OUR AC-DC RAILROAD

As I continue my summer vacation, I’ve updated a column I wrote 14 years ago…

Metro-North’s train service in Connecticut is challenging because of a technological quirk of fate: ours is the only commuter railroad in the U.S. that operates on three modes of power… AC, DC and diesel.

On a typical run from, say, New Haven to Grand Central, the first part of the journey is done “under the wire”, the trains being powered by 13,000 volt AC overhead wires, or catenaries.  Around Pelham, in Westchester County, the pantographs are lowered and the conversion is made to 660 volt DC third-rail power for the rest of the trip into New York City.  Even diesel engines must convert to third-rail, as their smoky exhaust is banned in the Park Avenue tunnels.

Third Rail "Shoe"

And there’s the rub: Connecticut trains need both AC and DC, overhead and third-rail, power pick-ups and processors. That means a lot more electronics, and added cost, for each car.  While the DC-only M7 cars running in Westchester cost about $2 million each, the dual-mode M8 car designed for Connecticut cost considerably more.

So, some folks are asking… “Why not just use one power source? Just replace the overhead wires with third-rail and we can buy cheaper cars.”  Simple, yes. Smart, no.  And here’s why.

DC-powered third rail is less efficient. Trains accelerate much faster using overhead AC voltage, the power source used by the fastest trains in the world… the TGV, Shinkansen, etc.  On third-rail speeds are limited to 75 miles an hour vs. 90 mph under the wire. That means, mile for mile, commute time is longer using third rail.

There’s not enough space to lay a third-rail along each of the four tracks in the railroad’s right of way.  All four existing tracks would have to be ripped out and the space between them widened.  Every bridge and tunnel would have to be widened, platforms moved and land acquired. Cost? Probably hundreds of millions of dollars, years of construction and service disruptions.

Even with third-rail, the CDOT would still be required to provide overhead power lines for Amtrak’s catenary-only electric trains. That would mean maintaining two power systems.  

Third-rail AC power requires power substations every few miles, meaning further construction and real estate. The environmental lawsuits alone would kill this idea.

Third-rail ices up in bad weather and can get buried in snow, causing short circuits. Overhead wires have problems sometimes, but they are never buried in a blizzard.

Third-rail is dangerous to pedestrians and track workers.  The idea of conversion to third-rail was studied in the 1980’s by consultants to CDOT.  They concluded that, while cumbersome and costly, the current dual-power system is, in the long run, cheaper and more efficient than installing third-rail. The engineers at CDOT got it right.

Doubtless, we’ll have further “wires down” problems on Metro-North in the years to come. Ironically, Metro-North’s 97% on-time record has made us come to expect good service, despite our ancient infrastructure. But in the long run, service will be faster and even more reliable by sticking with our dual-mode system.

 

TRAVEL GOES ELECTRIC

Enjoying the heatwave this summer?  The electric utilities sure are. 

And just wait ‘til you get your next bill.  They’ve been warning us for months now that we’ll be in for a shocker as the average bill will jump about a $13 per month . 

That’s on top of what are already the second highest electric rates in the US, exceeded only by those in Hawaii.  In Connecticut we pay twice as much money for electricity as customers in some other states.

But you get what you pay for and, so far this summer, our electric supply and reliability hasn’t been an issue as in other states.  Aside from storm damage, there have been no interruptions, no brown-outs or requests to reduce consumption. 

But increasingly we are relying on electricity for more than just AC but also, more and more, for our transportation. 

As Metro-North and Amtrak add more service, that means more electric trains… and demands on Eversource.  But again, so far so good this summer.  Even on the hottest days the railroad has not had to reduce its consumption by running trains slower.

Credit must also go to CDOT which spent $912 million between 1993 and 2021 fixing the railroads’ catenary system delivering that electricity.  That’s why our trains keep running while those in New Jersey don’t.

Consider also CDOT’s recent purchase of 46 new electric buses which will run on the CTfastrak busway between New Britain and Hartford.  Bought under an $86 million federal grant, the new buses will be cleaner and quieter, running 250 miles per day on a single charge. CDOT plans to electrify all 700 of its buses by 2035.

And we’re not even talking about the future of electric-power airplanes or mandatory use of “shore power” for cargo ships when docked, all in the name of clean air and global warming.

