Hartford Business Journal

90 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2015 Transportation INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT › By Carol Latter B y the end of 2016, Connecticut com- muters, day-trippers and visitors alike will have another transportation option — one that will offer them an easier and more enjoyable ride between Springfield, Mass. and New Haven. With the launch of the New Haven- Hartford-Springfield railway line — dubbed "the Hartford Line" — travelers will be able to leave their cars behind and catch a high- speed rail car at any of the stops along the 62-mile corridor. ose traveling south will have the option to connect to other trains traveling west towards New York or east towards New London. Riders going north will eventually be able to continue to Boston, Vermont or Montreal, via rail expansions being planned by other New England states. Tom Maziarz, chief of policy and planning for Connecticut's Department of Transportation, said the $365 million project currently underway involves double tracking the existing line used by Amtrak as far north as Windsor. "We're going from a single-track line to double, so we'll be increasing the frequency, capacity and reliability of our passenger ser- vice" — in essence, creating a viable commuter service that currently doesn't exist. "From a business perspective, this will provide opportu- nities to expand labor markets substantially." Maziarz said companies in Fairfield County and elsewhere depend on a daily influx of employees, just as those employees may depend on jobs that are many miles from their homes. "A lot of people use the existing trains, but it's limited to the shoreline, for the most part. By providing a really good connec- tion from New Haven north, that labor shed and access to jobs will expand." He said the launch of the service late next year will hike frequency "from six round-trip Amtrak trains today to 17 round- trip trains between New Haven and Hart- ford, and 12 round- trip trains from Hartford to Spring- field. e reason for the difference is that we will [initially] only have the single track north of Wind- sor." Once the line is double tracked all the way to Springfield, "we'll be going up to 25 round trips a day the full length of the corridor; some would be through-routed to Boston." He said that is expected to help relieve highway congestion. e line will include a state-of- the-art positive train control system, designed to prevent rail accidents by over- riding human error. At-grade crossings will feature a new gate system that complete- ly blocks vehicles that might otherwise try to "skirt" the gate and beat a train across the tracks. e Hartford Line will also add freight capacity. In addition to twinning the track from New Haven to Windsor, the first five-year phase of the project includes design and en- vironmental work for building new stations in Enfield, West Hartford, Newington and North Haven. e longer-term plan will include con- struction of those stations, further double tracking, and "upgrades of culverts, bridges, and communications all the way to the Mass. line. at gets us double-track capacity all the way to Springfield." e full build-out is scheduled to be complete by 2030 at a cost of $750 million. e West Hartford and Newington stations will be built adjacent to the new CTfastrak stations, allowing passengers to On Track New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line will add commuter service, boost freight capacity The new "Hartford Line" rail ser vice, which will be launched in late 2016, will operate at speeds up to 110 mph, cutting travel time between Spring- field and New Haven to as short as 79 minutes. Travelers will board trains every 45 minutes during the morning and evening peak hours and every 90 minutes during off-peak periods. When all of the planned improvements are completed, trains will operate every 30 minutes during peak periods. Hartford Line Corridor MAP/CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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