Joseph Giulietti is finishing his first year as commissioner of the state Department of Transportation. As for new rail cars, the additional 66 M8 cars that were to be delivered this year “are running a bit late,” but he called the M8s a tremendous success. Those M8 cars were supposed to also run on Shore Line East, but even with 405 M8s, the state DOT doesn’t have enough of them even for the mainline given increased ridership. The commissioner said he’s still looking at diesel, push-pull double-decker cars where a 10-car train could carry almost 2,000 passengers. But he says electrification of the Danbury and Waterbury branch lines just isn’t in the cards due to the cost.
https://www.middletownpress.com/middletown/article/Getting-There-A-conversation-with-the-14930442.php