page_title: Shore Line East
section_title: Improved and increased service
hierarchical_section_title: Shore Line East / Service history / Improved and increased service
caption_attribution_description: English: Front Entrance of New Haven-State Street Station.
context_page_description: Shore Line East is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, US. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and is operated under the CTrail brand. SLE provides service seven days a week along the Northeast Corridor from New London west to New Haven, with limited through service further west to Bridgeport and Stamford. Connecting service west of New Haven to New York City is available via Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line.
  The service was introduced in 1990 as a temporary measure to reduce congestion during construction work on I-95. However, it proved more popular than expected, and service was continued after construction ended despite criticisms that the line was too expensive to operate. The service has been continually upgraded since its inception with rebuilt stations and new rolling stock as well as extensions to New London in 1996 and to Stamford in 2001. Around 2,100 riders use the service on weekdays.
  On March 16, 2020, the service began operating indefinitely on a reduced schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic.
context_section_description: When started in 1990, Shore Line East was intended to be a temporary service. Except at Old Saybrook and New Haven, which were already served by Amtrak, the state constructed new stations – consisting of little more than bare wooden decks – for minimal cost. Since the service was started two months before the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, the platforms were not built to be handicapped accessible. After a decade of service, with Shore Line East established as part of Connecticut's transportation system, the state began to upgrade the service. The basic stations have been rebuilt with high-level platforms to provide handicapped access and level boarding, parking lots have been expanded, and more trains have been added to the schedule.
  A completely new station was also added to the line for traffic mitigation as part of the reconstruction of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge. On June 7, 2002, State Street station was opened in New Haven to provide better access to the downtown area than Union Station, which is half a mile away from the business district.
  The first station to be rebuilt was Old Saybrook, the busy eastern terminus of the line. The new high-level island platform and pedestrian bridge opened on November 1, 2002. Old Saybrook had previous had only a single side platform serving a relatively small number of Amtrak trains; the rebuilt has two platforms serving three tracks, to allow Amtrak trains in both directions to stop or pass even while a SLE train is at the station.
  Beginning on May 24, 2004, construction of new platforms began at Clinton, Guilford, and Branford. The rebuilt Clinton station opened on July 25, 2005, and the rebuilt Branford station opened on August 8, 2005; both consist of a single high-level platform on the south side of the tracks. The new Guilford station, which has platforms on both sides of the tracks (connected by a pedestrian bridge) to allow for greater operational flexibility, opened on November 28, 2005. Construction at Madison started on September 24, 2007, and finished with the opening of the rebuilt station platform on July 28, 2008.
  On October 8, 2007, reverse-peak and more midday service were introduced, which officials hailed as the beginning of Shore Line East as a true bidirectional system. Several existing express trains also began to stop at Guilford.
  Since at least 2006, advocates had been calling for the establishment of weekend Shore Line East service. A pilot of weekend service was run from November 17, 2007, to December 30, 2007, with six "Shopper's Special" round trips from Old Saybrook to New Haven. The trains were scheduled to connect with similar Metro-North specials at New Haven. Year-round weekend service began on July 4, 2008, with 9 daily Old Saybrook – New Haven round trips on weekends. No weekend service was run to New London, but weekday service was increased as cross-honoring of multiple-ride and monthly tickets was added on two Amtrak trains.
  The major obstacle preventing full New London service is the bridge over the Connecticut River between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The drawbridge section is closed for a certain period of time to allow trains to pass, which prevents large boats from passing under. The Marine Trades Association opposes additional service, which would mandate more bridge closings. The 2003 agreement with Amtrak limited weekday traffic over the bridge to 2 SLE and 39 Amtrak trains until 2018, although it was revised in 2010 and 2013. Since 2003, New London had been served by cross-honored Amtrak trains plus one or two dedicated SLE roundtrips.
  On February 16, 2010, an additional round trip was extended to New London. Three more were extended on May 10, 2010. However, advocates for full service to New London said that Governor Rell failed to deliver on promises to New London, with one newspaper columnist writing that "she seems incapable of standing up to the marine trades lobby" regarding the bridge openings.
  In July 2012, Governor Malloy announced that 5 weekend round trips would be extended to New London beginning in April
caption: State Street Station in New Haven opened in 2002 near the city's downtown district.
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