The number of candidates for mayor at Union Station on Saturday: three, with a handful of City Council and Board of Education candidates as well. The number of Shore Line East trains scheduled to stop in during the day: zero.

That was the key reason for the date of the event, said Laura Cordes. A City Center District commissioner, Cordes also oversees the Shore Line East/One More Stop project of the district. This initiative advocates the expansion of Shore Line East service to include New London on a greater scale.

The line has service to New Haven and on to New York. Currently, one train stops at Union Station in the morning and another stops in the evening during weekdays. There is no weekend service to New London, although a special train ran for Sailfest weekend and Cordes said there are plans for extended weekend holiday service as well. She said the office of the strong mayor will better be able to advocate for expanded service as a helpful factor in economic development.

Saturday’s event invited each of the six mayoral candidates to sign a pledge reading, "If elected mayor of New London, I pledge to call on Governor Malloy and the DOT to expand weekend and weekday Shore Line East passenger rail service all the way to New London." Democratic candidate Daryl Finizio, Republican candidate Rob Pero, and independent candidate Andrew Lockwood signed the pledge. Independent candidates Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh and Martin Olsen were absent, along with write-in candidate Michael Buscetto III, but Cordes said they had given their assent to the initiative as well.

“We are really proud that we’ve had support from all of the mayoral candidates,” she said.

Finizio said he considers rail service essential for economic development. Lockwood said he would like to see expansion on to Providence, R.I. and thinks New London can be a leader in the effort. Pero said he hopes the expanded service for New London can occur within a year, and said he was glad the mayoral campaigns were drawing to a close on a consensus issue.

Todd O’Donnell, part of the coalition and co-owner of Union Station, said both expanded Shore Line East service and a central corridor to Brattleboro, Vt., could increase the number of visitors to the region and offer alternatives to Amtrak. He said he thinks the mayor can advocate for it and other incentives, suggesting that southeastern Connecticut is given low priority in state funding.

“It costs about two million bucks a year to run a train up to New London,” he said.