Regional Rail for Connecticut

This is my broad plan for regional rail throughout the state of Connecticut.

It would not be connected to any commuter network, though parts of it duplicate the New York commuter system. Rather, it would be Connecticut's part of a regional passenger rail network covering all of New England, as well as offering regular--hourly--intercity service.

Built from the framework of the now-defunct New Haven Connecticut network (the only non-NH line in all of CT, prior to Conrail, was the Central Vermont's line to New London in one of the state's most sparsely populated sections), this network is designed as a 2x4 grid. More routes access denser western Connecticut, while fewer routes reach its more rural eastern half.

The Lines

• The Inland Trunkline, NH's predecessor railroad New York & New England's mainline, runs from Poughkeepsie to Woonsocket. It would here link to Providence via RRI's Blackstone Valley Line and Boston via the MBTA's Franklin Line*.
• The Along the Shore Line, the former New Haven mainline and current Northeast Corridor mainline, runs from New York to Westerly en route to Boston**.
• The Housatonic Valley Line runs from New York, diverging from Along the Shore at Norwalk, crossing the Inland Trunk at Danbury, and on up the eponymous river valley between the Taconics and Berkshires to North Canaan en route to Pittsfield and North Adams***.
• The Naugatuck Valley Line runs from New Haven to Winsted via Bridgeport, Waterbury, and and the Housatonic's tributary, the Naugatuck. Alone of all of these lines, it does not have any connection at its northern end^.
• The (Lower) Connecticut Valley Line runs from New Haven to Springfield via Hartford. It is a core service already offered by Amtrak and funded by CT DOT. Key scheduling improvements center around ensuring hourly clockface and excellent connections.
• The Quinebaug Valley Line is named for the Thames River tributary it follows for most of its length. Located in relatively rural eastern Connecticut, it runs from New London to Worcester^^.

The Equipment

Just one of these lines is electrified; only two will require dual-mode locomotion. The majority of service will concentrate around DMUs, like UGL Limited's elegant Prospector model (top), Class 222 (above) the Stadler GTW (below), Siemens Desiro (bottom), or some other example (like Bombardier's Talent).

Such equipment would be used throughout the wider New England system, forming the fleet backbone; over time, each route would become electrified, until EMUs can provide most of the service. This would happen in an order of progression from higher-volume routes to lower-volume ones.

As New England is a collection of small states whose regional-level rail would need to be unified, Connecticut regional rail can be expected to be no more than a part of the overall system. To see the whole, then, requires understanding this project's connections to Rhode Island and Massachusetts systems.
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*At Woonsocket, it would connect to Rail Rhode Island's Blackstone Valley Line; it would also connect to an extension of the MBTA's Franklin Line to its natural terminus (i.e. Woonsocket). The section between Putnam and Blackstone would supersede RRI's Putnam Branch, which brings the alignment up the Woonasquatucket back into play--especially if the alignment can be reclaimed to Webster.
**The New Haven Line and Shore Line East currently inhabit this alignment. In fact, Shore Line East offers part of a convenient operations nucleus to build the network around, even if (as commuter services) it would be turned over to MNRR. Along the Shore would also need the least resources of any of these lines, principally filling in Northeast Regional service gaps (if any) and ensuring an MNRR-RRI connection at Westerly.
***From North Canaan to North Adams is Massachusetts' purview. North Canaan itself is a pretty poor terminus. The line itself would duplicate MNRR commuter/regional service to New Milford (extended from the current terminus at Danbury).
^This line duplicates MNRR from Bridgeport to Waterbury.
^^Incidentally, this also allows me to cut RRI's own Thames Valley Line back from Norwich to Plainfield.

Quinnipiac Bypass

An extension of the Along the Shore program developed earlier.

This thingy

In that post, I worried about bypassing strong curvature just east of New Haven, and I put in a tangent line at the best alignment I thought I could find.

Original tangent line

My worrying is all for naught, though, because I had confused the locations of Union Station and State Street station. Having fixed that, I followed Alon's recommendation that

[t]his project ... start right at New Haven Union Station, cross the Quinnipiac River at a new bridge near US 1 and the new I-95 bridge, follow I-95 to the state line, and then cut across barely-populated territory to the Shore Line at Kingston, where it straightens.

as far as Lake Saltonsall, because I think the existing line has adequate curvature from there to Old Saybrook, and certainly an adequate curvature envelope to further improve speeds.

Quinnipiac Bypass of sharp curvature northeast of New Haven

The replacement Quinnipiac Bypass is shown above.

An Along the Shore HSR Program

Yesterday, Alon Levy offered a critique of the Regional Plan Association's Metro-North critique. As this post is framed in the context of his Northeast Corridor--and especially his Connecticut--recommendations, it aims to do two things: clarify visually his ideas, and offer my own.

The Along the Shore Line

Figure 1. The NEC from New York to Providence, with incremental improvements

The "Along the Shore" Line is the name I have heard given to the New Haven's (NH) principal mainline through Connecticut, running, well, along the shore. In Figure 1, above, Along the Shore is the thin red line; the blue blisters are various HSR bypasses of curvature or clearance issues; and the placemarks are important standalone features. See the map here.

