Danbury service suspended due to high water.

An amazing amount of work in such a short time. Keep in mind where this washour happened is rather hard to get to. There are no roads along the tracks in this area. A job well done by the hard working MN track department!!

tentativly the service resumes to Danbury starting with train 1844 this thursday afternoon.

I see they put in some drain pipes. Everything looks good. If i didn't know any better i'd almost say this was a planned work operation from the beginning!

DutchRailnut wrote:No the 3 trains used from Branchville are deadheaded up from Stamford in morning.
In after noon the 3 trains deadhead back to Stamford for storage and inspection.

So I take it that there is enough time to have each train go up to Branchville and go back down to the manline before the next one arrives?

MNCRR9000 wrote:

DutchRailnut wrote:No the 3 trains used from Branchville are deadheaded up from Stamford in morning.
In after noon the 3 trains deadhead back to Stamford for storage and inspection.

So I take it that there is enough time to have each train go up to Branchville and go back down to the manline before the next one arrives?

Nope! There is a passing siding in Branchville that is being used to "collect" I believe two of the Maxi Bombs after their station work in Branchville with the third maxi clearing Block Limit "HILL" northbound...then all three maxi's take their turn and head south to Stamford where they lay over until the morning where the process repeats itself.

one train in siding, second train on main north of hill third turns at branchville.
then each one head south on block clearance.
as of tommorow normal service starting with train 1844.

HBLR wrote:I see they put in some drain pipes. Everything looks good.

It would have been silly not to put in drain pipes, imnsho.

The old Danbury station has been looking very lonely lately without all those bomb trains wrapped around it, so I'm glad they'll soon be back. As spring approaches and windows open, the rumbling of the engines' idle can be heard all through town and is comforting in an odd sort of way. But after a few days, I won't hear the horns anymore

Trainer wrote: The old Danbury station has been looking very lonely lately without all those bomb trains wrapped around it, so I'm glad they'll soon be back. As spring approaches and windows open, the rumbling of the engines' idle can be heard all through town and is comforting in an odd sort of way. But after a few days, I won't hear the horns anymore

I could not agree with you more! It was very weird not seeing a single train on my walk to the train station Last Friday night at 8:45.. I am also very glad Metro North had an Extra train for us at South Norwalk making the following stops: Stamford, Old Greenwich, Fordham, and Grand Central Terminal. This allowed me to only be 20 minutes late into Old Greenwich instead of an hour as well as other passengers on time to NYC. Good job to Metro North!

Ozno, It was weird driving up to Danbury last Tuesday and not seeing the 3 car shuttle in the yard.

Still going to resume service with 1844 this evening?? fast work if thats the case, branch goes through a lot of swampy, lowland area's, and with the monsoon we had last weekend thought it would take a lot longer.

7express wrote:Ozno, It was weird driving up to Danbury last Tuesday and not seeing the 3 car shuttle in the yard.

Still going to resume service with 1844 this evening?? fast work if thats the case, branch goes through a lot of swampy, lowland area's, and with the monsoon we had last weekend thought it would take a lot longer.

the service alert pg has been updated to say that trains begin tomorrow with the 5:31 Am train but we all know that all 3 maxi-bomb and two mini's need to get up to Danbury.
I am currently on Amtrak 55 at the Palmer switch heading south spending more in the Cafe car than my whole train ticket from VT lol... I will let you know if I see it. It does not look likely I will be 12 min early into New Haven like I was last week to connect up to 1577 that conveniently connects to 1844. I asked if I could extend my ticket to Stamford since we were running late I was Ok'd

On another related subject: The new schedules are up on the MTA webpage. I am not looking forward to bussing on weekends or mid day but, I understand it is necessary for track upgrades. Since I use the train Mid day the most, I will probably end up not getting a Monthly ticket and Drive or take the Route 7 Link for the same amount of time and half the price. However, I am glad to see they are allowing bikes

Just Confirmed at South Norwalk from 55 I saw a loaded 3 car Mini that had RTC wait on us

so far 1844 -1848-1860-1868 all made it, they have buses till end of today and crew to deadhead to Stamford to get second mini for morning service

DutchRailnut wrote:one train in siding, second train on main north of hill third turns at branchville.
then each one head south on block clearance.
as of tommorow normal service starting with train 1844.

Thanks for the information. I actually stopped by the station Wednesday evening to watch the trains come in. Noticed that 1844 pulled in the siding first just past the siding and then 1860 stayed on the mainline up to just past the crossing. Didn't get to see 1868 pull in.


Great job by the Metro-North Maintenance of Way Department getting the tracks rebuilt in about ten days.

Metro-North has resumed train service on the Danbury Branch following completion of a major, emergency reconstruction of a 150-foot-long section of track that had been washed away in a flood. In all, it took 10 million pounds of stone, 300 truck loads, one truck at a time, to rebuild the right-of-way.

The torrential rain of Sunday, March 6, caused a washout that left a long section of the single track line, its ties still attached, dangling in mid-air 30 feet above the ground. The washout was discovered before the first train was scheduled to operate Monday morning by a pair of track inspectors who were dispatched in the middle of the storm to ensure the safety of the 24-mile branch.

“In just 10 days, working 16-hour days under lights, the men of our Maintenance of Way group rebuilt the berm, installed a pair of culverts, repaired and resurfaced the track and ran test trains over the new structure to ensure its safety,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut. “It is an extraordinary achievement and we are grateful for their hard work and dedication to our Danbury customers. They rose to the challenge and got that track back in service in very short order.”

During the suspension of train service north of the Branchville Station, substitute buses were provided in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Acting Connecticut DOT Commissioner James P. Redeker commended the team for its remarkable work in getting the Danbury Branch back in service in less than two weeks.

Metro-North forces first built a gently sloping roadway from the tracks down to the bottom of the gully for the parade of heavy-duty earth moving equipment – a grade-all, an excavator, a front-end loader, a backhoe and a bulldozer to move the stone into place.

“We had great cooperation from the Bethel Department of Public Works, which allowed us to use their roadway to access the site. They were terrific,” said John Wagner, Metro-North’s Director of Track and Structures, who supervised the construction.

Because the area of the washout is adjacent to a wetlands known as Simpaug Swamp, a silt fence of plastic sheeting and hay bales was built. Then came truckload after truckload of stones.

“We knew we needed big stones to build a base,” Wagner said. “We called our regular supplier, Tilcon, of North Branford, CT, and told them we needed enough stone to fill a hole 150 long by 30 deep by 50 feet wide.”

According to the design by the Connecticut DOT, two 36-inch pipes, on a 6-foot foundation, were installed at the bottom of the swale to relieve flooding in the future.

Metro-North crews kept building up the berm until they reached the bottom of the track. Then they began adding stone from the top, tamping it down continually to stabilize the new berm. Finally it was time to reinstall the track itself, to reestablish the curve, and make sure the rails had the proper profile and alignment.

A 30 mph speed restriction will remain in effect until the structure is fully settled. Metro-North will inspect it a couple of times a day and continue to build it up as needed until the structure stabilizes.

Story from the MTA website along with a couple of pictures.
http://mta.info/news/stories/?story=209

Are there any plans to check the line for future such problem spots? I know this kind of weather is not frequent, but it could happen again at a different location if the embankment is so massive through a flood plain.

This is why they have high-rail patrols after 2-hour inactivity on these branches...