Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

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 #1194107  by Frank
 
Speaking of Bridgeport, how much more of the catenary needs to be rehabilitated? I haven't been up to Connecticut in months.
 #1194181  by NH2060
 
Frank wrote:Speaking of Bridgeport, how much more of the catenary needs to be rehabilitated? I haven't been up to Connecticut in months.
you can find that answer here:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 4&start=90" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As much as the location of a new East Bridgeport station is in between 2 not-so-far-apart existing stations and the Bridgeport station could use an overhaul of some sort to at least make it look more inviting (even the BUS station part of it looks better..) the more I think about it I personally don't see how any of those residents, and therefore the community as a whole, could not benefit from an East Bridgeport stop. Unlike the section of Bridgeport where the recent derailment occurred, the section where the new station is proposed is not just industrial/abandoned industrial (and unlike downtown, not commercial). Having been through that neighborhood myself that part of the city is mostly residential. In fact a number of affordable housing units have gone up in a section of fields to the south of the tracks over the past several years. Put in a station and those remaining vacant lots (of which there are many) will have more housing built up on top of them. We here in the Northeast are gradually becoming more of a car-less society and this would only be a boost to that effort.
 #1282665  by DutchRailnut
 
Another stop, more time added to schedules, betya Jimbo be crying...
 #1282684  by Clean Cab
 
No more stations!! There are some stations on the NH Line that should be closed if not get reduced service. Every stop you add makes the trip longer. The one proposed in Bridgeport is a joke. It's barely one mile from the current very busy station in Bridgeport (which should be expanded). Money should be spent on necessities like replacing the overhead wire, fixing the tracks and replacing the drawbridges instead of pipe dreams about new and totally unjustified stations.
 #1285334  by NH2060
 
Clean Cab wrote:No more stations!! There are some stations on the NH Line that should be closed if not get reduced service. Every stop you add makes the trip longer. The one proposed in Bridgeport is a joke. It's barely one mile from the current very busy station in Bridgeport (which should be expanded). Money should be spent on necessities like replacing the overhead wire, fixing the tracks and replacing the drawbridges instead of pipe dreams about new and totally unjustified stations.
Only for those who ride all the way from GCT to New Haven (and SLE). And that trip has always been a trek even before Fairfield Metro and West Haven opened. Having been through that section of Bridgeport both on the train and on the ground a train station there could be exactly what those neighborhoods need with or without any TOD (which would likely follow anyway).

Now should the station be built before the remaining draws and swing bridges are replaced? Ideally no. But at the same time with that logic of thinking who knows how long it'll take to get funding for the Cos Cob, WALK, Saugatuck, and Housatonic spans before you could do anything else. In addition the East Bridgeport stop is purely a MNR/ConnDOT interest and doesn't cost nearly as much. The bridges *at least should be* of interest to the Federal Gov't as Amtrak is beholden to them for NEC service and the Coast Guard doesn't want them to have to be closed for a prolonged period of time blocking marine traffic. Furthermore CT was already pursuing Federal money to help pay for WALK's replacement before this summer's snafus made the news.

And FWIW the distance between the Bridgeport and East Bridgeport stops would be equal to or greater than between Cos Cob and Riverside. And those stations ain't goin' nowhere ;-)
 #1285353  by The EGE
 
Perhaps we'll start seeing the line broken in three at Bridgeport and Stamford for locals and expresses, particularly if Devon ever gets built.
 #1289338  by 7express
 
Let's add the Orange & Devon stations too while we're at it.

