First impressions do count. And the first impressions we give visitors to our state aren’t as positive as they should be, are they? Continue Reading →
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: A Fitting Welcome to Connecticut?
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Talking Transportation
Recent Posts
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Why do trains have names?
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Back in the day you didn’t just take “a train,” you traveled on The 20th Century Limited or the Broadway Limited (named not for the street but the Pennsylvania Railroad’s four-track wide right-of-way). Today, trains just have a number. Or a departure time. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Jim Cameron, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Why is there still no free Wi-Fi on Metro-North?
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By Jim Cameron
Airplanes have Wi-Fi. Even Connecticut’s CTfastrak commuter bus system from New Britain to Hartford gives its passengers free Wi-Fi. Commuter railroads across the US offer Wi-Fi, including Boston’s MBTA. Wi-Fi is everywhere… but not on Metro-North. So the Connecticut legislature has just budgeted $23 million to install 5G technology on the railroad’s M8 cars. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Letter to the Editor, Jim Cameron, Metro-North, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Help Wanted
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“Are Connecticut state workers overpaid? I don’t think so.” – Jim Cameron Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Jim Cameron, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Why They De-Electrified the Danbury Branch
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“It was a huge mistake, one that commuters and planners have regretted for over 60 years. For it was in 1959 that the last electric locomotive pulled a train on the Danbury branch.” – James Cameron Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Jim Cameron, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Night Trains
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“The Night Owl” service resumed last year from Boston to Washington, minus the NYC sleeper’s pick-up and drop-off. There was only one sleeping car and it wasn’t cheap: $284 for a roomette, $376 for a bedroom, one way. Alas, the Amtrak timetable now says that train has been cancelled for the moment due to COVID, but it may come back. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Transportation, Jim Cameron, Night Trains, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Meet Traffic Reporter Tom Kaminski
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For 34 years Tom Kaminski has been a traffic reporter for WCBS 880 radio, heading a team of producers, spotters and tipsters covering traffic and transit from his vantage point 1500 feet above the city in the station’s Bell 206 helicopter. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Transportation, Weather, Jim Cameron, Talking Transportation, WCBS
Piccininno: Transportation Columnist Gets It Wrong on I95 Noise Barriers
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“People don’t choose to live by noise, most of the time it is an economic necessity.” – Greg Piccininno, president of stop95nois Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Transportation, Greg Piccininno, Jim Cameron, noise barriers, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: Zooming through Winter
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The CT Dept of Transportation is already warning us of an impending shortage of snow-plow drivers as the agency is having trouble hiring staffers in the competitive jobs market. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Government, Transportation, Weather, James Cameron, Talking Transportation
TALKING TRANSPORTATION: A Chat with the Commissioner of Dept of Transportation
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Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Guilietti has a holiday gift for rail commuters… and maybe a lump of coal for the stockings for highway speeders. Continue Reading →