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State Gets $40 Million For New Haven-Springfield Rail Project

Mark Fischer
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Flickr Creative Commons

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Connecticut has secured $40 million for its high speed rail project from New Haven to Springfield from the federal government. The money will be used to lay additional tracks.

When it comes to getting federal money, Judd Everhart with Connecticut's Department of Transportation says red tape can really slow things down.

"This grant was originally announced last year by then-governor Rell and that just gives you a sense of how long these kinds of things can take," Everhart says.

The New Haven-Springfield line is still five years from completion. The new money will be used to lay 10 miles of double tracked lines between Newington and Meriden.

Everhart says double tracking is necessary for efficiency and safety, but there are still many miles left to go.

"Everything from New Haven to Springfield...and that [double tracking], you know, that is a huge, huge undertaking," he says.

Earlier this week, the state submitted an application for $227 million of the federal high speed rail funds that were abandoned by Florida. Everhart says the money would get Connecticut's project to the finish line.

"It's a very ambitious plan," he says. "[But] it's something that we think is manageable but it is something that takes a lot of time to put everything into place and then to actually begin the construction."

To stay on schedule, the department hopes to finish an environmental impact assessment by the end of this year.

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