CONNDOT Freight Rail Wish List (Unspent Funds)

Apparently, CT is not taking advantage of matching funds out there, and has a surplus in its transportation fund: CTMirror

What would you prioritize? My first priority would be New Milford to Canaan which the Housatonic runs on but is owned by the state. After that?

Separate topic for passenger rail: conndot-passenger-rail-wish-list-unspen ... 76027.html

CT to leave big transportation funds unspent
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But Connecticut has resisted that lure somewhat, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars unspent in its transportation fund since 2021 — and projecting another huge surplus in the program this fiscal year.
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According to the treasurer’s office, nearly $5.4 billion in commission-approved bonding still hasn’t been issued, a backlog more than six times the size of Connecticut’s projected transportation borrowing this year.
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More than 40% of the $2.15 billion fund covers the debt service on the bonds Connecticut issues to finance upgrades to its aging infrastructure, while another 40% pays for Department of Transportation operations and public transit programs. The rest covers the Department of Motor Vehicles and fringe benefits costs.

The STF is on pace to close $204 million or almost 10% in the black when the fiscal year ends June 30, according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget agency, the Office of Policy and Management.
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I think that Connecticut is a backwater as far as rail transportation goes. This opinion has three factors to me. The first is that anything coming from the south has to backtrack via the western gateways of the B&A, Fitchburg, VRS, and via Montreal, which are all of course north of Connecticut.

The second point is that except for the two G&W lines, the P&W, and the NECR/CV,, as well, to a lesser point Housatonic are all owned by transit agencies. Their focus is infrastructure geared for passenger service, not freight. P&W had to modify its SD70M-2s to fit under the wires, for example. They, Connecticut Southern, CSX, and now B&E have to run their freights around the windows set by passenger railroads.

Another point is that that because of points one and two, many Connecticut based companies use intermodal or bulk transfer points on the B&A and Fitchburg. There are just too many roadblocks to CT rail service. It's just as efficient to send a truck up to MA to retrieve the goods.

I agree that IM service to/from Connecticut will likely never be successful but there seems to be growth in CT-sourced C&D and municipal trash. Double stacked re-purposed small cube international shipping containers handling trash now are interchanged between P&W and PAS/NS at Gardner and CSOR trains going in and out of W Springfield yard have plenty of C&D cars. And there has been a decent amount of LPG going into CT transload facilities.

With the Number of container body trailers coming to Connecticut from New York and Massachusetts per hour a intermodal train would succeed even if it has to be single stack.

Except that the only way to get it to Connecticut would be by either 1) the Penn Station tunnels or 2) extending it from one of the points it currently serves with an existing intermodal terminal. #1 isn't practical, and there's no business case for the railroads to go with #2. The additional revenue from extending the run by another 50-60 miles (Springfield-Cedar Hill) isn't worth the cost involved.

Did not access to west given up by the Housatonic ?

What access? The only trackage that goes west via the Housy is an OOS Metro North line.

Housatonic lists Mabrook as part of their railroad ?

Why wouldn't they? It's been part of their system for over 30 years now...

Maybrook east of the NY/CT line is Housatonic, and is (mostly) in service.
Maybrook west of the NY/CT line is Metro North, is impassible without large sums of money being spent on a complete rebuild, and has been submitted to the STB for abandonment.