Metro-North Fare Increases Await New Rail Cars

The state's commissioner of transportation was emphatic Wednesday night that New Haven Line rail commuters in Connecticut will not face a fare increase until new M-8 rail cars begin carrying passengers.

Jeffrey A. Parker also told the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council his department expects the first of 300 M-8 cars on order will go into service by the end of December.

Last year, the Connecticut General Assembly mandated there be a 1.25 percent fare increase beginning January 1, 2010, on New Haven Line tickets sold in the state, but the state's Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) never acted on the requirement.

A fare increase for Metro-North services in Connecticut could not be implemented until ConnDOT holds public hearings, which it has yet to schedule.

"We're not prepared to raise fares until the M-8 cars go into service," said Parker, who spoke to the council during its monthly meeting in Stamford's Government Center building on Washington Boulevard.

Parker said testing of the first 10 M-8 cars delivered from Japan by manufacturer Kawasaki has met "continued success."

Council members expressed concern that the state's Bonding Commission last week rejected Gov. M. Jodi Rell's request to authorize issuing $226 million in bonds to cover the cost of ordering an additional 80 M-8 cars.

The first 300 cars will cost $760 million, and in its contract with Kawasaki, the state has the option for a limited time to order 80 more cars at the same price per car as the original 300 of about $2.5 million.

Parker said the option doesn't expire until next August, so there is plenty of time for the Bond Commission to authorize the issuance of bonds for the cars.

"Clearly it's the Department of Transportation's desire to … exercise the option," Parker said. "We will try hard to convince (commission members) opposed that this is the right thing to do."

New bar cars

Later in the meeting, ConnDOT's rail administrator, Eugene J. Colonese, said his department plans to have seven M-8 cars converted into bar cars.

Colonese said that, rather than having Kawasaki construct the bar cars, it would cost less to have the seven cars delivered as regular passenger cars and then have a third party company modify their interiors into bar cars.

The Commuter Council on Tuesday released the results of a survey of New Haven Line passengers that found 90 percent want bar car service to continue, with 80 percent saying they regularly use bar cars when they're available on their train.

Council Vice Chairman Terri Cronin of Norwalk has led the effort to have new bar cars built, and she said the impetus for the survey was because commuters have told her they want a bar car that's "exactly like what they have, but just made nice."

Cronin said the survey indicates bar car passengers want room to stand and a counter to use laptops.

The M-8 cars will replace the cars that have been in service 30 or more years. ConnDOT has said the M-8s will provide an 18-to-20 percent increase in seating capacity on the New Haven Line.

The cars will also be used on the state's Shore Line East route between New Haven and New London.

The state has said the first 38 M-8 cars will be built in Japan, with the remainder coming from Kawasaki's factory in Nebraska.

The New Haven Line is part of Metro-North Railroad, which is a division of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.