How about other electric vehicles… e-school buses, light duty trucks (think Amazon local delivery) and, of course, electric cars?  Is “the grid” ready for that increased demand?

Electric passenger car sales have slowed in recent months as consumers seem reluctant to “go electric” until we have more charging stations.  But those EVs are still selling: in Q2 EV sales were up 11% year over year. 

And that keeps Victoria Rojo mighty busy planning for the future.

She’s the Lead Data Scientist at ISO-New England, the independent, non-profit organization that runs our region’s grid.  They’re responsible for coordinating New England’s 32,000 megawatt power capacity, working with 400 different generators serving over 14 million customers.  It’s a second-by-second balancing act.

ISO-New England Control Room

A physicist by training, she projects that we will see a 23% increase in electric demand in just the next decade (not including electric trains).  Nor does that projection include the effects of global warming on increased AC usage.  “That’s a difficult one to adjust for,” she tells me.

Visit the ISO-NE.com website and you’ll see a breakdown of electricity demand and how it’s being met.  There’s also a daily projection of demand, hour by hour, which proves amazingly accurate.

With the closing of the region’s last few coal-fired plants, New England is still heavily reliant on natural gas and nuclear power for almost two-thirds of its power.  Renewables like solar and wind now answer less than 5% of our needs.

Obviously, we will need more power plants and a better transmission system (electricity suffers “line loss” the farther you send it) to meet these growing demands.  So Rojo’s planning is just the first step.

In the meantime, crank up the AC.

THE FIRST TRANSCON

Aviation history was made July 7, 1929,  when the first transcontinental flight from New York to Los Angeles, took off, not with an airplane, but on a train.

This was the real birth of commercial aviation in the US, and it was led by none other than Charles Lindbergh,  just two years after his solo crossing of the Atlantic.

The journey from New York began with an overnight Pullman train. Christened by Amelia Earhart “The Airway Limited“, it arrived the next morning at Port Columbus, Ohio at a purpose-built train station and airport.  There the passengers boarded a Ford Trimotor and flew west stopping to refuel in St. Louis, Kansas City and finally arriving in Waynoka, OK.   There they boarded another train overnight and finished the final leg from Clovis NM to LA the next day, again by air.

Ford Trimotor

Lindbergh piloted the first eastbound transcon flight July 8th from Glendale, CA, having leant his name, expertise and reputation to, for its time, a Bezos-sized leap into the future.

The service pioneered by Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT, later to become TWA) cut travel time between the east and west coast in half, to only 46 hours eastbound, and 50 hours going west against the wind.

The Fort Trimotor model 5-AT could carry up to 17 passengers, each of whom paid the equivalent, in today’s dollars, of about $6200 for the one-way trip.

Because the plane was unpressurized and could only fly at low altitudes, the ride was usually bumpy.  And noisy: sound levels as high as 120 dB inside the cabin meant that cabin stewards had to use megaphones to talk to passengers inflight.

Ford Trimotor interior

The Trimotor cruised at 107 mph (compared to modern jets at 500 – 600 mph).  The planes creaked and groaned and the wooden windows rattled in their frames. It was said there would be random metallic sounds throughout the flight… hardly reassuring.

As daring (and exhausting) as daytime travel by air might have been, it was still considered far too dangerous to fly at night. There were few navigation beacons until 1930.  After that the trains were then replaced with more planes.

In September 1929 Lindy’s line made another aviation first:  the first air crash involving a commercial flight over land.  All onboard perished in this, the first of three such accidents in the airline’s first few months of operation.

Despite the public’s fascination with aviation, this transcontinental service never turned a profit, even with their relatively high fares.  In its first year and a half of operations, the transcontinental service lost the equivalent, in today’s money, of $49 million. Less than four months after its launch, the stock market crashed in October 1929, ushering in the Great Depression, which slashed passenger numbers and badly needed revenue.

But this venture, visionary and creative as it was, led, through bankruptcy and mergers, to the creation of TWA, which itself was acquired by American Airlines in 2001.  Today the New York to Los Angeles market sees 4 million passengers a year.  Fares are as low as $150 one-way and the journey takes about five to six hours.

NJ TRANSIT MELTDOWN OFFERS HOPE FOR COMPETITION

What happens when years of neglect catch up with a commuter railroad?  Look no further than New Jersey, where NJ Transit is in the midst of a meltdown.  This should serve as a warning to Connecticut.

