Madison station (Connecticut)

Madison is a passenger rail station along the Shore Line East commuter rail line, which runs on the Northeast Corridor between New Haven and New London. Madison station consists of a mid-sized parking lot and one high-level side platform on the southbound side of the tracks.

Madison
The rebuilt Madison station at its opening on July 28, 2008
Location	79 Bradley Road, Madison, Connecticut
Coordinates	41.2836°N 72.5995°W
Owned by	ConnDOT
Line(s)	Northeast Corridor
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Estuary Transit District: 641 CTtransit New Haven: 201
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	1852 (Original station) May 29, 1990 (Modern station)
Closed	October 31, 1978
Rebuilt	1896, c. 1950s July 28, 2008[1]
Services
Preceding station ConnDOT Following station Guilford toward Stamford Shore Line East Clinton toward Old Saybrook or New London
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Branford toward New Haven Beacon Hill Old Saybrook toward Boston South Stony Creek toward New Haven Clamdigger Clinton toward New London Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station East River toward New Haven Shore Line Clinton toward Boston

Madison is a commuter-only station; Amtrak's Acela Express and Northeast Regional services run through the station without stopping. Madison is served by about 11 Shore Line East trains in each direction on weekdays and 5 in each direction on weekends.

History

New Haven Railroad

The 1852-built station as depicted on an 1881 map. Note the cross-shaped NYP&B emblem

The 1896-built station in 2015

The New Haven & New London Railroad was charted in 1848, began construction in 1850, and opened for service in July 1852.[2] A station similar to other on the line was located off Wall Street just north of downtown Madison.[3] The line was owned by the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (the "Stonington Road") from 1858 to 1862, and by the Shore Line Railway from 1864 until it was acquired by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad (the "New Haven") in 1870.[2]

In 1896, the original station was replaced by a saltbox station of a standard New Haven design, located slightly to the west. The older station was moved for use as a freight house.[4] A small wooden westbound shelter, similar to other Shore Line stops east of New Haven, was added in the 1950s.[4]

Most commuter service east of New Haven ceased on January 1, 1969, after the New Haven merged into Penn Central, though the Clamdigger continued operation under Penn Central and later Amtrak until January 28, 1972.[5][6]^:6 The shelter was likely demolished around 1973, as were other such shelters at recently closed stations.[4]

A second version of the Clamdigger operated from September 9, 1976 to October 30, 1977, but it did not stop at Madison.[7][8][9] The Clamdigger was reinstated on January 8, 1978, with commuter-based flag stops added at Groton, Clinton, Madison, Stony Creek, and Branford.[10][11]^:1 It was replaced by the Boston-New Haven Beacon Hill effective April 30, 1978.[12][11]^:11 The Beacon Hill was discontinued on October 1, 1981, ending service to Madison a second time.[13][14]^:65

In 1969, the 1896-built station was renovated as a showroom for a model home company.[4] It is still in place, although the canopy was removed in the late 1990s during electrification work, and an expansion in 2005 modified its shape.[15] In 1985, the 1852-built station was moved for possible renovations, but soon demolished.[15][4] The Madison Senior Center, which had been a possible reuse of the station, was rebuilt on Old Route 79 as an exact replica; it was demolished around 2011 during the construction of a new ambulance facility on the site.[15][16]

Shore Line East

The single platform at Madison in June 2013

The current station has one, two car long high level platform. The modern Madison station opened at the beginning of Shore Line East service on May 29, 1990. A small low-level platform with Plexiglas shelters was located at Wall Street, almost exactly where the town's first station was located. Like the other original 1990 Shore Line East stations, this station was built before the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, and its low-level platform was not accessible.[4] On July 28, 2008, a new station with an accessible high-level side platform and commuter shelter area opened for service 1,300 feet (400 m) to the west of the previous station.[17][1]

A second platform and three-story parking garage are planned to allow the station, which is less than half a mile from I-95 and US-1, to serve as a park-and-ride station. The second platform is mandated by a 2003 agreement between ConnDOT and Amtrak.[18] A Record of Decision for the project was released in 2009.[1] By 2012 it was to go out to bid in 2013, but this was indefinitely delayed as platform construction at busier Branford and Guilford and electrification work for future M8 service were prioritized instead.[19] After a second attempt, it was announced in January 2018 that the project would be postponed again until new funding was identified.[20]

References

1. "RECORD OF DECISION Prepared in accordance with the Connecticut Environmental Policy Act: Madison Shore Line East Railroad Station" (PDF). Connecticut Department of Transportation. March 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
2. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 94–96. ISBN 0942147022.
3. S.I. (1850). "Madison, Conn. (Petersen Collection)". UConn Libraries. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
4. Belletzkie, Bob. "CT Passenger Stations, M-ME". Tyler City Station.
5. "Last Run Made By 'Clamdigger'". Bridgeport Telegram. January 29, 1972. p. 32. Retrieved July 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1972" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
7. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1976" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 34.
8. "National Train Timetables". National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak). October 31, 1976. pp. 15, 22 – via The Museum of Railway Timetables.
9. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology Of The Pennsylvania Railroad Company Its Predecessors And Successors And Its Historical Context: 1977" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 32.
10. "National Train Timetables". National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak). January 8, 1978. p. 9 – via The Museum of Railway Timetables.
11. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology Of The Pennsylvania Railroad Company Its Predecessors And Successors And Its Historical Context: 1978" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
12. "National Train Timetables". Amtrak). April 30, 1978. p. 18 – via The Museum of Railway Timetables.
13. Hebert, H. Josef (August 26, 1981). "New Amtrak Network Keeps Most of System Intact". Associated Press.
14. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A General Chronology Of The Pennsylvania Railroad Company Its Predecessors And Successors And Its Historical Context: 1980–1989" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
15. Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 62–63, 199. ISBN 9780942147087.
16. Sanders, Alexandra (October 14, 2010). "Madison starts building senior, ambulance facilities". New Haven Register.
17. "Shore Line East/What's New" (Press release). Connecticut Department of TRansportation. October 1, 2008. Archived from the original on October 1, 2008.
18. "Expanding Rail Service" (PDF). Connecticut Department of Transportation. January 1, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
19. Mazzacane, Steven M. (July 31, 2012). "New Ethics Complaint Filed Against Meyer; Meyer Fires Back". Branford Seven. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
20. "Gov. Malloy, CTDOT Indefinitely Postpone Hundreds of Transportation Projects Across Connecticut" (Press release). State of Connecticut. January 10, 2018.

External links

• Shore Line East - Madison station