The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-25
WOULD CONNECT NEW ENCL LAND AND THE SOUTH Expect Hell Gate Route
 Open Soon. WAR HAS STOPPED SCHEDULES IN PAST Trains Will Run To Penn
 Station.

The speed with which delnobiliza- ton of the army is progressing points to an early cessation of the last of the war traffic and complete termina tiou of the military emergency under which the railroads of the country have been operated during the past two years. This, in it's turn, suggests that the time should be drawing near when New England may properly hope at length to realize, in some adequate measure, the advantages and conveniences made possible by the construction of the New York Connecting Railroad. more generally known as the Hell Gate Bridge Route, which directly joins the rail- roads of New England with some of the principal systems serving the Middle States, the West, Southwest and South. The connection is formed by means of q four-track elevated line, which includes the Hell Gate Bridge-the largest steel arch bridge in the World-and extends from the Southwestern termination of the New Haven Railroad to the Pennsylvania Railroads system of tunnels under the East River, New York City, and the Hudson. The project was brought to completion shortly before the en- trance of the United States into the World War and the line was built, and is owned, jointly by the New Haven and the Pennsylvania Railroad Com panies.
 It is known to have been the well settled intention of the owning cor porations to utilize this line eXten- sively for through passenger service to and from New England, by run ming a number of New Haven trains into the Pennsylvnia Station, at New York City, and either continuing them directly onward to points be- yond the Hudson, or making close connections at the station with other trains West and South. However, all of these plans were upset by the events of the War and the nee assity for devoting the railroads of the country almost exclusively to military purposes, in the course of which or Glnary traffic was severely restrict ed and in many cases diverted from what would have been it's natural channels. This finally resulted in the roads being taken over and operated by the Government to serve the pur- poses of the war emergency. so. that the objects for which the He'll Gate Bridge Route was planned have never been realized. As these con- ditions are now practically at an end, and the needs for further arti- hcal diversion of the currents of traf- 1c have ceased or are about to cease, altogether, it would seem reasonable to expect that this great property. which cost S3O,0OO,0OO, could and should be used to give New England the through passenger service to which it is entitled, and for which the connecting line was built.
 At present, while considerable freight business is handled via the He'll Gate Bridge, it is being used for passenger service only to the ex- tent of two trains daily, in each di- rection, namely the Colonial and Fed eral Expresses, north and south bound, and for one summer season train, the Bar Harbor Express, run ming three times a week. The Co., over are operated for a specialized purpose, namely the providing of through service between Boston on the one hand and Philadelphia. Baltimore, and Washington on the other and without reference to con- nections west of New York or south of Washington
 Similarly. the Bar Harbor Express is operated on a schedule particular Iy designed to accommodate Phila- delphla, Baltimore and Washington people who spend their summer va cations in northern New England. It. benefits intermediate points very little, and the particular schedule re-