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Rail News Home Passenger Rail

4/11/2008



Rail News: Passenger Rail

Connecticut DOT to cut costs, features for rail maintenance facility


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The Connecticut Department of Transportation will proceed with plans to build a new rail maintenance facility in New Haven — but without a few added features.

The cost of the facility, which will be used to service and maintain a fleet of 342 rail cars for MTA Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line, has escalated considerably from the time the building was proposed in 2005. The increase is due in part to inflation, but also because the design was “dramatically changed,” said Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell in a prepared statement.

The facility’s final design included a warehouse, employee parking garage and walkway over the track for employees, none of which were included in the original project scope or approved by the governor.

Rell has asked the state budget office to develop a less-expensive plan for the facility.

In 2005, the governor announced a $1.3 billion Transportation Improvement Program, which provided funds to design and purchase 342 rail cars, as well as build the rail maintenance facility.