Blumenthal calls for national freight policy
Waterford — One day after the state received nearly $8.2 million in promised federal funding to upgrade tracks on the New England Central Rail line running north from New London, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday the United States is in need of a national policy to boost freight-rail shipments.
"National freight policy has been lacking in this country," Blumenthal, D-Conn., said during a forum at Charter Oak Federal Credit Union that also included state Department of Transportation Commissioner James P. Redeker and a top official with the Federal Railroad Administration. "Freight has to be at the table as a priority."
Blumenthal said Tuesday's freight forum, attended by about a dozen people, is believed to be the first of its kind in the state — certainly the first in recent memory.
Panelists, including Scott Greene, chief of the freight and rail policy division at the Federal Railroad Administration, said rail freight has the double advantage of cutting pollution and reducing congestion on the state's highways.
Yet, said DOT Commissioner Redeker, "We have a history of not talking about freight."
Redeker said the DOT until recent years had focused the vast majority of its attention and resources on roads, to the detriment of rails, ports and airports.
"Deep-water ports are the asset that has been completely ignored," he said. "It is a piece of our economy that is so ripe for growth. It's the right time for it."
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, pointed out that Connecticut is one of only a dozen states with three or more deep-water ports.
And the port of New London is expected to be a key to increased economic activity that will result from upgrading current rail tracks over a 55-mile area from New London to the state's Quiet Corner.
"Rail will help to unite eastern Connecticut," Blumenthal said.
John Filchak, executive director of the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments, said the upgraded rail line will be "a tremendous boost to local economies."
Still, Redeker pointed out one drawback of rail: For companies shipping in state, Connecticut is simply not big enough to make the cost worth it.
"Four hundred miles makes rail work, and Connecticut's not that big," he said.
Blumenthal said he is backing a bill in the upcoming Senate session that would call for a comprehensive transportation policy linking various modes of transportation.
The bill, totaling nearly $2 billion, includes money to take a closer look at national freight policy.
Last year, Connecticut won a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant that will pay for upgraded tracks through Norwich, Franklin, Willimantic and north to Stafford.
The line upgrade, expected to be finished by the end of next year, will connect with previously upgraded rail in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont up to the border with Canada.
Current rail lines are insufficient, forcing shippers to partially load railcars or avoid rail altogether. Upgraded tracks will allow shippers to send loads of up to 286,000 pounds per car.
“The distribution of funding to the State Department of Transportation is a positive step forward in our ongoing efforts to streamline freight transportation throughout the region," said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, in a statement.
Courtney pointed out that the Genesee & Wyoming railroad company will contribute nearly $2.3 million to the project.
l.howard@theday.com
Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.