The North American passenger rail market

Railway Age, March, 2005 by Greg Gormick

CONNECTICUT

Ridership continues at 1,655 daily boardings for Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDot)'s Shore Line East commuter rail service operated by Amtrak over 51 miles from New London to New Haven with connecting service to the Connecticut-owned New Haven Line operated by Metro-North Railroad. SLE's current capital spending covers construction of high-level single-sided platforms at five stations. The planning phase of a proposed 63-mile extension from New Haven through Hartford to Springfield, Mass., will be completed this summer.

NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s three operating agencies, New York City Transit (NYCT), Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and Metro-North Railroad (MNR), continue with widespread improvement of aging infrastructure and rolling stock. State-of-good repair and general upgrading remain monumental tasks on such a monumental system. But even more breathtaking are a series of big projects that will dramatically change the face of commuting in the Big Apple.

The $6.3 billion East Side Access plan will bring LIRR commuters into Grand Central Terminal and create a terminal on Manhattan's East Side that complements Penn Station on the west. Also about to be unfurled is the $16.8 billion Second Avenue Subway from 125th Street to the financial district, a project that has been contemplated for more than 50 years. In February, both projects received the FTA's "highly recommended" status. MTA hopes to secure an East Side federal Full Funding Grant Agreement dais spring, and sees Second Avenue planning continuing well into 2005. As well, MTA Capital Construction Corp. is promoting an extension of the No. 7 subway line to the West Side, and is spearheading lower Manhattan's Fulton Street Transit Center and South Ferry subway station projects.

All three properties have significant rolling stock programs, which they updated for Railway Age in January. NYCT took delivery last year of 60 new cars from Kawasaki and has 20 additional Kawasaki cars on order, plus 660 from Alstom/Kawasaki. NYCT plans to order at least 900 more cars over the next five years. Metro-North accepted delivery in 2004 of 130 M-7 EMU cars from Bombardier and 65 diesel hauled cars from Alstom. MNR is awaiting delivery of another 170 Bombardier EMUs and plans to order an additional 36 diesel-hauled cars in 2005. Over the next five years, MNR has its sights on at least 100 more EMU cars. LIRR received 138 EMU cars from Bombardier last year with another 34 still due. LIRR has plans for 216 more cars.

Meanwhile, 65 NYCT subway stations are being rehabilitated, including a $59 million renovation of the 99-year-old 72nd Street facility. This will raise the number rebuilt to about half of the total 468. Another ongoing project is a $164.7 million Corona fleet maintenance yard in Queens, for completion by late 2006. LIRR is reconstructing two major facilities, Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica Station. MNR is carrying out a three phase replacement of its 100year-old Croton-Harmon Shop. Combined cost of the first two phases is an estimated $103.8 million with completion set for 2009.