TOP FIVE
STRATEGIES
FOR
IMPROVING TRANSPORTATION - RAIL SERVICE #1
(Stamford, CT - April 25, 2002): SWRPA, the Southwest Regional Planning Agency, has called on the Transportation Strategy Board to embrace more spending on rail commuter equipment and parking as its top priorities. Representing the towns of Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Weston and Wilton and the cities of Stamford and Norwalk, SWRPA came up with the following top strategies:
1)
Order new rail cars
& repair yards for Metro-North service.
2)
Create additional parking
at rail stations
3)
Increase intra-state
rail service to subway-like frequency
4)
Support Stamford Urban
Transitway project
5)
Increase use of
waterborne transportation
“I
am very encouraged that SWRPA endorses the Rail Commuter Council’s call for new
rail cars,” said Jim Cameron, Vice Chmn. of the CT Rail Commuter Council. “We are in urgent need of more cars now, but
even if they are ordered immediately we won’t have them for four or five
years. By then the crowding conditions
and standee problems will be worse. Today its S.R.O. on many peak-hour trains
to and from NYC.”
By
its own estimates, Conn.
D.O.T. says 400 – 450 cars must be ordered by the year 2020 at a cost of
$1.5 to $2 billion. Of the current
fleet of 334 rail cars that serve Metro-North riders in CT, 14% of all cars are
out of service for repairs on an average day.
Repair facilities are so limited that they must operate 24 x 7 to keep
the aging cars in service. In the past
year there have been three cars on Metro-North trains in Connecticut.
“Someone
in Hartford is going to have to get serious about the crisis facing commuter
rail service in this state,” says Cameron.
“SWRPA is to be commended for its leadership on this issue.”
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