The proposal would also put Connecticut at odds with neighboring New York, where the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not proposed any cuts along the sections of the New Haven Line that run through the state en route to Grand Central Terminal. “This is going to put people back into cars, back into traffic.”

“This budget cut runs counter to everything has talked about in terms of public transit,” said Jim Cameron, the president of the Commuter Action Group, which represents rail customers in Connecticut. Rail advocates and lawmakers who represent districts along those routes, however, argue that the proposed cuts are a shortsighted effort to save money that will only serve to further discourage ridership at a time when the state is turning toward mass transit as a way of reaching its long-term goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The state’s newest commuter route, the Hartford Line, has seen a more robust return to its ridership and would not have to face any cuts under the governor’s budget The governor’s office has pointed to the sluggish pace at which riders have returned to both routes as the region has emerged from the pandemic. Additionally, the Shore Line East route that is currently operating at two-thirds of its pre-pandemic levels between New Haven and New London would be pared back even further, to 44 percent of its earlier services.

Metro rail schedule