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Governor Dannel P. Malloy will be in Washington,D.C. Thursday morning to discuss Connecticut’s application for an additional $100 million towards the 62-mile double tracking of a rail line linking New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield,Mass.

Last week Malloy directed the Department of Transportation to apply for a piece of the $2.4 billion allocated to Florida that was turned aside by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who said he didn ‘t want the state to take on cost overruns of a high speed railway between Tampa and Orlando.

Malloy is also expected to visit the home of Vice President Joe Biden in the morning, and the White House in the evening, opportunities to talk about the high speed rail money directly with Biden and Obama, according to Malloy’s office.

At mid-day Malloy is planning to hold a conference call with Connecticut reporters to discuss his meeting with LaHood.

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The Regional Plan Association has produced a new video touting the importance of high speed rail and other transit improvements in Central Connecticut to provide a one-seat faster ride from cities like New Britain and Bristol to Hartford and New York City.

Watch it here.

The RPA is a not-for-profit regional planning organization which promotes the expansion of mass transit infrastructure and economic development around bus and rail hubs.

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  Torrential downpours overnight Sunday washed out a section of track between Bethel and Redding on the Danbury line, requiring Metro-North Railroad to substitute bus service for all but two runs on the line through at least this week, Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

The deluge of rain jogged loose the earth beneath the tracks leaving a gulch about 20 feet deep running about 150 feet under a section of track between the Bethel and Redding stations, Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

“There is a long section of track with no underpinning,” Anders said. “It was a very hard hit area.”

Tonight, Metro-North will run the most heavily used rush hour train, the 6:22 p.m. out of Grand Central, which will travel as far as Branchville, the last operable station south of Redding. After its 7:56 p.m. arrival, passengers for Redding, Bethel, and Danbury will board buses for the rest of the trip.

On Tuesday morning the railroad will run the most heavily travelled morning train, the 7:10 a.m., originating in Branchville.

Metro-North anticipates running the 7:10 a.m. and 6:22 p.m. trains for the rest of the week, but will substitute bus service for all other scheduled trains, Anders said.

The washout suspended service on the Danbury line this morning, as the railroad had planned to reestablish normal service levels after a month long reduced schedule implemented in early February after heavy snow left between 1/3 and 1/2 of the New Haven line’s fleet out of commission for repairs, making normal service impossible.

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One legislative proposal brought forward by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is Governor’s Bill 6394 which seeks to eliminate the Transportation Strategy Board, a group formed in 2001 to help direct the state’s transportation funding priorities.

If you have a minute, I’d like to hear from you about your experience with the strategy board and whether you think it should continue to exist and generate reports about the state’s highways, rail, aviation and port needs.

One of its main functions has been to create a report every two years to evaluate the state’s progress in enhancing state transportation infrastructure.

State Rep. David Scribner, R-Brookfield, the ranking Republican on the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee said that the strategy board has played a decisive role in the state planning what kind of investments and improvements the state of Connecticut needed to make, including lobbying on behalf of the purchase of the state’s new fleet of 380 M-8 railcars.

“I think it has been helpful in adding something which has been missing from our DOT in Connecticut which had historically been a bridge and highway maintenance department without nearly as much  emphasis on mass transit, airports, and other modes of transport,” Scribner said.

At a recent meeting of the General Assembly’s transportation committee, Department of Transportation Public Transportation Bureau Chief Jim Redeker said that he believed the board had helped to broaden the vision of the DOT about state transportation needs, but that today’s transportation officials are much more able to handle planning that takes into account all modes of transport, quality of life, and the environment.

Here is part of Redeker’s statement to the committee:

“The TSB was created in 2001 to develop a transportation strategy that addressed critical state goals such as economic growth, environmental conservation, and quality of life.  Since then, the Board has helped broaden the vision of how transportation should support these important state goals.  In that same time, the Department of Transportation has been reorganized, changed the way it does business, evolved into a truly multi-modal transportation agency, and expanded its mission to address broader state goals – including economic growth, environmental conservation, and quality of life.  With these changes, the Department has been well positioned to assume the lead responsibility for strategy development as the bill proposes.  Creation of the Five-Year Capitol Plan, the State Rail Plan and Long-Range Transportation plans are just a few examples of Department initiatives towards these goals.”

What do you think?

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This is the schedule for the next three days for the initial eight M-8 pilot cars put into service on Tuesday morning for those who wish to experience them first-hand.

The 6:24 a.m. out of New Haven, arriving at Grand Central Terminal at 8:06 a.m.The train deadheads out to Harrison and runs the 8:29 a.m. out of Harrison arriving at Grand Central Terminal at 9:15 a.m.

Afternoon:
The 4:07 p.m. from Grand Central Terminal arriving in New Haven a arrives New Haven at 5:54 p.m.
#1587 departs New Haven at 6:57 p.m., arrives GCT at 8:40 p.m.
#1586 departs GCT at 9:07 p.m., arrives New Haven at 10:56 p.m.

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Metropolitan Transportation Authority arrests for the week of Feb. 12 to 19.

