TOP FIVE
STRATEGIES
FOR
IMPROVING TRANSPORTATION� -� RAIL SERVICE #1
(Stamford, CT� -� April 25, 2002): SWRPA, the Southwest Regional Planning Agency, has called on the Transportation Strategy Board to embrace more spending on rail commuter equipment and parking as its top priorities.�� Representing the towns of Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Weston and Wilton and the cities of Stamford and Norwalk, SWRPA came up with the following top strategies:
1)
Order new rail cars
& repair yards for Metro-North service.
2)
Create additional parking
at rail stations
3)
Increase intra-state
rail service to subway-like frequency
4)
Support Stamford Urban
Transitway project
5)
Increase use of
waterborne transportation
�I
am very encouraged that SWRPA endorses the Rail Commuter Council�s call for new
rail cars,� said Jim Cameron, Vice Chmn. of the CT Rail Commuter Council.� �We are in urgent need of more cars now, but
even if they are ordered immediately we won�t have them for four or five
years.� By then the crowding conditions
and standee problems will be worse. Today its S.R.O. on many peak-hour trains
to and from NYC.�
By
its own estimates, Conn.
D.O.T. says 400 � 450 cars must be ordered by the year 2020 at a cost of
$1.5 to $2 billion.� Of the current
fleet of 334 rail cars that serve Metro-North riders in CT, 14% of all cars are
out of service for repairs on an average day.�
Repair facilities are so limited that they must operate 24 x 7 to keep
the aging cars in service.� In the past
year there have been three cars on Metro-North trains in Connecticut.
�Someone
in Hartford is going to have to get serious about the crisis facing commuter
rail service in this state,� says Cameron.�
�SWRPA is to be commended for its leadership on this issue.�
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