CT: Waterbury Branch Line to return to service 10 weeks after floods washed out large sections of track

Train service will resume later this month on the Waterbury Branch Line following weeks of repairs to sections of track that were washed away during Connecticut's historic August floods, officials announced Friday.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation said that service along the line will resume Monday, Oct. 28 with a 4:45 a.m. train departing from Waterbury, followed by a 7 a.m. from Bridgeport. Afterwards, the service will resume its normal schedule.

Rail service on the route was suspended on Aug. 18 and replaced with buses while workers raced to replace nearly 7,000 tons of washed out trackbed near the Kinneytown Dam in Seymour.

Another washout along the tracks in Beacon Falls also required repairs, according to the DOT.

"The damage sustained along the Waterbury Branch Line was devastating and access to these areas was incredibly difficult," DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in a statement Friday. "It's remarkable what crews and contractors have been able to accomplish in two months to get trains running again ahead of our initial timeline."

Officials initially estimated that it would take between four and five weeks to restore service to the line, before pushing that timeline back to mid-November after encountering difficulties accessing the largest portion of affected track, which sat on a steep embankment overlooking the Naugatuck River.

The repairs ended up taking about 10 weeks to complete, and necessitated the construction of temporary access roads to move equipment to the washed out areas.

Crews will be out over the next week operating test trains in both directions between Waterbury and Bridgeport to inspect the tracks and railroad crossing along the entire line. The DOT cautioned the public to follow posted signs and avoid walking along the railroad tracks.

Prior to the floods that washed out sections of track and damaged homes and businesses within the Naugatuck River Valley, the Waterbury Line had been experiencing a post-pandemic resurgence with more than 138,000 riders over the six months of the year.

Jim Gildea, the chair of the Connecticut Public Transportation Council and a Waterbury Branch rider from Derby, said credited DOT with "exceeding expectations," in light of the extent of the damage.

"The storm damage just did an absolute number on the Waterbury Branch Line and we certainly did not expect it to come back this early," Gildea said. "They did a great job."

The department did not reveal a final cost Friday for the repairs, which were contracted to O&G Industries out of Torrington. Earlier estimates placed the price tag at around $11 million, with the state seeking federal disaster relief funds to help cover the cost.

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