Rail Improvements = Jobs, Improved State Economy: Malloy

In an apparent move to garner support for his proposed massive transportation infrastructure overhaul, on Friday Gov. Dannel Malloy released an economic analysis of proposed improvements to the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line, saying the $3.9 billion price tag will produce 2 1/2 times that amount in financial benefits to the state.

The railroad initiative is part of Malloy’s proposed $100 billion, 30-year ‘Let’s Go CT’ initiative to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure. In his Friday announcement, Malloy said major upgrades would include more frequent and faster service, including by increasing the track capacity to full-service of four tracks, as opposed to the current two to three tracks that are in service at any given time. He’s also proposed a reconfiguration and upgrade of the Connecticut system to improve the frequency and speed of service.

In his statement, Malloy said, “the study found that on a long-term basis, the investments will result in over $6.2 billion in long-term cumulative business sales and output – $3.9 billion in additional gross state product and $2.8 billion in additional wage income. The project is expected to support 4,000 to 6,000 construction jobs during the construction phase.”

However, the analysis released Friday does not include the methodology of how the economic benefits were calculated.

As General Electric continues to mull whether to relocate its headquarters from Fairfield to an out-of-state location, Malloy said his proposed upgrades to the New Haven Line “will be a major factor in being able to attract and retain businesses and grow jobs.”

The project is expected to support 4,000 to 6,000 construction jobs during the construction phase, according to the governor’s office.

The resulting upgrades will lead to:

• Doubling peak-hour service
• Increasing the number of express trains per hour between New Haven and New York City from two to at least four and possibly as many as eight express trains per hour
• Reduction of express service travel time between New Haven and New York City by an average of 15 minutes
• Increasing local service (non-express) trains from the current rate of approximately every 20 minutes during peak service, to about every four to eight minutes

The New Haven Line is the busiest rail line in the country, with about 125,000 daily rider trips and about 39 million passengers per year.

The governor’s analysis can be found here.

What do you think? Should Connecticut pay for improvements to Metro-North Railroad? Tell us in the comments section.