CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
NEWS RELEASE
2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546
NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT, 06131-7546
FOR RELEASE: , 2015
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062
FAX: (860) 594-3065
WEB SITE: www.ct.gov/dot

Schedule Changes on New Haven Commuter Rail Line, Effective April 26
   

   Schedules will change on all Metro-North lines effective Sunday, April 26, 2015, and will reflect normal adjustments to optimize customer service and allow for necessary maintenance activities.

   Under the new schedules, weekend travel times are temporarily lengthened to reflect the impact of several critical maintenance projects, and adjustments will follow service guidelines and correct some customer service issues.. Most adjustments are in the AM and PM Peak and involve changes of one to two minutes.

   Metro-North schedules are available at www.mta.info.

Additional information about the Danbury Branch

      In May 2014, Metro-North instituted a new weekday through train from Grand Central Terminal to Danbury at 4:29 PM, taking the place of an existing shuttle train that ran from Stamford to Danbury. An analysis of the ridership impacts of this change, including multiple customer counts, has revealed that very few customers are using this service.. Of the 220 customers boarding the train at Grand Central Terminal, approximately 200 get off at Stamford; only 20 customers on average travel east of Stamford.

      To better align service improvements with customer travel patterns, that train will return to its previous schedule, as a shuttle train from Stamford to Danbury. Customers traveling from Grand Central Terminal to Stamford will instead leave four minutes later on the 4:33 PM New Haven train, as they did before the institution of the new through Danbury train.

      There will be no reduction in the number of through trains serving Danbury, however. Metro-North will add a new through train to Danbury, departing Grand Central Terminal at 8:01 PM, making stops at Greenwich, then all main line and Danbury Branch stops from Stamford to Danbury.

      The existing 9:18 PM shuttle from South Norwalk to Danbury is replaced by this new through train. With this change, Danbury Branch customers who work late will have the opportunity for a more convenient commute home at night, without a change of trains en route. This new train will take the place of the 8:03 train to New Haven. Customers on that train will be served by the 8:06 PM New Haven train, which will depart Grand Central Terminal at 8:07 PM and make additional stops at Stamford, East Norwalk, Green’s Farms, and Southport.

      The end result of this complex change is a better-utilized Danbury through train, which will accommodate several hundred main line customers as well as Danbury Branch customers.

Waterbury Branch Customer Reminder

      As previously announced, two major projects will impact Waterbury Branch service between April and October:

   From April 25 through May 3, rail pick-up will be performed on the single-track Waterbury Branch. Substitute bus service will be provided at all times during this nine day outage. Bus schedules will be communicated to customers via special flyers and other customer communications media.

   From May 4 through early October, a steel repair project on the Devon Movable Bridge will prevent Waterbury Branch trains from accessing the main line between the junction point and Bridgeport station, where connections are normally made between main line and Waterbury Branch trains. During this time a temporary platform will permit transfers between Waterbury Branch and main line trains at a temporary station known as Devon Transfer,” located where the Waterbury Branch track connects with the main line west of Milford.