2015 30-year transit plan, Shore Line East was to be extended to Westerly at a cost of $200 million. In February 2016, the state public transportation commission issued a report recommending extension of Shore Line East rail service to Mystic and Westerly as soon as possible. The 2016 plans also called for limited direct service between Grand Central Terminal and Old Saybrook after M8 cars entered service. In 2021, state lawmakers allocated $2.3 million for CTDOT to study the eastward extension to Westerly with infill stations in Groton and Stonington, as well a northward extension from New London to Norwich along a freight line. , the study is scheduled for completion in 2023. Rolling stock SLE service uses 4-car trains of state-owned Kawasaki M8 electric multiple units. These cars are part of a larger fleet, jointly owned by the state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, that operate on the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line and New Canaan Branch. The M8 cars replaced push-pull diesel-powered trains on May 24, 2022. In 2007, CTDOT proposed to use up to 32 M8 cars in SLE service as far as Old Saybrook; the diesel equipment would then be used on the Hartford Line and for use with low platforms on New London / Mystic / Westerly service. Amtrak crew qualification of M8 electric multiple units on Shore Line East took place in April 2022; testing had previously taken place as early as 2015. SLE operated diesel service from 1990 to 2022, as Amtrak had not yet electrified the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and Boston at the time service began. Initial service used two F7 locomotives and ten Pullman-Standard coaches purchased from Pittsburgh's PATrain for $1.7 million. In 1991, CTDOT purchased 10 Bombardier Shoreliner III coaches, similar to ones already used on the Danbury Branch and Waterbury Branch, and leased three additional diesel locomotives: two EMD GP38s and one EMD GP9. In 1994, Amtrak rebuilt 11 of CTDOT's surplus SPV-2000 diesel railcars into coaches, dubbed "Constitution Liners." In 1996, SLE took delivery of six remanufactured GP40-2H diesels to replace the entire motive power fleet. These were supplemented in 2005 with 8 GE P40DC Genesis diesels leased from Amtrak. CTDOT purchased the P40DCs in 2008. To augment capacity CTDOT acquired 33 Mafersa coaches from the Virginia Railway Express in 2004. These began entering service in 2006, displacing the Shoreliners and Constitution Liners. CTDOT acquired an