Hardly a day goes by without hearing of train woes in the Garden State, many of them tied to broken down trains or catenary (overhead power wires) being snagged in Penn Station.  Service is abysmal and yet a 15% fare hike is going to effect July 1^st.

Adding to the woes, an impending strike by locomotive engineers after four years of arbitration and no contract.

What happened?  About a dozen years of under-investment in the railroad dating back to the term of Governor Chris Christie who famously cancelled plans to build a badly needed new tunnel under the Hudson River.

When Governor Phil Murphy was elected in 2017 he promised to change all that, but in recent years he’s taken money that was to be spent on capital improvements and spent it instead on operations.  That’s a big no-no.

Like Metro-North, NJ Transit has never recovered from Covid with ridership hovering at about 70% of pre-pandemic levels. Fewer riders means less revenue for what was already a money-losing operation.

But the railroad’s woes are now offering potential competition from entrepreneur Joe Colangelo, the 39 year old founder and CEO of Boxcar.

Joe Colangelo

You might remember him as the guy who started a parking app for rail commuters before the pandemic, when ridership was soaring and station parking was scarce.  He still runs that business, managing 1500 parking spaces near stations in four states (including 140 spaces in New Canaan, Greenwich & Darien), all bookable on their app. 

But Boxcar’s real innovation is running 46 to 56 seat luxury motor coaches from 12 NJ bedroom communities into midtown Manhattan.  They offer guaranteed seats, free Wi-Fi and amazing customer service… at a price.

“Our customers are willing to trade money for time and convenience,” says Colangelo, a Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan. Members pay $30 a month and get a 33% discount on fares which are 50 – 100% higher than the train fare.

“Half of our customers used to ride the train,” says Colangelo.  But he says many had a bad experience on the subway getting from Penn Station to their offices and won’t go back.  Boxcar offers a one-seat ride with 65 runs a day Tuesday through Thursday and a dozen trips on Fridays.

“About two thirds of our riders say if the bus wasn’t available, they’d drive,” he adds.

Boxcar charters its buses from 14 different companies and each run has a dedicated driver, “giving riders a relationship, like with a doorman”.

Every run is monitored from 5 am to 8 pm and if it’s as little as 2 minutes late, each passenger is given a text update.  If there’s no AC on the bus, your ride is free (something that happened just four times on 1200 runs last year).  They even keep an extra bus on standby should any problems arise.

Boxcar is ready to expand service to meet demand.  “We know where our next 100 bus charters will come from,” says the boss.  And yes, their operation is already profitable.

Arriving in Manhattan

Boxcar experimented with bus service from New Canaan and Darien but I-95 traffic made their runs too slow.  Colangelo expects that, after the November elections, NY Governor Hochul will reverse her opposition to congestion pricing, car traffic will lighten and bus service from Connecticut might be possible.

Competition is a good thing, especially for poorly managed transit systems more beholden to their political funders than their fare-paying passengers.

US NAVY AT WAR IN RED SEA

Did you know that the US Navy is now engaged in its biggest sea battle since World War II?

That’s the news from the Red Sea where US Navy and other allies’ warships are patrolling the waters, trying to keep commercial shipping safe on its way to and from the Suez Canal despite constant bombardments by the Houthis.

That renegade faction in Yemen, with weapons supplied by Iran, has been attacking ships since November using drones, missiles and unmanned surface vessels (boat bombs).  They claim to be doing these attacks because of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, but their targets have included many ships with no ties to that country.

Those attacks (60 so far) have sunk two ships and killed four mariners, most recently this past week in an attack captured on video by a boat bomb on a Greek-owned bulk carrier.

Why should we care?  Two reasons:

First, 12% of all the world’s shipping goes through the Suez Canal, or used to.  Because of the Houthi attacks and resulting “surge pricing” (up 900%) for war risk insurance, most ships bound from Asia to Europe are now taking the longer, safer route around the tip of Africa adding 4000 miles and about 14-18 days of extra travel time and a 70% bump in fuel costs.  That means shipments are late and the added cost ($1000 per shipping container, 12,000 containers per ship) is being passed along to customers.

