Shore Line East Weekend Service

[doz180]

It looks like Shore line east is going to get weekend service. Plus they will be adding a midday and late evening train during the work week to better accomadate commuters.

The first recommended phase of expanded service is the easiest and cheapest to accomplish. Eight round trips would be started Saturday and Sunday between New Haven and Old Saybrook. There is no weekend service now. A midday round trip and a late evening train out of New Haven would also be added. Currently, there are no trains outside of the daily rush hours......

The costs rise for the second phase to $23.6 million to extend existing service from Old Saybrook through to New London.

The third phase, full, two-way service during the week, would cost more than $105 million, primarily for platform improvements and more parking. Phase three would cost an additional $95 million if the new electric cars, instead of the current diesel driven trains, were used on the route.

www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17807700&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7581&rfi=6

[MadVlad]

It looks like Shore line east is going to get weekend service. Plus they will be adding a midday and late evening train during the work week to better accomadate commuters.

The first recommended phase of expanded service is the easiest and cheapest to accomplish. Eight round trips would be started Saturday and Sunday between New Haven and Old Saybrook. There is no weekend service now. A midday round trip and a late evening train out of New Haven would also be added. Currently, there are no trains outside of the daily rush hours......

The costs rise for the second phase to $23.6 million to extend existing service from Old Saybrook through to New London.

The third phase, full, two-way service during the week, would cost more than $105 million, primarily for platform improvements and more parking. Phase three would cost an additional $95 million if the new electric cars, instead of the current diesel driven trains, were used on the route.

www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17807700&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7581&rfi=6

[runawayjim]

this is great news. it shows that someone somewhere sees the value of commuter rail. i had proposed this idea to SLE many years ago when i spent a lot of time in new haven and new york. i lived in branford and it would have been so much easier to take the train from branford into new haven and make a connection with metro north. i suggested weekend travel so people can get into new haven to go out to dinner or the bars or theatres. they didn't buy it, but it looks as though they've realized the benefit it could bring.

[doz180]

this is great news. it shows that someone somewhere sees the value of commuter rail.

[runawayjim]

there's some really good things that could come of an MTA-run SLE. the biggest being that train times in stations like new haven and bridgeport could be synced so that you could make easy transfers in those bigger stations.

the downside to an MTA-run SLE is that MTA is always having financial troubles even though their ridership is pretty high. so they keep raising fares. that sucks for the commuter because they ride over-crowded trains and have to keep paying more. while i don't see over-crowding being an issue on SLE, i wouldn't be surprised if an MTA-run SLE had higher fares than they are now. i also wouldn't want to see them run it and then have to drop it because they decide they can no longer afford it.

SLE can be used for so much more than it is currently. they need to extend it to the RI border (or even over the border to westerly). that'll give them stops in groton and mystic, which can be used for tourism and for the employees at EB. it would give people more options to get to the westerly beaches (assuming RI would setup a bus that runs from the westerly train station to the beaches, it could probably even shuttle people to charlestown). promoting it for the casinos would work because they casinos could easily have a free shuttle from the train stations (waterford or new london for mohegan and mystic/stonington for foxwoods).

[JimSawhill]

there's some really good things that could come of an MTA-run SLE. the biggest being that train times in stations like new haven and bridgeport could be synced so that you could make easy transfers in those bigger stations.

the downside to an MTA-run SLE is that MTA is always having financial troubles even though their ridership is pretty high. so they keep raising fares. that sucks for the commuter because they ride over-crowded trains and have to keep paying more. while i don't see over-crowding being an issue on SLE, i wouldn't be surprised if an MTA-run SLE had higher fares than they are now. i also wouldn't want to see them run it and then have to drop it because they decide they can no longer afford it.

SLE can be used for so much more than it is currently. they need to extend it to the RI border (or even over the border to westerly). that'll give them stops in groton and mystic, which can be used for tourism and for the employees at EB. it would give people more options to get to the westerly beaches (assuming RI would setup a bus that runs from the westerly train station to the beaches, it could probably even shuttle people to charlestown). promoting it for the casinos would work because they casinos could easily have a free shuttle from the train stations (waterford or new london for mohegan and mystic/stonington for foxwoods).

[doz180]

Year round weekend service is starting up this weekend.

The weekend service will provide a full complement of nine trains in each direction. Initial weekend rail schedule will include four westbound trains to New Haven from early morning to early afternoon and five eastbound trains from mid-afternoon to late evening. The trains will also provide reverse stops at Guilford station throughout the day. The Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to operate SLE rail service over weekdays, weekends and holidays throughout the year.