Danbury Branch - History, Electrification, Studies

I'll believe it when I'm stopped at a red signal at Wilton!!!

I wonder what the "station improvements" at Redding constitute?

Yeah i was wondering the same thing the West Redding station doesn't look like it is in bad shape. Don't really think they have room to add parking spaces. I was surprised to hear that they want to add a parking garage in Branchville.

Branchville has been maxed out for parking for years. I worked both at Ancona's and the glass place as a teenager 20 years ago, and we were always chasing commuters from parking in those lots. That station has alot of pedestrian commuters and drop-offs, and getting in and out of there during the rush was a bear. Many people would get picked up by the gas station by walking the footbridge over the river and then crossing RT. 7. There was talk of pushing the towns to put a garage or a lot north of the station, but the storage place swooped in and took the 1 decent parcel that could support a garage. The wooded parcel south of Portland is protected, which leaves building over the existing lot, probably by Portland Rd. The nimby's would kill anything else.

Thats interesting that you worked at Anconas as a teenager. I worked there from 2001 to 2008. Getting back to the topic the parking lot does look really packed during the weekdays. I wonder if there would be a lot of people opposing a parking garage being built there and I am sure that the new Georgetown station will take some strain off of Branchville.

I changed the subject title to be somewhat broader, since the stimulus topic has come up. I also don't know why an option in the study is to electrify only to Merritt. What would the advantage be?

The Georgetown station may or may not be built, currently all work is stopped and no longer any mention of station on CDOT study page.
In my opinion it would be better to built a station at about where nissan dealership is located. build a paking garage and the people to new condo's could walk.
This is only location that is flat(no grade in about 2 1/2 miles, the current station is actually more out of way and limited in growth.

New Stuff:

Spring Update 033109

Of particular note:

Alternatives Development and Refinement: Phase I identified five alternative concepts selected for further consideration. In addition, the EIS scoping process identified an additional option for consideration (extension from new Milford to Pittsfield, MA).....

I can't imagine there's much call for service beyond New Milford, unless they're looking at weekenders and those whose destination is Danbury, Norwalk, or points in between. However, the idea (besides nostalgia for the old Berkshire service) is helped by the fact that CDOT owns the stretch from New Milford north to the state line, and allows HRRC track rights. HRRC owns the track from Danbury to New Milford. I always thought that was odd. Perhaps it's just negotiating leverage?

All I can is this studying had better produce some real results. I've lost track of how much time and money has been spent of these endless studies!!

I know this has ended, but I found this when trolling MTA Press Releases:

MNR Press Release: Berkshire Service 6.3.09

Too bad the rails and ROW are gone past Wassaic. Except for Great Barrington, these are all former NYC stops.

The combination of train and bus gets you far, far away without a car. Avoid the Friday night traffic nightmare by hopping a Metro-North train to the end of the Harlem Line – Wassaic Station. From Wassaic, an express bus will take you to Millerton, Copake, Hillsdale or Great Barrington.

How well patronized is the bus connection? MTA Berkshires Link

It must be reasonably well used, since this is at least the 2nd or maybe 3rd summer in a row that the service has been offered.

Always figured that were Danbury Branch service to be extended to New Milford, the upper Housatonic valley and Litchfield could likely support a similar service on the Connecticut side of the hills.

Using Google Earth, you could for a while spot a fair amount of ROW - track included - north of Wassaic in the woods. Damn that rail trail.

Ridgefielder wrote:It must be reasonably well used, since this is at least the 2nd or maybe 3rd summer in a row that the service has been offered.

That seems to be an understatement of some proporation. I rode MN up to Wassaic a few weeks ago. I returned on the 4:24 MN to GCT. It was crowded righ at Wassaic and got more crowded as we progressed southward. When I say crowded, I do mean almost every seat taken. The bus that dropped folks off was evidently quite packed, but many folks came by car, limo and taxi. Maybe this is a line that should be given more service? I'd like to see a northward or north-eastward track extension but that isn't happening. I'm sorry I missed this ride during NYC days. I'll bet the ride up to Chatham was quite something.

it must be a beautiful ride in the fall at the height of foliage change, or in the spring when the trees are in bud.

other way is to extend the mets up to albany or get the housatonic rebuilt

Yeah it is a beautiful sight going up in the fall past Southeast, especially when you see all the farm fields up in Wingdale and northward. It's a shame they removed those tracks man, big big mistake. Even though they didnt realize it at the time.