LETTER TO THE EDITOR:�� STAMFORD ADVOCATE
To the Editor:������������������������������������������������������������������������ ��������������������� Published February 14, 2002
In my view, your recent editorial �Bi-level Rail Car Idea Shows Promise� gives CDOT well deserved credit for looking for long term solutions to the overcrowding we�re seeing on Metro-North today, let alone the growth in ridership in decades to come.
Increasing the capacity of each train while still offering a safe, comfortable ride is easily achieved using a bi-level fleet as has been demonstrated from Boston to San Francisco, from Chicago to Miami.� And working with NJ Transit on a common solution to the tunnel clearance challenges makes sense, though it still looks like access to Grand Central will mean lowering the tracks or raising the tunnels� height.
What�s missing from your editorial is not the hopeful planning for the future, but the shorter� term solution to our current plight.� To raise riders� expectations of bi-level bullet-trains whisking them to the city is only to mislead them and make them even more cynical.� Bi-level cars are a pipe-dream.
CDOT admits they can�t even consider ordering a new car, of any type, until 2008.� With their diligence in design, RFP�s etc., and the long lag-time necessary for construction, we�ll be lucky to see any� new rail cars by 2011.� And that assumes we can find the money.� CDOT�s Harry Harris tells the CT Rail Commuter Council the new car order will cost $1.5 - $2 billion.
How is a capital expense like that be paid for?� How will we circumvent the budget cap, let alone find the money? �While the current Legislature scrambles to deal with a few million dollars in deficits, nobody has the political courage to look beyond the next few months to face the looming, though necessary,� expense of replacing our aging rail fleet, now 25 years into its 20 year life expectancy.
Meantime, CDOT undertakes a four year effort to rehab existing rail cars, working on four per month� adding to further crowding on our already over-burdened fleet.� That�s not to mention that on any given day, 40 � 50 cars (approx. 13% of the fleet) are unusable because they�re in the shop for repairs.
Bi-level trains sound like a great idea� for my children to ride.� But what�s being done to handle the current overcrowding?� How are we to attract motorists to Metro-North if we don�t have enough cars, can�t promise them any new ones for a decade and haven�t a clue how we�ll even pay for them?
Mark my words:� Metro-North riders are going to see service get a lot worse before it gets any better.� The reason is not CDOT�s lack of planning or vision, but our political leaders denial of the real transportation crisis we�re in and their unwillingness to spend our way to a solution.� Who in Hartford has the courage to speak the truth on this challenge and find the money to solve it?
Sincerely,
Jim Cameron, Vice Chairman
CT Rail Commuter Council
