The Hartford Line connecting New Haven to Springfield, MA experienced multiple delays every day in its first week of operation.
The Hartford Line connecting New Haven to Springfield, MA experienced multiple delays every day in its first week of operation.
Hartford Line Alerts (@HLalerts), where CT Rail posts status updates for the new rail service, issued more than 60 tweets this week alerting riders to delays along the line.
The majority of trains were delayed five to fifteen minutes, but some delays were significantly longer. On Wednesday, June 20, an afternoon train to New Haven was pushed back more than one hour.
On Saturday, June 23, seven out of twenty-four trains ultimately experienced delays according to the tweets, including a 35-40 minute delay for the last train to Springfield.
Rich Andreski, the Chief of Public Transportation for the Connecticut Department of Transportation told NBC Connecticut’s Shyang Puri that some of the problems are due to more than 20 miles of track the service is sharing with Amtrak. “A second track has already been partially installed from Hartford to Windsor, and that work will continue through the fall,” he said.
The delays every day so far, he explained, are all part of starting something new. “The crews are learning, the dispatchers are learning, so we’re gonna persevere here and work out those kinks,” he said.
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He was thrilled with the Hartford Line’s performance one week into service, and said, “we had a phenomenal opening weekend and the first six days so far have been strong.”