Aside for the now-all-too-familiar “supply chain disruptions”, these attacks have now put US sailors literally in harm’s way.

The aptly named Red Sea safety patrols of “Operation Prosperity Guardian” include the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its escort ships (cruisers,   destroyers and support vessels) staffed with a combined 6000 - 7000 US crew members.  Now, they too, are under attack by the Houthis.

USS Eisenhower

For nine months the US Navy ships have been on constant alert, watching for incoming attacks… some by swarms of low-speed armed drones, others with anti-ship cruise missiles or even 15,000 mph ballistic missiles.

That means that, 24 x 7, these US warships are watching for Houthi attacks, sometimes responding with American warplanes, missiles and, as a last resort, the Phalanx Gatling gun which fires 3000 rounds per minute with a range of about one mile.

From the time of a Houthi missile launch to possible impact on a target, we’re talking about minutes, maybe even seconds.

Nothing would please the Houthis more than hitting a US Navy ship.  And they’ve already made several claims of bombing the USS Eisenhower, though those claims seem to be more for domestic PR than based in fact.

The US and its allies have fired back on the Houthis’ radar sites, but the guerillas’ truck-mounted launch systems are almost impossible to track let alone destroy.  And the supply of Iranian armaments seems endless.

How will the Pentagon react if (or when) a US Navy ship takes a direct hit or American sailors are injured or killed?  What would an escalation of this war mean to the world’s economy, still struggling to recover?

 

 

 

 

 

BIG BROTHER ON YOUR TRIP

Ready for a summer vacation?  Car packed, airline tickets at hand?  You may not realize it, but Big Brother’s coming along with you.  However you chose to travel, don’t expect to have much privacy.

BY CAR:      I’ve written for years about how E-ZPass tracks your journey, not just your tolls.  And those new gantries built in Manhattan for now-on-hold congestion pricing?  I’d just assume they’re still activated, if not collecting fees.

How about those new super-LPRs (License Plate Readers) that the NY-NJ Port Authority has installed on all bridges into and out of Staten Island?  They track every single vehicle with that data stored for who knows how long.  The NYPD says they’ve already seen a 30% reduction in stolen cars from that outer-most borough, so expect that tech to come to other NYC bridges and tunnels.

Several Connecticut towns are also installing permanent LPRs at their borders to track stolen vehicles.  That data on your comings and goings is also preserved.

On Connecticut’s interstates and parkways there are cameras everywhere.  You can even watch them online.  Red light and speed cameras are now coming to Connecticut.  And in some cities they’re experimenting with stop sign cameras.

Your car is also monitoring how you drive and sharing that data with insurance companies.  The computers inside your engine (and the apps on your phone) collect a lot of information about your acceleration and braking and they “monetize” (sell) the data to insurance companies without your knowledge.

BY TRAIN & SUBWAY:     Metro-North may not have Wi-Fi, but they sure have cameras recording in every car, while many towns also have cameras on every train platform.  And soon every NYC subway train and station will be similarly equipped.  Were they to use facial recognition software, the authorities could track the identity and whereabouts of anyone on the system just as they do in China.

Swipe a MetroCard or use OMNY to ride the subway?  There’s a record of that, too.  And with the MTA losing $800 million to fare evasion, will it be long before AI starts identifying the scofflaws?

ON FOOT / BIKE:   In New York City, there are 18,000 CCTV cameras almost everywhere.  Have you ever noticed how quickly cops can post video of street crime, almost anytime and anywhere?  You are being watched.

BY AIR:        Your airline and the TSA require you to provide a legal ID every time you fly.  And now some airlines are using facial recognition software instead of boarding passes to climb onboard.  ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) also use that software when you enter the country.  And your passport… did you know it has an RFID chip embedded in the cover?  What information is stored on there?

In most European countries residents are required to carry a government issued ID card at all times and to produce it on request of authorities.  Skeptics have always said such oversight would never come to the US, but is the tech I described above any different?  In fact, it’s better, confirming not only your identity but your exact location minute by minute.

Have a great trip.

CONGESTION PRICING ON HOLD

What was she thinking? 

Just 25 days before implementation, why did NY Governor Kathy Hochul pull the plug on New York City’s congestion pricing scheme in a move one pundit called “the perfect clash of governmental incompetence meets political malpractice”.

