BEACON FALLS — The small town of Beacon Falls is one of a handful of stops on the Metro-North Waterbury Branch Line that will be getting a new upgraded train platform.
The state Department of Transportation is expecting to begin construction on the Beacon Falls train platform on Railroad Avenue in the spring of 2026 with work expected to take a year and a half. The estimated $27 million project will be paid for with a combination of 80% federal and 20% state funds and will include a new 350-foot-long platform with a full canopy and windscreens for the entire length.
The platform deck will be heated to allow for efficient snow melting. The new high-level platform will be fully ADA compliant to ensure passengers of all abilities can safely board the train, DOT spokeswoman Eva Zymaris said.
“We’re all pretty excited about the whole idea that the state DOT is actually looking at the town of Beacon Falls and realizing that the ridership here on the Waterbury Line has been slowly increasing,” Selectman Mike Krenesky said.
The state Department of Transportation will be upgrading several train stations on the Waterbury Branch Line which includes Waterbury, Seymour, Ansonia, and Derby-Shelton. Naugatuck and state officials broke ground on July 18 for a new $33.2 Naugatuck Train Station in downtown on Old Firehouse Road.
First Selectman Gerard Smith said the upgrades will go a long way to help rail commuters with accessibility while protecting them from rain and snow as they wait.
“The platform will be equipped with new passenger information systems, lighting systems, security cameras, and blue light emergency phones,” Zymaris said. “A Metro-North ticket vending machine will also be installed on site for the purchase of train tickets.”
The train station parking lot will also be repaved and modified slightly to improve the flow and safety of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Six electric vehicle charging parking spaces will be added as well, Zymaris said.
Rail improvements part of larger program
The Beacon Falls project is part of a $140 million statewide program to upgrade all stations on the Waterbury Line. The statewide initiative includes expanded accessibility features, improved platform designs and renovated passenger facilities.
Krenesky said this is just a bigger opportunity for downtown Beacon Falls economic development and it’s going to be a large, attractive addition to the area that they’ve called their Transit Oriented District and their plans for Main Street.
“The new train station just plays into our longer term plan of conservation and development,” Krenesky said. “It’s just perfect timing for the state to be doing this.”
The Naugatuck Valley has been long overdue to have these rail upgrades and with the new trains that the state has purchased, they basically have to rebuild the platforms, Krenesky added.
The state DOT has spent time building rail sidings which will help with more frequent travel for commuters, he said.
“One of the challenges that has always been with the Waterbury Line is that it’s a single track and you can only have a northbound or a southbound train going on that track at any time. Now they’ve built sidings and there’s sidings in Beacon Falls just south of the existing train station,” Krenesky said. “So trains can bypass so now you can have a north and southbound basically on a similar schedule and they just sort of pass each other using the sidings to come off. So that’s going to be a huge advantage to the Waterbury line.”
Krenesky also said that because the roads today are overcrowded with some people driving crazy, traveling on the train is a safer environment. The small town already has several daily commuters who use the rail.
“I think it’s just going to open up travel opportunities for everyone, especially those people who work in New York City,” Krenesky said. “This is going to be huge for them to be able to have a bigger variety of trains to choose.”