Shoreline Senators Call On Amtrak To Restore Peak Service

MADISON, CT – State Senators called on Amtrak to provide alternate solutions to the Shore Line East Service cuts caused by the rail work needed for the Amtrak Fitter Interlocking Project.

“Commuters across our shoreline corridor learned about these major service cuts less than one week before they went into effect,” Senator Christine Cohen said. “I’m calling on Amtrak, at a bare minimum, to restore peak service and complete this work during off-peak hours or provide a dedicated bus service during on-peak hours.”

In a press release, Sen. Cohen said the State of Connecticut funds Shore Line East, but Amtrak owns and controls the Northeast Corridor east of New Haven.

Cohen said the service cuts due to the Amtrak work will reduce weekday schedules from 22 trains daily between New Haven Union Station and New London Station to just 14. The two trains that run between New Haven and Old Saybrook are the same, but there will be no connecting bus service between Old Saybrook and New London.

Cohen said weekend schedules will be reduced from 16 to 14 trains per day between New Haven Union Station and New London Station, although more trains will stop at Madison Station.

“Not only has this service disruption been poorly communicated, but there have also been no reasonable alternative services proposed during these interruptions, which could last all the way through December,” Cohen said. “I appreciate the investments that Amtrak is making in our rail lines in order to make our public transportation faster and safer, something I have long been a proponent of, but it’s unacceptable to leave residents who rely on Shore Line East high and dry for the next several months.

Senators who joined Cohen in calling Amtrak to provide alternate solutions to the Shoreline East Service Cuts are Norm Needleman and Martha Marx.