Bethel station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

station on the

Danbury Branch The Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line from downtown Norwalk, Connecticut north to Danbury, mostly single-tracked. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. Until the early 1970s, passenger ...

of the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...

, located in

Bethel, Connecticut Bethel () is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Its population was 11,988 in 2022 according to World Population Review. The town includes the Bethel (CDP), Connecticut, Bethel Census Designated Place. Inte ...

History

The original Bethel station opened in 1852 on the

Danbury and Norwalk Railroad The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Rai ...

. The original station building eventually burned down on December 15, 1898, as a result of an overheated stove. The station was eventually replaced the following year in 1899. The 1899-built station served passengers until 1996, when it was taken out of service but not demolished. The current station on Durant Avenue was built in 1996 and succeeds the previous station on Depot Place. The old station is still standing, but trains no longer stop at it. The building subsequently became a bicycle shop, then a brewery.

Station layout

The station has a five-car-long high-level side platform to the east of the single track. The station has 197 parking spaces, all owned by the state."Task 2: Technical Memorandum parking Inventory and Utilization: Final Report" submitted by Urbitran Associates Inc. to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Table 1: New haven Line Parking Capacity and Utilization", page 6, July 2003
Most of these are permit spaces, but there is also metered parking available. The station building is open during rush hours and has a bakery, seating area, and restroom, but no ticket machines. The station is operated by the town of Bethel, though it is owned by ConnDOT.

References

External links

Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Condition Inspection Bethel Station" report, July 2002
Former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad stations Metro-North Railroad stations in Connecticut Railroad stations in Fairfield County, Connecticut Railway stations in the United States opened in 1996 Buildings and structures in Bethel, Connecticut {{Connecticut-railstation-stub