INCIDENT:   Traffic Stop – Arrest Made

DATE:  02/18/11

TIME:            9:30pm

REPORT #:  11-2061

LOCATION:  Bridgeport Station

ARRESTEE:  Mercedes, Ruben, M/H, dob 06/25/1991 – 19 y/o of 117 Kossuth Street, Bridgeport

CHARGES:  CT 29-38 – Weapons in Vehicle, CT 14-147c – Misuse of Plates, CT 14-213b – Uninsured Vehicle, CT 14-12a – Unregistered Vehicle, CT 14-215 – Suspended License, CT 14-18a – Plate Violation

NARRATIVE:

On Friday, February 18^th at 9:30pm MTA Police conducted a traffic stop in front of the Bridgeport train station resulting in the arrest of the vehicle operator.  Ruben Mercedes of Bridgeport was arrested and charged with weapons in vehicle and multiple vehicle and traffic law misdemeanors.  Mercedes was released with a written promise to appear and a February 28^th court date at Bridgeport Superior Court.

INCIDENT:  Theft of Services – Arrest Made

DATE:  2/16/11

TIME:  9:00pm

REPORT #:  11-1960

LOCATION:  New Haven Station

ARRESTEE: Knox, Marque, M/B, dob 03/11/1985 – 25 y/o of 116 MAIN ST -West Haven, CT

CHARGES:  CT 53a-125b – Larceny-6^th Degree

______________________________________________________________________________________

NARRATIVE:

On Wednesday, February 16^th at 9:00pm MTA Police responded to New Haven Station for a report of a male refusing to pay their train fare on board Metro North Train 1574.  Marque Knox of West Haven was arrested and charged with 6^th degree larceny.  Knox was issued a written promise to appear with a March 2^nd court date at New Haven Superior Court.

INCIDENT:  Evading Responsibility – Arrest Made

DATE:  2/17/11

TIME:  7:15pm

REPORT #:  11-2001

LOCATION:  Stamford Station

ARRESTEE: Dokku, Jayasree, F/A, dob 10/17/1979 – 31 y/o of 83 Morgan Street, Stamford

CHARGES: CT 14-224b – Evading Responsibility

NARRATIVE:

On Thursday, February 17^th at 7:15pm MTA Police responded to the Stamford Station for a motor vehicle accident where one of the participants fled the scene.  Jayasree Dokku of Stamford was arrested and charged with evading responsibility.  Dokku was issued a written promise to appear with a 3/4/11 court date at Stamford Superior Court.

INCIDENT:  Criminal Mischief – Arrest Made

DATE: 02/14/11

TIME: 10:50pm

REPORT #: 11-1864

LOCATION:  Stamford Station

ARRESTEE:  Escobar, Ignacio, M/H, dob 05/22/1984 -26 y/o of 226 Whitney Ave., Bridgeport

CHARGES:  CT 53a-117 – Criminal Mischief-3^rd, CT 53a-181 – Breach of Peace-2^nd, CT 53a-140 – Forgery-3^rd, CT 21a-279 – Possession of Marijuana

NARRATIVE:

On Monday, February 14^th at 10:50pm MTA Police responded to Stamford Station for a report of a disorderly person.  Police arrested Ignacio Escobar of Bridgeport.  Escobar is charged with 3^rd degree Criminal Mischief, 2^nd degree Breach of Peace, 3^rd degree Forgery, and Possession of Marijuana.  Escobar was held on $1,000 bond.

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy met with Metro-North President Howard Permut in Hartford Thursday morning to speak about the disruption of service on Metro-North’s New Haven line which has resulted in a reduced service schedule for riders that went into effect this past Monday, his office announced.

Permut has said that limited shop space at the New Haven Railyard and the Stamford Rail Maintenance Facility, has made it impossible to keep the state’s entire 328 car rail fleet in service during harsh winter conditions.

In a statement following the meeting, Malloy had this to say:

“The fact that Metro-North’s New Haven line is the busiest in the United States offers little solace to the commuters who depend on its service each day, The issues we are experiencing there are illustrative of the problems our state is facing generally—for too long we’ve deferred our problems, and instead, we’ve covered them up with a band-aid until some later date. Well, the band-aid has worn off and there is no later date. The average age of the New Haven railcar fleet is 32 years, versus the average age of other line’s fleets which is 6 years—it’s no wonder the New Haven line is having trouble keeping up. And I’m very mindful of the concerns of the commuters who use the Waterbury line, who’ve gotten the short end of the stick over the years. I’m determined to address their legitimate concern as quickly as time and resources allow.

“Mr. Permut and I had a broad discussion  about a capital investment program to get new cars on line as soon as possible. The final stage of testing for the current M8 cars is scheduled to begin shortly , and my bond commission agenda includes funding for the final 38 cars.  I’m not pretending this will solve all our problems—it won’t. But I don’t have the luxury—nor do I have the inclination—to wait around and let someone else deal with this. I asked Mr. Permut for regular updates on the cars currently being repaired, as well as the reduced winter schedule.”
“There is no silver bullet, but I am committed to getting the New Haven line back  to where it needs to be to serve the people of Connecticut.”

I’m trying to follow up to see if Malloy and Permut discussed any possible interim measures that may compensate for the number of cars out of service this winter.