shop for repairs that day… more than 20% of the fleet.  ConnDOT’s inadequate and antiquated shops are running 24 x 7 trying to keep the fleet in operation.

 

The CDOT rehabilitation plan for the oldest rail cars is underway but it is so small as to be irrelevant… rehabilitating only four cars a month.  At that rate it will take five years to revitalize the oldest 242 of the cars.

 

When cars are out of service either for rehab work or because they’re in the repair shop, trains are “shorted”, meaning even fewer seats for commuters.  In morning rush hour most trains are standing room only from Stamford to NY… a 45-minute run at best.  And for the privilege of commuting in subway-like conditions these commuters are being asked to pay up to $319 per month, soon to increase to $382 a month if the 15% fare increase in the Governor’s budget is approved.  And that’s not counting the cost of station parking… if you can wait five years for a space.

 

Connecticut rail commuters pay the highest fares in North America, both in real dollars and as a measure of fare-box return.  If you look at the cost of a ticket as a percentage of the actual cost of the ride, rail commuters in Chicago pay 45%, in New Jersey 48%, on the Long Island Railroad 51% and on Metro-North in Connecticut 74%. 

 

Higher fares, broken-down rail cars, inadequate parking at the stations, lack of inter-modal transport from stations to work and insufficient seats for all passengers… all of these are discouraging ridership.  Given plenty of attractive alternatives for housing and good schools in the NY suburbs, what breadwinner wants to put up with these hassles for a daily commute?  They’ll move and take their tax dollars with them, and the entire state will suffer as a result.

 

It’s been two and a half years since the Transportation Summit.  In that time, rail commutation has become worse, not better.  That trend will continue.  Even if you were to act today and approve the order of new rail cars, the CDOT bureaucracy and the limited number of manufacturers would take three or four years to deliver those cars for service.

 

In 1983, the years of neglect of our crucial transportation infrastructure bore bitter fruit in the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge. Last year, to balance its budget, CDOT eliminated track maintenance… a very dangerous and short-sighted decision.  Continue to ignore the needs of commuter rail in this state and we’ll soon see the transportation crisis turn into a catastrophe.  We’ve already had four fires on the oldest MU cars in the fleet, so far without injuries.

 

House Bill 6671 isn’t enough.  It’s a Doctor putting a band-aid on a gaping wound and telling the patient not to worry.  I urge you to rethink your plans and order more rail cars now.

 

Thank you.