Saying there’s a chance that New Canaan will see rail service along its branch line dramatically reduced—a prospect that town officials and business owners have called devastating—local leaders are urging residents to attend a public hearing and makes their voices on the matter heard next Tuesday.
A town resident has arranged for private buses to depart the New Canaan train station at 4:15 p.m. on Feb. 27 to bring those protesting the potential cuts in service to UConn-Stamford for a public hearing organized by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The hearing will run from 5 to 8 p.m. and the buses will bring attendees back to New Canaan afterwards, according to Tucker Murphy, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.
“While there are a lot of issues that come up in town that we say you have to be involved and pay attention to, this is one that really, really means it because of our sheer numbers of people show up,” Murphy said. “It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. We cannot let this happen. This would drastically impact housing values and businesses. It’s got to be a numbers game on this one. Everyone has to show up.”
Those who intend to ride the bus with fellow residents should email Murphy at tucker@newcanaanchamber.com so that the individual arranging for the buses has a headcount, she said.
Though Gov. Dannel Malloy indicated recently that the proposed service cuts on Metro-North Railroad to New Canaan are unlikely, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said he heard differently recently from DOT Commissioner James Redeker at a meeting of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments.
The proposed cuts would eliminate weekend as well as off-peak weekday service.
“I heard Commissioner Redeker last Thursday at a luncheon in Ridgefield talking about tolls, but unless they adopt new revenues for July 1, these cuts will be in effect,” Moynihan said. “They [state officials] have to go through to put the cuts and fare hikes in, so the [General] Assembly may or may not fix it.”
Redeker during a January forum in New Canaan described the proposed cuts to rail service on the branch line as a difficult solution to a serious money problem. The state can save money by cutting the number of trains on branch lines, Redeker said, because the state subsidizes branch service more than it does on the main New Haven Line: $4.42 per trip on the New Canaan Branch, $17.04 on the Danbury Branch, and $24.46 on the Waterbury Branch. The subsidy per ride is $49.52 on Shore Line East (east of New Haven). The subsidy on the New Haven Line is $3.25 per trip.
Changes would ‘kill the goose that lays the golden egg’. Would cut the appeal of New Canaan for commuters & recreational users to go to NYC etc. State and cities would lose substantial revenue from cities along spurs and main line. Connecticut is having difficulty attracting businesses because of poor transportation. The proposed cuts would cut the throat of Connecticut with further loss of transportation appeal.
Following Europe and Japan and China, our commercial rivals, we MUST nationalize RAILROADS and substantially improve rail beds to increases riders and freight to cut subsidies!