As President Joe Biden's administration plans the largest Northeast Corridor investment in the rail line's history, federal transportation officials still do not have a long-term plan for improving intercity train travel between Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Last week Biden announced $16.4 billion in grants for projects on the Northeast Corridor, which runs from Washington D.C. to Boston, with the bulk of the construction dollars ticketed for the Philadelphia and New York metro areas. The closest construction project to Rhode Island is the replacement of a bridge over the Connecticut River.
However the Biden administration has set aside $4 million for a study of how to improve rail capacity and performance between New Haven and Providence, something that could eventually rekindle debate about a new route along the shoreline.
Plans for a new Northeast Corridor alignment have fallen apart before
Seven years ago the Federal Railroad Administration proposed just such a study after they backed off a plan to build a new Northeast Corridor alignment from Old Saybrook, Connecticut to Kenyon Village in Charlestown.
The proposed bypass route would have roughly tracked the path of Interstate 95 through southeastern Connecticut and southwestern Rhode Island.
It was designed to speed service on what is now one of the slowest and curviest sections of the Northeast Corridor. That section, which winds across rivers, coves and marshes before turning north, is also considered at major risk of damage from sea level rise.
But residents of Old Lyme, Connecticut mobilized against the proposed bypass route out of concern high speed trains would spoil the idyllic character of the town. In response to their concerns, federal planners agreed to tunnel past the town so people wouldn't see the tracks, but the opposition continued.
Critics of the bypass, backed by the Connecticut congressional delegation, then organized local opposition in Washington County, Rhode Island. When she saw the political winds blowing against the new route, then-Gov. Gina Raimondo, who had supported it, joined the opponents.
In the final 2017 "record of decision" on the Federal Railroad Administration's long-term Northeast Corridor plan, called NEC Future, there was no new route proposed. Instead, "additional improvements will be subject to the findings of the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study," it said.
In the intervening six years, it is not clear if any work was done on a New Haven-to-Providence study until Biden announced the $4-million grant for it.