New Haven Line Devon Transfer Station to Waterbury

http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1373&Q=562350" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Customers, who usually transfer to Main Line trains at Bridgeport, will instead get off the Waterbury train at a new, temporary Devon Transfer station, cross the bridge and wait for a train to stop on Track 1. Northbound customers will be dropped off Main Line trains at the Devon Transfer and board a waiting train for the trip to Waterbury and stops in between. The temporary station will have lights and a public address system.

Busing 4/25-5/3, then change at Devon.

Very interesting. Changing the transfer location to Devon (for some trains, largely additional service) was discussed with 2010 branch study. With the addition of Fairfield Metro, West Haven, and soon to be Orange, the upper NHL is getting very crowded, and I could see splitting service at Bridgeport similarly to (and in addition to) how it's currently split at Stamford. If that ever happened, a Devon infill would serve a pretty good area.

The relevant parts of the 2010 study are here and here; the whole study is here.

I wonder if this will encourage the state to pony up for a permanent Devon transfer further in the future considering lack of main line slots are one of the things holding Waterbury branch service at the levels they are at along with a lack of passing sidings

I'm assuming this change will be for 6 months (plus) after the bustitution at the beginning of May? This will make for some interesting times on my weekly trips to the Bronx.

Very informative press release. The only thing I don't understand in why TWO temporary platforms were built in connection with the Devon Transfer station. Would think that since only a single train on the Branch is involved that one platform between TK 3 and the Waterbury Branch wye would suffice.

Andy

Given the way the Naugatuck Valley service often seems to be treated as an afterthought, I'm pleasantly surprised that they're not just busing the line for the entire duration of the bridge project.

TomNelligan wrote:Given the way the Naugatuck Valley service often seems to be treated as an afterthought, I'm pleasantly surprised that they're not just busing the line for the entire duration of the bridge project.

The anger of Waterbury riders has been stoked to the point where it's unwise to ignore them any longer. They've got that new branchline czar installed...which, whatever you think of the likelihood of real CDOT follow-thru, at least signifies a "We hear you" response from politicians who are feeling an electoral threat to ignoring the the Valley's transit needs and reliability that they didn't feel for eons prior. That in itself is an impressive sea change in attitudes.


This could be a nice thing for getting the ball rolling on a permanent Devon transfer + frequent shuttle. They'd be well-advised to bring out the clipboards and survey the hell out of riders during this interlude.

Some photos (albeit small ones) of construction of the temporary station:
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2015/04/ ... l/874174.t" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Link is no good,buried behind Paywall prehaps?

twropr wrote:Very informative press release. The only thing I don't understand in why TWO temporary platforms were built in connection with the Devon Transfer station. Would think that since only a single train on the Branch is involved that one platform between TK 3 and the Waterbury Branch wye would suffice.

Andy

reason for transfer station is track 3 is out of service for bridge repair so west end of wye is OOS.

East end of wye is needed to get train on off branch , so temporary platform is built next to east leg and second platform is build over track 3
the platforms do NOT have local access and are only used by connecting trains .

Correct link.

Checking up onto the MTA Devel emails today, the GTFS file has "CP 261" as the name of the Devon Transfer. So you may see that show up in google maps & third party apps, unless the developer decides to massage the data or MN changes the name for the station in what it provides in future releases of the GTFS dataset.

It's not that the link is bad, it's that the Waterbury paper provides a comically small amount of the article in front of the paywall.

Here is a photo posted by @waterburyline on twitter of the temporary platform under construction on the wye.

DutchRailnut wrote:
reason for transfer station is track 3 is out of service for bridge repair so west end of wye is OOS.

East end of wye is needed to get train on off branch , so temporary platform is built next to east leg and second platform is build over track 3
the platforms do NOT have local access and are only used by connecting trains .

So the temporary platform, is, in essence a giant bridge plate over track 3 then? Okay, now I see how this is going to work...at first when I read about this I was super confused.

Believe me - MNR wanted to bus this thing for six months but it was CDOT whom was pushing for train service. The reason bussing was eliminated was because it was too expensive. A very ambitious project that has many "what if's," and only time will tell to see if some of the concerns come to fruition. One thing that is certain is the way the schedules are written with the turns leaves almost no room for error.

This is what the platforms look like approaching westbound on track 1.

Bill