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After monitoring performance, counting customers and listening to suggestions, Metro-North will be adjusting its New Haven Line service on Monday, July 7.
But one change will occur Monday, June 9, when the 5:28 a.m. train from Waterbury is extended to run from Bridgeport all the way to Stamford, Metro-North announced Thursday. Riders will also save 16 minutes of travel time.
The changes are intended to reduce crowding and enhance connections, Metro-North said in a statement.
“Based on the feedback from customers, crew members and Metro-North’s monitoring of train performance received since changes to the railroad’s May schedule took effect, we have added cars to seven morning peak-hour trains and three evening peak-hour trains to reduce crowding,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement. “This is all part of our effort to work with Metro-North to make our commuter lines provide as safe and reliable a commute as possible for residents.”
Beginning July 7, further adjustments to about a dozen trains will be made. Some minor adjustments to schedule times as well as the sequencing of stops on trains will help to balance ridership loading and make better train connections, Metro-North said.
On the Danbury Branch, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, its signal contractor, and Metro-North will wrap up remediation work on the branch’s grade crossing systems by July 7. As a result, off-peak and weekend train service, which has been replaced by bus service since earlier this year, will resume by then.
Schedule changes for July 7 include:
- The 5:28 a.m. from Waterbury will be extended on Monday, June 9, from Bridgeport and terminate at Stamford, restoring a one-seat ride to Stamford. To accomplish this change, the first northbound train on the Danbury will be adjusted.
- The 7:33 a.m. to Danbury will depart South Norwalk 10 minutes later but the arrival time at Danbury will not change.
- The 6:50 a.m. all-stops local from Stamford to Grand Central will depart six minutes later to restore a connection with a train arriving from New Haven at 6:52 a.m. Customers will save up to 28 minutes of travel time as a result of this connection. To accommodate this change, three additional adjustments are required:
- The 6:55 a.m. semi-express from Stamford will operate five minutes earlier.
- The 7:29 a.m. from New Rochelle will operate seven minutes earlier.
- The 7:28 a.m. from Harrison will operate three minutes later.
- Also, to relieve crowding, the 6:20 a.m. from New Haven to Grand Central will add stops at Old Greenwich, Riverside and Cos Cob but no longer stop at Port Chester or Rye.
- To accommodate customers at these stations, a new train will depart Greenwich at 7:33 a.m., making stops at Port Chester and Rye before running express to Harlem-125th Street and Grand Central.
- The 6:35 p.m., the only PM peak change, will depart Grand Central for New Haven four minutes earlier. This change is in response to a crowding issue on this train.
- Four late night locals from Stamford to Grand Central will arrive four minutes later to accommodate construction work on the New Haven Line.
The July 7 timetable will be posted on the Metro-North website on Friday, June 6, on the interactive search page and as a document next week. Printed timetables will be available June 27.
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