In 2020, due to the pandemic, Shore Line East, not to be confused with Hartford Line, which is the line between New Haven and Springfield, cut the peak thru-services that were extended from New Haven to Stamford. Interestingly, they never ended up recovering service due to low-ridership recovery compared to other lines in Connecticut. In 2023, their were some talks about bringing it back, and in October of 2024, it was finally made possible due to available state/gov funding. Since 2022, the SLE has strictly operated with diesel equipment, so, this marks the beginning of M8s on the Shore Line East west of New Haven. Unfortunately, however, these are only on 2 trains, with the first being a 5:46 AM train out of New London, making New Haven at 6:51, and Stamford at 7:53. The latter, more useful, however, is a 4:21 out of Stamford, making New Haven at 5:18, and New London at 6:25. I definitely think that now that we have M8s we should at least have 2 direct trains to/from Grand Central, possibly making added stops in Bridgeport, Stamford, and Greenwich for inter-city travelers, and, I believe everything else should be thru-trains to Stamford to hopefully shorten wait times at New Haven. If they won't do that, I think they should at least add a couple additional thru-trains to Stamford and make them at more convenient times!
