The political coalition behind the infrastructure bill is fragile, and the $66 billion it offers for rail over five years is both historic and inadequate. A little more than half would go to the northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, the one region where Amtrak runs trains at a profit. Giulietti says he needs at least $8 billion for the portion in Connecticut, much of it for long-overdue work on the New Haven Line. The importance of getting Amtrak and the eight states on the corridor to speak, more or less, with one voice to Congress cannot be understated in Giulietti’s view. Lamont’s goal for the system when he took office was 30-30-30 — 30 minutes from Hartford to New Haven, 30 from New Haven to Stamford, and 30 from Stamford to Grand Central. After 15 years of improvements, Time for CT would take 25 minutes off a New Haven-to-Grand Central ride that now takes nearly two hours on average. Giulietti said the governor and legislators would like to see the projects outlined in Time for CT finished long before 2035.
Congress is poised to make a major investment in rail. Is it enough for CT?