Five years in the planning and studied over and over again, congestion pricing would have charged drivers of the 700,000 vehicles that enter Manhattan each day below 60^th Street for the privilege:  $15 for a car, $24 - $36 for a truck. In addition to easing gridlock, the plan would also raise $1 billion a year for the cash-strapped MTA to repair and improve mass transit.  That’s a win-win.

Just weeks ago Hochul was in Europe touting congestion pricing as the “better way” to save New York City.  She called her leadership on this issue “being bold” and said sometimes leaders have to make tough decisions and stick with them.

And then she dropped this bombshell without warning… not to members of the MTA Board, other political and business leaders and not to environmentalists.  They are all livid.

IMPACT ON NEW YORKERS

Even before the Hochul surprise, money is so tight at MTA that some capital plans have already been put on hold.  As for the extension of the Second Avenue subway to 125^th St?  It is effectively dead.  So too are plans to increase access to the subways for those with disabilities.  And she claims about caring about the poor?

Of those in poverty living in the city’s outer boroughs, only 2% of them drive into Manhattan while 61% use mass transit.  Most of the poor don’t even own cars.

 

IMPACT ON CONNECTICUT COMMUTERS

For Connecticut commuters to NYC, the impact of Gov Hochul’s decision will be minimal.  Planned expenditures on new railcars for Metro-North will be paid for with state (and federal) funds, not money from the MTA. 

But even if congestion pricing had gone into effect, Connecticut commuters wouldn’t really have been impacted.  According to the MTA, 27,000 of our residents take the train to NYC each day.  Only 3100 people drive.  And under congestion pricing, those who, for whatever reason still chose to drive, could do so, probably enjoying less traffic on their journey in return for their “toll”.

Of course, even if you take Metro-North to Grand Central, your journey might then include a subway ride, and that’s where Gov Hochul’s decision will be most felt with more crowding and deteriorating service.

THE BOTTOM LINE

How will Hochul make up the lost revenue that would have come from congestion pricing?  By a new tax on businesses.  How will that improve the city’s business climate let alone repair the environment, the other big promise of congestion pricing?

Worst of all, this decision by New York’s governor will cripple her administration’s credibility and just feed everyone’s cynicism about politicians saying one thing and doing another.  How can she make any deal, make any promise or attempt to govern the Empire State after this flip-flop fiasco?

 

 

CTFASTRAK: #1 IN THE US

Did you know that Connecticut is home to the “best BRT” system in the US?  Do you even know what BRT is?

Well, BRT stands for Bus Rapid Transit, and Connecticut’s almost ten year-old CTfastrak has just been named the best such system in the US by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

CTfastrak is the express bus system between New Britain and downtown Hartford, operating on a dedicated “guideway” of 9.4 miles which runs along an abandoned railroad right-of-way adjacent to the New Haven to Springfield Hartford rail Line.  It’s a special buses-only highway with ten stations.

Fifteen years in the planning, CTfastrak was designed to provide an alternative to driving on the usually-congested I-84.  The first ever BRT system in the state, CTfastrak cost $567 million with 80% of the funding coming from the federal government.

Eight bus routes run along the guideway with headways of as little as seven minutes between buses.  When west-bound buses reach the end of CTfastrak in New Britain they either turn around or continue on along city streets to destinations as distant as Bristol, Central CT State University and Waterbury.

Fares range from $1.75 for a two-hour pass to heavily discounted fares for kids, seniors and monthly pass holders.  To expedite boarding, you must buy your ticket before hopping on the bus (perhaps using their Token Transit app) in case random ticket inspectors ride along.  Get caught without a ticket and the fine is $75.

Special 60-foot, articulated buses were ordered for CTfastrak, each capable of seating 60 customers.  Many of the buses are diesel-electric hybrids, using regenerative charging while braking.  Speed limits on the guideway vary but top out at 45 mph.  And yes, the buses include free WiFi (Metro-North take note!).

According to CDOT, ridership on CTfastrak last year topped out at 2.8 million passengers.

Because the buses operate on their own highway, there are plans underway to test autonomous driving.  But CT state law still requires a human behind the wheel acting as a Safety Operator.

Of the riders on CTfastrak, 50% earn less than $75,000 a year.  Fewer than half of them own a car so these buses are the best (or maybe even the only) way for them to get to and from work, doctors’ appointments and to see family and friends.  Signage and announcements on the bus are bilingual.