Figure 2. Shell Interlocking. Flat junction; reverse curvature

Working from west to east, the first major feature is Shell Interlocking, where the Hell Gate line--the NH's connection to the former Pennsylvania Railroad--meets the NH mainline, which connects to the former New York Central Railroad in nearby Mount Vernon. Shell (Fig. 2) is a flat junction in a reverse curve; to ensure good performance, track straightening is needed, as is a flyover or duckunder for conflicting moves.

Figure 3. Port Chester bypass alignment. Cos Cob is dot upper right

North of Shell is the first major bypass of NH curves, at Port Chester. This bypass begins just east of Rye Station (new interlocking RYE) and follows I-95 as a bypass of three major curves and a moderate one through Port Chester and Greenwich before returning to the mainline just west of Cos Cob station (new interlocking COB) (Fig. 3).

Figure 4. Cos Cob Bridge

The Cos Cob bridge over the Mianus River is the next placemark (Fig. 4). This bridge is an aging bascule bridge; as HSR cannot afford delays due to lift bridges, this needs to be replaced, and raised to allow marina traffic to clear the span.

Figure 5. Noroton bypass

East of Stamford is the second major bypass, at Noroton (Fig. 5). This begins just east of Stamford yard (at new interlocking NOROTON) and bypasses the flat junction Glenbrook Interlocking and curvature associated with it (Fig. 6, below).

Figure 6. Glenbrook Interlocking

This bypass terminates just east of Darien (at new interlocking DARIEN), where it connects to the mainline and also to Norwalk bypass (sub.). This is because Noroton bypass is meant to be used not just by nonstops, but also by limited-stops that stop at Norwalk and Stamford, but none of the intervening stops, thereby relegating the flat junction to locals.

Figure 7. Norwalk bypass

From Darien Interlocking, the Norwalk bypass extends along I-95 through Norwalk (Fig. 7). This bypass eases some sharp curvature just west of town.

Figure 8. Walk Bridge

But more importantly, it bypasses Walk (Fig. 8) and Saga (Fig. 9) bridges across the Norwalk and Saugatuck rivers, respectively.

Figure 9. Saga Bridge

That it does the latter is a quirk of geometry--but it also means that neither bridge will carry HSR.

Figure 10. Bridgeport bypass

Bridgeport has a pair of severe curves on either side of its station. I-95 also has a moderate curve here; mitigating this will require a new easement (Fig. 10) from just prior of the south curve (new interlocking BRIDGE*) to just west of Stratford station (new interlocking PORT).

Figure 11. Peck Bridge

Incidentally, this will require a fixed-link bypass of Peck bridge across the Pequonnock river (Fig. 11).

Figure 12. Devon Bridge

Northeast of here is Devon bridge across the Housatonic (Fig. 12). This bridge, like the Cos Cob bridge, needs replacing and raising, in order to be a fixed link.

Figure 13. Ferry Street junction

While New Haven is all-stops, and this observation is relatively minor, it is worth noting that the junction under Ferry Street (Fig. 13) is, unsurprisingly, flat.

Figure 14. East Haven easement issue

A new easement is needed just east of New Haven, due to two other reasons: (a) the curve from New Haven to East Haven needs bypassing, and (b) the I-95 alignment does not offer a viable substitution. Fig. 14 shows a the tangent such an easement would roughly need to follow.

Figure 15. Long bypass

The Long Bypass is the longest of the major bypasses (Fig. 15). Its length is due to two facts: (a) the Along the Shore east of Old Saybrook is marked by a combination of lift bridges and sharp curvature, and (b) the replacement alignment, I-95, follows a markedly inland course. An issue of note is the "hump" above the Niantic river, where 95 converges with 395. A virgin easement may be required across the Niantic's top--fingers crossed, I hope not.

Figure 16. Connecticut River Bridge

Figure 17. Niantic River Bridge

Figure 18. Mystic River Bridge

Three of these bridges (Figs. 16, 17, and 18) cross the Connecticut, Niantic, and Mystic rivers, respectively.
Of particular interest is the fourth crossing (Fig. 19) of the Thames River.

Figure 19. Thames crossing alignments

Figure 20. Thames Bridge

This is because of two reasons: (a) the Long Bypass and Along the Shore at at their closest here, and (b) the old bridge (Fig. 20) can be replaced with a high-span fixed link that accommodates both expresses (utilizing the Long Bypass) and regionals (utilizing Along the Shore). Space is available for bridge spirals, thereby reducing the amount of times the old bridge--now utilized by freight--needs to be opened.

Figure 21. Rhode Island easement concern?

A final note (Fig. 21) pertains to a couple of moderate curves in rural Rhode Island, north of Charlestown. While replacement is not necessarily a priority, takings are inexpensive here, and a straighter easement (such as along my tangent line) could be developed.

Past this point, the line has excellent track geometry--the Acela hits its full speed here--north to Providence. Providence has some curvature issues of its own, but we'll talk more about those later.
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*Which would also replace current Port Interlocking in functionality, incidentally.