Amtrak Service Interruption in New England (June 14 – 17)

On June 14 to 17, 2008, Amtrak service will be disrupted in New England, due to the repair of a drawbridge in Connecticut and scheduled maintenance elsewhere in the system. The 90 year old Thomas River Bridge between New London and Groton will be replaced during the four days, as the first part of an $83 million renovation of the bridge.

“The aged drawbridge will be replaced by a more efficient vertical lift bridge that rises between two towers,” said Frank Vacca, Amtrak chief engineer. “Once this is complete, rail passengers will be able to depend on a reliably operating lift span for the better part of this century.”

What this means to you is that you’ll need to make alternate transportation if you’re traveling in the area at that time. Greyhound is suggesting passengers look in to Greyhound and Peter Pan bus services in the area.

What difference does some little bridge in Connecticut make? Quite a bit, actually. It seems that there are 36 passenger trains and 2 freight trains that cross the bridge daily, with a total of 2.2 million passengers. I hope you all get the memo and don’t try to book a ticket at the last minute without alternative transportation.

At the same time, the railroad plans to perform maintenance between New Haven and Boston, which will cancel the Acela Express service between Boston and New York, as well as regional trains between Boston and New Haven. A special northbound and southbound train will operate between Washington, New Haven and Boston via Springfield, Massachusetts between June 15 and June 17 to make up for it.

Shoreline East commuter rail service in Connecticut will not be affected.