Upgrades are underway at four train stations in the Connecticut Valley.
The stations are all on the Metro-North Waterbury Branch line. They’re in Derby, Ansonia, Seymour and Beacon Falls.
Governor Ned Lamont (D) said the goal is to improve accessibility, safety, and passenger experience.
“Look, we don't have any more room on our roads,” Lamont said as a loud truck went over the Route 8 overpass. “We're going to have to figure out how to make rail more accessible, maybe get some of those big trucks off the road, too.”
Upgrades include 350-foot platforms, canopies and enclosed windscreens for weather management, and improved lighting and information screens.
The upgrades are part of a nearly $200 million project to revitalize the Waterbury line. Construction on the four stops that just broke ground is expected to be done in the spring of 2028.
Train service on the Waterbury line will be replaced with bus service for 10 months during construction, beginning in July. Suspending service during construction will save time and money, according to State Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto.
“This outage is going to allow crews to work at multiple locations at the same time and complete the work more quickly,” Eucalitto said. “It's going to allow us to advance critical bridge signal and infrastructure upgrades through our Time For CT program. And by coordinating all this work, the state's going to save more than $47 million and shorten the construction time period by one full year.”
Ridership on the state’s trains is up significantly from pre-pandemic levels. Each station on the Waterbury line is up more than 150%.
