Branchville station
The Branchville station is a commuter rail stop on the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, located in Branchville area of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Branchville | ||||||||||||
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Station house from the platform, April 19, 2012 | ||||||||||||
Location | 787 Branchville Road, Ridgefield, Connecticut | |||||||||||
Coordinates | 41.2667°N 73.4409°W | |||||||||||
Owned by | Connecticut Department of Transportation[1] | |||||||||||
Operated by | Town of Ridgefield[1] | |||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | |||||||||||
Tracks | 1 | |||||||||||
Connections | Norwalk Transit District: Route 7 Link | |||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||
Parking | 168 spaces[2] | |||||||||||
Disabled access | Yes | |||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||
Fare zone | 42 | |||||||||||
Traffic | ||||||||||||
Passengers (2018) | 123 | |||||||||||
Rank | 106 of 124[3] | |||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||
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History
The station house was built in 1905. The building is now occupied by the Whistle Stop Bakery, which opened in the 1980s and was designed for commuters in a hurry needing coffee and snacks before boarding departing on the train to New York City.[4] The station is named for the surrounding Branchville neighborhood which in turn takes its name from a now defunct branch line off of the Norwalk to Danbury line that was built in the 1870s into the center of Ridgefield. The line was used for passenger service until 1925 and for freight service until 1964. It is now the Ridgefield Rail Trail and high voltage power line corridor.[5][6]
Station layout
This station has one three-car-long high-level side platform to the west of the track. The Danbury Branch has one through track at this location, but at the station house a switch leads to a 1,500-foot (460 m) passing loop that extends north well past the platform and station area before rejoining the line.[7]:27
The station has 168 parking spaces,[2] is owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), and managed by the town, but Metro-North is responsible for trash removal.[1]
Side platform, doors will open on the left or right ![]() | |
Track 1 | ← Danbury Branch toward South Norwalk or Grand Central (Cannondale) Danbury Branch toward Danbury (Redding) → |
References
- Office of Rail, Bureau of Public Transportation (January 2007). "New Haven Line Train Station Visual Inspection, Summary Report" (PDF). Connecticut Department of Transportation.
- "Task 2: Technical Memorandum parking Inventory and Utilization: Final Report" submitted by Urbitran Associates Inc. to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Table 1: New haven Line Parking Capacity and Utilization", page 6, July 2003 Archived July 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- METRO-NORTH 2018 WEEKDAY STATION BOARDINGS. Market Analysis/Fare Policy Group:OPERATIONS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT:Metro-North Railroad. April 2019. p. 6.
- "Woman bakes for crowds of commuters". Connecticut Post. January 5, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- "Branchville station: Bridging the past with the future". NewsTimes. February 14, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- "Branchville, Connecticut (CT) Page :: Mining, Railroad, Old Route 7 and More". historyofredding.net. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- "Metro-North Railroad Track & Structures Department Track Charts Maintenance Program Interlocking Diagrams & Yard Diagrams 2015" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2019.