FWIW...CDOT did ballpark out state-of-repair costs in the 2012 State Rail Plan, appendix itemizing Housy-related wishlist. That was drawn up back when P&W's STB dispute was still raging hot, and the Plan is due for revision in another year so we'll get an update soon with new priorities no doubt influenced by the need to re-route freight around the Walk construction. Itemization is not separated out by Berkshire vs. Maybrook, but given that most of the mileage quoted here is Danbury-Caanan, extract by % and it's not a back-breaker by any means.
PRIORITY 1 - $21M over 5 years - Replace 7.5 miles of rail at several locations between Derby and Danbury, installation of 9 miles of rail between Canaan and New Milford, expand a storage track in Canaan, renew three railroad crossings in Canaan, installation of 92,000 new ties.
PRIORITY 1 - $80M over long-term (split $20M first 5-year installment, $60M over later 5-year Rail Plan revisions) - Replace 70 year old or older rail, old track materials, and ties: Provide for annual phased rail renewal to replace worn rail.
OK...so lets say the first one breaks down to one-third Maybrook, which is probably generous given the Berkshire-specific line items. $7M. Not bad when P&W actually has some enthusiasm to use this permanently and use it to seek new opportunities around Danbury. Despite the track barely being operable now that's not far off from what the Valley Line freight rehab Middletown-Hartford cost over a longer span of increments. The second item is a rolling investment just related to stepping up the pace of SGR until eventually keeping pace with it. That's not going to factor much in achieving minimally operable Class 1 track Derby-Danbury that serves all P&W needs, as P&W has the resources to contribute a bigger share to the tie program than Housy and has been doing similar work quietly on its own dime on the lower Air Line. So that one's probably a bit less than $20M/3 = $6.6M over 5 years. I bet to get the Maybrook permanently stabilized for the Danbury local to a standard that P&W can work with for the long term, and do it in time for the Walk project, costs less than $10M.
FWIW...the state has under-spent considerably on the Berkshire repairs for the rolling tie/rail replacement program because of the fallout from the whole "disappearing rail" scandal of several years ago when a CDOT grant is presumed to have ended up applied on the then private-owned track in MA. The state cut them off after those shannanigans, so that line item is very obsolete with most of its cost un-awarded.
It's a bailout for sure, but we all knew years ago that Housy's aftermath would involve a taxpayer bailout of the track conditions. Walk is the first trigger that puts any pressure on actually doing that job we've known was coming. The Berkshire bailout costs are going to be much harder to justify, but Housy isn't going anywhere on the Berkshire nor is the Berkshire as high a priority as Derby-Danbury so that'll be in a holding pattern many years longer. What we've got here is pretty much the going rate we've known all along for rolling back the damage on the Maybrook. It's going to be sunk cost, but $7-9M is hardly what you'd call a boondoggle when P&W ends up making good, immediate, and long-lasting use of the improvements.
