My New Haven network follows a similar design philosophy to the last 4: light metro system using mostly existing right of ways with some tunnelling in downtown. Putting that aside, however, this is my favorite network I’ve designed for this series so far!
Line N1 runs roughly northeast from Milford, CT up to Quinnipiac University, utilizing 99% existing right of ways (apart from a tunnel from Yale to State St). Starting in Newport, the line runs parallel to the New Haven line, filling in some of the station gaps in the area without further slowing down New Haven line trains. I imagine Old Gate Lane would likely be a park-n-ride connected right up to the highway. It continues up the Northeast corridor until State St, before cutting across downtown over to Yale University. From there, it would run parallel to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail all the way up to Quinnipiac University.
Line N2 is the short branch off of N1, which services the West Haven neighborhood. There’s a total of 3 incredible independent stops.
Line N3 starts at Washington Commons in northeast New Haven, running next to the CTRail Hartford line until State Street, before diving into a tunnel under downtown New Haven (ideally cut-and-cover, but TBM’s work too). After Westville, N3 would cut across the Yale golf course on its way to Derby. There is literally nothing between Westville and Derby, forcing the line to go nearly 5 miles between stops (for reference, North Quincy to JFK is ~3.5 Miles). I think Derby / Ansonia would both be dense enough to deserve a light metro in the world that this network is built, but no matter what route you take you’re traveling through the absolute middle of nowhere. Anyways, after meeting the Waterbury Branch at Derby / Shelton, it runs north to Ansonia, making 1 additonal stop along the way.
Finally, the last leg of the network is N4, a spur to East Haven / Fair Haven and the Airport. I really wanted to send the line to the Shore Line trolley museum, but the airport is more important. I ended up settling on an infill SLE stop, which is a good compromise in my opinion.