Around the bus stations on CTfastrak there has been “substantial development” according to Benjamin Limmer, CDOT’s Chief of Public Transportation.  Transit oriented development (T.O.D.) was always part of the plan, encouraging housing and offices within walking distance of the stations.

There has been discussion about expanding the BRT network to the east, possibly as far as the UConn campus in Storrs, but buses would have to take the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes on I-84 and I-384 and then switch to the local roads.

BRT will also be coming to New Haven in 2029, improving service for 40% of existing riders and, hopefully, attracting more.   CDOT is currently designing the new line, to be called MOVE New Haven, under a $25 million federal grant.

 

DROWSY DRIVING

In my college days I did some strange stuff… like driving all night from Chicago to NYC, hitting 75 mph on Interstate 80, just me and the trucks.  I was so tired and did everything I knew to stay awake… open the windows, crank up the radio and keep on rolling.  Pretty dangerous, but what did I know?

Now, being older and wiser, I realize that as many as 100,000 auto accidents each year are tied to drowsy driving,  Those crashes are tied to 1500+ deaths and 71,000 injuries.  Nodding off behind the wheel is a serious issue.

Our circadian rhythms mean we have times when we’re ready for the demands of driving and others times when we’re not.  Nighttime, logically, is when our bodies most want us to sleep.

Is it by chance that many of the recent wrong-way crashes on our parkways and interstates have occurred in the wee hours of the morning?

But if you’re a “morning person” you should also know that we have an afternoon lull between one and five PM when our body wants to nap, our temperature dips and we’re again at risk of causing an accident.

Coffee will help, right?  Well, caffeine can keep you alert but it takes about a half-hour to kick in and the effect only lasts two or three hours.  Even quaffing a Red Bull (80 mg of caffeine in a can) can’t prevent you nodding off for “micro sleeps” of a few seconds.  At 65 mph, that’s long enough to travel 100 yards.

The AAA’s research shows that almost half of those drivers involved in crashes said they didn’t feel drowsy, even though they were.

So, be honest:  have you ever fallen asleep behind the wheel, even for a few seconds?  The AAA’s research shows that 41% of respondents admitted to nodding off sometime in their driving career and a quarter of them said it happened to them in the last month.

Alcohol, prescription (and illicit) drugs only make things worse.  So too do changing shift work and disorders like sleep apnea (both tied to the deadly  Metro-North derailment at Spuyten Duyvil in 2013).

Driving, especially at high speed, requires our full attention, so here are some tips for your next road trip:

·       Don’t drive if you’re feeling sleepy.

·       Travel with a passenger.  They can alert you if you’re showing signs of nodding off (drifting, tailgating, missing your exit) and can take turns behind the wheel.

·       Schedule a rest break every 100 miles.  Driving a max of 500 miles a day is asking a lot from your body and brain.

·       Try taking a 20 minute “power nap” in a safe location.

Take care of yourself, and here’s hoping your next road trip is a safe one.

 

 

NEW CARS FOR AMTRAK

Don’t you just love that “new car smell”?  Well, that’s coming… slowly… to Amtrak, as the nation’s passenger railroad replaces its old fleet of cars.

GOODBYE AMFLEET:      Amtrak’s remaining fleet of almost 600 Amfleet cars date back to the 1970s and was modeled after the Budd Company’s successful Metroliner cars, which ran from 1969 to 2006.  Some of those Amtfleet cars have traveled over four million miles by now so, despite maintenance and the $17 million “refresh” of their interiors in 2017, they are ripe for replacement.

Amfleet

The round-sided stainless steel cars, mimicking an airplane, have smaller windows than what’s planned to replace them.  Connecticut’s own Cesar Vergara, who designed the interior of Metro-North’s M8 cars, criticized the Amfleet design for trying to look like a jetliner. 

“The vision for the future of the railroad should be based on defining its own dreams, not appropriating them solely from someone else's experience,” he wrote in 1992.

HELLO AIRO:                  The new cars Amtrak has ordered will be built by Siemens, which has an order for 83 trainsets which should be in service by 2026 if all goes well.  The first prototype debuted in October 2023.  The total contract is worth more than $3 billion.