Let's add a station @ the Arena, so people can walk 50 feet to the gate instead of 250 feet from the current Bridgeport station. Unless they do the 3 tier system to New Haven I talked about 3 years ago: 1 express (goes express from Stamford to Fairfield local to New Haven) 1 semi express (stops at Stamford, Darien, SoNo, Westport, Fairfield than local) and 1 regular local to do the rest of the pickups, the trip from new Haven will take 3+ hours. People from new Haven will actually be better off taking Amtrak, especially if they work downtown. I actually took Amtrak once from Bridgeport-Penn station (it was when I was at Hofstra on Long island and had to take some stuff back I didn't want to drag through the city). Was only $33 I think and a single one way trip on the railroad is what, 20 something?? I can't imagine it's that much different from New Haven.
 #1311897  by NH2060
 
Funding for design of the second Bridgeport station approved by the Bond Commission:
http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/v ... 278&A=4010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
7express wrote:Let's add the Orange & Devon stations too while we're at it.
Turns out there's money marked for design of an Orange station as well (which I thought was at one point chosen over by the West Haven station..), but interestingly enough no mention at all about Devon Jct. I had forgotten about that one. That really puts added Waterbury Branch frequencies on the back burner for some time to come unless *somehow* extra slots can be found to and from Bridgeport.
 #1311910  by Clean Cab
 
It's ridiculous to add any more stations to the New Haven Line. The ride from NH to GCT is long enough, and adding these two new stations will add at least 5 minutes to what is already a long trip. I'd rather see money spent on raising the track speeds and building faster interlockings.
 #1311915  by NH2060
 
Clean Cab wrote:It's ridiculous to add any more stations to the New Haven Line. The ride from NH to GCT is long enough, and adding these two new stations will add at least 5 minutes to what is already a long trip. I'd rather see money spent on raising the track speeds and building faster interlockings.
If people are willing to commute from points east of Bridgeport, New Haven, etc. all the way to/from GCT they can stand an extra 5 minutes added to their trip, local, semi-express, or express. Not everyone is going into NYC anyway. The real issue should be having enough seats to meet the demand for all those extra customers, many of whom I'm sure will be intra-state riders. And perhaps initiating that 3 tier service level plan (GCT-STM, STM-BPT, BPT-NHV).

The E. Bridgeport station is really not a bad idea at all. Quite the opposite. Anyone who's even just driven through that section of the city knows that it needs an economic boost and yet has a lot of potential. A train station there could do just that in spades and then some. That area could be the next target for TOD. Plus it's high time Bridgeport had a beyond decent looking train station. I wouldn't be surprised if after Barnum Ave. is completed attention is then turned to the existing station.

Orange though I'm not sure what to make of that just yet. Unless parking capacity, etc. at Milford is maxed out then I don't see too much of a reason for a station in Orange. But even if it is built it's not like Milford-Orange-West Haven would be the closest spaced cluster of stations. In that same distance you could fit all 4 Greenwich stops!

My beef with the NHL is having "Fairfield Metro" not being renamed "Black Rock Turnpike".. But that's another story.
 #1311945  by Clean Cab
 
Look at the facts. Both West Haven and Fairfield Metro's ridership is way below expectations. Building two more stations to handle a small amount of riders is just wasteful. There will now be 18 stations between State Street and Stamford and another 15* stops from Stamford to GCT. Enough is enough!!!

*Including Fordham
 #1311961  by NH2060
 
Isn't that partially due to the fact that the planned development(s) near/at the two stations have yet to materialize? So far the Fairfield Metro Center is somehow still in the planning stages. And West Haven was supposed to be near the site of a new University of New Haven campus. So I don't think those numbers will go up until those things materialize. I do find the fact that West Haven hasn't met ridership projections to be interesting. It's location between Milford and New Haven is more or less ideal considering the long gap in stations that used to exist.

What a Barnum Ave. stop has going for it is 1) huge walkability potential 2) connections to GBT busses 3) and -depending on exactly where the station goes- close proximity to residential areas. A fair number of people interviewed on the local news sometime last year or earlier this year said they would use an East Bridgeport stop. One reason being that they wouldn't have to make their way downtown to catch the train.

And as for the spacing, worst case scenario the distance between Bridgeport and Barnum Ave. is comparable to that of Riverside-Old Greenwich and South Norwalk-East Norwalk. I rode MNR through both sections countless numbers of times over the years and never thought either pair was too close to each other.
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