Connecticut lawmakers said the state’s plan for Metro-North’s New Haven line will speed up trains and create jobs. The plan would cost $8 to $10 billion, mostly from federal funding.
Governor Ned Lamont said the plan would cut 25 minutes off the average travel time from New Haven to Grand Central Station by 2035.
Transportation commissioner Joseph Giuletti said they’ve already been able to secure federal funding to cut 10 minutes off the trip by next year. He said they will keep looking for more.
“We will look to every program that exists today. We’ve always been successful, and the federal government has acknowledged that when additional funds were available, they made them available to us because we could deliver and we have, every single year,” Giuletti said.
Weekday ridership on Metro-North is still only about one-third of what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been slowly climbing. Lamont said the plan will draw more people back to the train and reduce congestion on highways.
