Connecticut DOT considering extending rail service to Brookfield

February 14, 2001 Representatives from the Connecticut Department of Transportation and URS engineering consultants held an information session in Brookfield Town Hall June 16 to introduce four alternatives for improving the Danbury rail line. One potential option includes extending passenger service up to New Milford, which would include a stop in Brookfield, the Brookfield Patch reports.

Two possible locations in
Brookfield were considered: on Pocono Road across from the fire station and on
Whisconier Road on the site of the old train station, behind the Brookfield Craft Center.
The early consensus is leaning toward the latter, as it would be in walking
distance of the Town Center District (TCD), a proposed pedestrian business center with residential apartments
surrounding Four Corners.

A new station would be
constructed behind the old station (used by the Craft Center as a wood turning
and glass blowing workshop), with an elongated parking lot with space for 200
vehicles. Representatives are in talks with the Craft Center about using their
entryway to the proposed lot and have assured that the old station building
would not be touched.

The proposed designs for
the new station are "not very romantic," according to First Selectman Bill Davidson, who compared it aesthetically to the station in Redding.

Extending the passenger
line to New Milford would require reconstructing the tracks all the way down to
Danbury, as passenger cars move at a much higher speed than the commercial
trains that currently run on the line. Reconstructing 14 miles of railway,
including installing parallel tracks in portions, would cost approximately $200
million, according to DOT Transportation Planner Andrew Davis, who is also the
project manager on the Danbury Line
Improvement Program.

"You could walk
faster than a passenger train could go" running on unimproved rails, Davis
said.

Along with improving the
existing rail, the DOT and URS are also proposing switching to electric trains,
rather than diesel, which are cleaner and faster, but would cost an additional
$1.5 million per mile ($21 million over 14 miles). Add to that the cost of new
trains and extensive bridgework to raise at least 10 overpasses (at $10 million
per bridge, by Davis’ estimation), and, "It’s an expensive proposition,
given the condition of the tracks," Davis admitted.

The other alternatives
being considered in the plan are to electrify the existing passenger service on
the Danbury Line to South Norwalk.

"If you’re going to
electrify any of it, it’d be good to go all the way to South Norwalk," in
Davis’ opinion, though that will depend on funding.

The project would be
funded through the state DOT and federal grants, depending on funding available
from the Federal Transit Authority. In the past, federal assistance has been as high
as 80 percent, according to Davis, however they generally match 50 percent of
the project cost.

The likelihood of
extending service to New Milford will largely depend upon the potential new
ridership that would come. The ridership data has not been fully compiled yet
according to URS Director of Transportation Planning Stephen Gazillo, though he
did not expect that Brookfield’s potential would be high. The feasibility of
extending the line will likely fall to the ridership out of New Milford, which
has had two well-attended public meetings. If the line is extended to New
Milford, there will be a stop in Brookfield, Gazillo assured.

The cost/benefit analysis
will be considered in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will be
available to the public in January 2011. Funding decisions will be made in
2012, with a 2014 target for completing the designs. If the program gets the
green light for full electric service through to New Milford, the new trains
would be running by 2021.

On an electric rail, the
estimated time from Brookfield Station to Grand Central Termination would be
two hours.

The project is also
considering extending passenger service another 38 miles north of New Milford
to Pittsfield, Mass.

The Housatonic Railroad
Company, which owns the railroad right-of-way and would be key to any agreement
extending the Danbury Line, recently sent
out a press release stating
that they are studying passenger service from Pittsfield to New York City, as
well.

Though HRRC currently
operates commercial trains, the company is conducting ridership studies and
researching the viability of combining freight and passenger service through
Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.