New Airo Cars

The new cars will have the same two-by-two seating with AC and USB plugs for each row.  Their tray tables will be bigger and stronger than Amfleet’s clunky models and will feature a cup holder so your java doesn’t hit your lap if the train should lurch during the ride.  And yes, they’ll also have 5G Wi-Fi (Metro-North take note!). 

Pulling the trains will be electric locomotives, also built by Siemens.  Outside of the electrified Northeast Corridor these Charger locos will be diesel.  There’s also a hybrid engine in design that will run electric “under the wire” and use batteries on non-electrified lines.

When delivered, the first Airo trains will run in the Pacific Northwest then come to Washington to Boston trains in the Northeast.  There will be traditional coaches, first class and café cars.

The new cars are based on Siemens’ Venture cars already running on Florida’s Brightline and Canada’s VIA Rail.  Those cars are similar to the company’s Viaggio Comfort electric trainsets running in Austria.

TESTING:     The new cars have over 4000 electrical connections, so extensive testing will be required before they go into service.  As Metro-North learned when it took delivery of its new M8 cars from Kawasaki in 2010, it takes a while to work the bugs out.

BUFF TESTING:     One of the most interesting tests that all new trains in the US must pass is called “buff testing”, to see how they’d survive a crash.  The cars’ under-frames must sustain 40 tons of stress without deforming, a much higher standard than European or Japanese requirements.

That means US trains are heavier and less fuel efficient but, as we’ve seen in European high speed train crashes, will be much more survivable in the event of a collision.

It will be a while before the new Airo fleet passes muster and joins the Acela-replacement Avelia Liberty trains that, after extensive delays, will go into service on the Northeast Corridor later this year.

 

HERO TRUCKER, WRONG WAY CRASH, TRAINS & FERRY

Kudos to the CDOT for their amazing work last week cleaning up from the fiery truck crash in Norwalk which closed I-95 causing countless hours of delays and detours.  It’s amazing what CDOT crews can do operating on a deadline and with $20 million in federal money.

HERO TRUCKER:    Kudos also to Hazeth Aracena, the truck driver turned hero who was involved in that crash.  When the Camaro that seems to have caused the crash (as was reportedly confirmed by the tanker truck’s dash-cam) swerved toward Aracena’s tractor trailer, he tried to move out of the way, only to strike the tanker truck.  But Aracena jumped from his cab and rescued the Camaro driver, pulling him from his car.

ANOTHER WRONG-WAY CRASH:        This week there was another wrong-way crash, this time on the Merritt Parkway, claiming four lives.  Police have yet to identify the driver going the wrong way, pending an autopsy.  Was that out-of-state driver “impaired” or just confused… or both?

We’re only in May but there have already been four wrong-way crashes in the state this year claiming 11 lives.  That compares to seven who died last year in similar accidents.

So if CDOT can return I-95 from a disaster-scene to regular service in 80 hours, why haven’t they been able to post all the new warning signs at parkway entrances they promised months ago, preventing further carnage?

SHORE LINE EAST:         The Connecticut legislature has adjourned, but not before finally restoring a bit more funding for train service on Shore Line East, the commuter railroad between New Haven and New London.  The railroad is still only operating at 40% of pre-COVID levels and advocates were seeking $10 million to bring back more trains.  The Governor said no, but lawmakers gave them $5 million, enough for four additional trains.

That still only gives Shore Line East riders 20 trains a day, far from enough to encourage people to leave their cars at home.  Still, it’s a small victory for the pro-train forces in Southeastern Connecticut, what one local resident calls “the forgotten corner”.

BRIDGEPORT FERRY:     A great start to the summer season for the Bridgeport – Port Jefferson ferry.  They started their three-ferry service early this year adding what VP / GM Fred Hall says is the secret for success: “frequency and capacity”.  In the first few days of this month ridership is already up 15%, perhaps helped by drivers trying to avoid the I-95 shutdown that weekend.

A fourth ferry, the “Long Island” has just been launched in Florida and they hope to have it in service by the late fall.

Nearing completion nearby in Bridgeport is that city’s new high-speed ferry dock, built with $10.5 million in federal funds and $700,000 from city taxpayers.  Of course, there’s nobody planning to offer fast ferry service there, nor do I predict there ever will be.

Just another Bridgeport boondoggle.