The Wallingford Station is one of three new stations connected to the CTrail train service. Photo courtesy of Stephan Grüterin
Travelling throughout Connecticut has become a whole lot easier. In mid-June, the Connecticut government opened the CTrail Hartford Line, a government-funded train service connecting stations in New Haven, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks, and Springfield, Massachusetts. Other lines will eventually connect passengers to Boston, Vermont, and New York City.
The train service hosts 17 daily trains carrying passengers from station to station. Eight of those trains will be operated by the Connecticut government, while the rest of the trains will be operated by Amtrak. These trains are efficient, reaching speeds of 110 mph. The Wallingford station remains in operation from 6:30 a.m. to 10:54 p.m. on weekdays and 7:02 a.m. to 10:44 p.m. on weekends. The line connects to other lines in Connecticut, including the New Haven Line and the Shore Line East. Any CT train ticket can be used on any train from New Haven to Springfield, no matter if the train is run by Amtrak or CTrail.
“Wallingford residents now have more options for travel, both to get to work and for longer distance travel to New York, Boston and beyond,” said Mr. John Bernick, Assistant Rail Administrator at the Connecticut Department of Transportation. “I’ve talked to many residents who never considered using the train before that are now regular riders.”
The Hartford Line has been an immediate hit. The service offered free rides during its inaugural weekend, and in its first six weeks of operation, the line provided nearly 70,000 passenger trips. On average, each weekday, 1,860 travelers and commuters use the line. The train service is on track to meet its first-year of 1,945 daily riders.
In total, the line cost about $765 million. The entire project has taken more than a decade to come to fruition. In order to construct the rail line, 21 new bridges were built, and 21 miles of track were laid. Three new stations, one each in Wallingford, Meriden, and Berlin, were also built to support the line. Most of the funding for the line came from state loans.
Despite its substantial price tag, the train service was created to support growth in Connecticut’s economy, allowing residents to commute to other cities in Connecticut as well as Springfield for a low fare. Passengers can now travel from Wallingford to New Haven for $3.50 or from Wallingford to Hartford for $5.50. The low fares and fast speeds of the trains are intended to support workers who cannot afford a car or live far away from their workplace, even as far as Springfield. As an added benefit, the train line also alleviates some of the traffic along I-91, especially during rush hour.
The service has already provided the Wallingford community with some promised economic growth. Across the street from the station, at 53 Parker Street, 200 new apartments are being constructed in a new development named “Parker Place.” “The construction of new apartments at Parker Place shows that people are interested in living close to the station,” explained Mr. Bernick. “That will translate to more economic activity in general.”
However, there is one outstanding issue with the train line. The trains being used by Amtrak and CTrail are 30 years old, and, though Mr. Bernick says the service is scheduled to purchase new trains, the bathrooms in the current trains are not easily accessible to the disabled. State regulations demands that such bathrooms be accessible to everyone. So, until February, when the bathrooms are scheduled to be retrofitted, the trains will not have operational restrooms.
Governor Dannel Malloy has high hopes for the train line. At the inaugural ceremony, Malloy announced, “We need to modernize rail in America and I’m very proud that Connecticut is showing how you do it to the rest of the country.”
