Completion of a new Metro-North passenger rail station in downtown Naugatuck is scheduled for mid-2027. Image courtesy of Connecticut Department of Transportation
The cities along Metro-North’s Waterbury line are finally seeing dirt move and construction workers get busy at their train stations.
The project, championed by the Lamont administration, is intended to make the slowest and least-used of Metro-North’s Connecticut services into a more compelling transit option for riders, and give a boost to the communities it passes through. Train and bus rapid transit connections elsewhere in Connecticut have proven to be big draws for developers, particularly ones with multifamily projects.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s office announced the start of construction on stations serving Derby-Shelton, Ansonia, Beacon Falls and Seymour late last week. Construction on the Naugatuck and Waterbury stations began last year. Construction should be finished by spring 2028.
The centerpiece of the station upgrades are high-level, full-length platforms and canopies, which not only modernize the stations’ appearances, but also makes boarding a much faster process and much easier and more comfortable, especially for travelers with bags, strollers or mobility devices. The Derby and Waterbury station rebuilds will also include indoor waiting areas in historic train station buildings, and some stations will gain new bus bays to make for better last-mile transit connections.
“For too long, riders on the Waterbury Branch Line have been making do with aging and inaccessible infrastructure. That changes now,” Lamont said in a statement. “These investments are about more than about improved stations; they’re about giving working families in the Naugatuck Valley the same quality of service that riders elsewhere take for granted, and building the kind of connected, affordable communities that keep people here.”
The project’s estimated cost of $193 million won’t cover other upgrades to the line, like electrification, to make it as fast and frequent as the rest of the Metro-North network in Connecticut, but it’s anticipated to increase ridership nonetheless.
“These improvements will make it easier for people to reach jobs throughout the region, support local businesses by bringing more activity to the area, and help communities attract new development and new investment,” MTA Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek said in a statement provided by Lamont’s office. “As ridership continues to increase on the Waterbury Branch, at some stations exceeding 200% of 2019 levels, these station upgrades will allow us to provide a more seamless travel experience across the entire region.”
To support construction, rail service will be temporarily replaced with bus service on the Waterbury Branch Line from July 20, 2026, through May 31, 2027. Because the line operates on a single track, major work at the Ansonia and Beacon Falls stations cannot be completed safely while trains are running. This includes shifting the track to align with new, longer platforms. Suspending service allows crews to work at both locations at the same time and complete the work as quickly as possible.
The outage also allows CTDOT to advance bridge, signal, and infrastructure upgrades between Stratford and Bridgeport where the Waterbury Branch Line connects to the New Haven Line. Coordinating this work, which is under the Track Improvement Mobility Enhancement for Connecticut program, reduces the need for additional future disruptions and keeps the overall project on schedule, Lamont’s office said.
By completing these efforts together, Lamont’s office said state officials expect to save more than $47 million and shorten the Waterbury Station improvements by approximately one year. These savings are driven in large part by using a single extended outage to complete both the station track work and the improvements in Stratford and Bridgeport. Bus service will be provided during this period.
Current conditions at the Naugatuck Metro-North station. Photo courtesy of the office of Gov. Ned Lamont
