Clinton station is a regional rail station served by the

CTrail CT Rail, stylized as CT''rail'', is the brand for commuter rail services overseen by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), in the U.S. state of Connecticut, with some service extending into Massachusetts. CTDOT oversees two lines: ...

Shore Line East Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...

service located near downtown

Clinton, Connecticut Clinton is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population of the town was 13,185 at the 2020 census. The town center along the shore line was listed as a census-designated place (CDP) by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 ...

. The station has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...

s connected by a footbridge. Clinton is a commuter-only station;

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's ''

Acela Express The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, inclu ...

'' and ''

Northeast Regional The ''Northeast Regional'' is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''NortheastDirect'', ''Acela Regional'', or ''Regional''. It is Amtrak's busi ...

'' services run through the station without stopping.

History

New Haven Railroad

The New Haven & New London Railroad was charted in 1848, began construction in 1850, and opened for service in July 1852. A combination depot (serving both freight and passengers) similar to others on the line was located on the south side of the tracks east of John Street in downtown Westbrook. The line was owned by the

New York, Providence and Boston Railroad The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, normally called the Stonington Line, was a major part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between New London, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. It is now part of Amtrak's high-sp ...

(the "Stonington Road") from 1858 to 1862, and by the Shore Line Railway from 1864 until it was acquired by the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

in 1870. In the 1890s, the New Haven double-tracked and straightened several sections of the Shore Line. The sharp curve in downtown Clinton was eliminated in 1897, allowing four grade crossings to be eliminated. A new station, located on the north side of the tracks at John Street, was built in the

saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

style and became "the new standard pattern of stations on the Shore Line". The by station opened on November 19, 1897,. Twelve days before, the older station had been moved to the west for use as a freight house, a function it served until the 1950s. It is still extant and in use as a restaurant. The 1897-built station was demolished around 1960 when the site was sold to expand parking for the adjacent

Chesebrough-Pond's Pond's is an American brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

factory. As part of the sale, Chesebrough-Pond's paid for a small shelter to be built slightly to the east at Hull Street. Most commuter service east of New Haven ceased on January 1, 1969, after the New Haven merged into

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

, though the '' Clamdigger'' continued operation under Penn Central and later

until January 28, 1972. The shelter was demolished in 1973 along with those at Stonington, East Lyme, Madison, and Branford station. A second version of the ''Clamdigger'' operated from September 9, 1976 to October 30, 1977, but it did not stop at Clinton. The ''Clamdigger'' was reinstated on January 8, 1978, with commuter-based flag stops added at Groton, Clinton, Madison, Stony Creek, and Branford. It was replaced by the Boston-New Haven '' Beacon Hill'' effective April 30, 1978, ending service to Clinton a second time.

Shore Line East station

The modern Clinton station opened at the beginning of Shore Line East service on May 29, 1990. A small low-level platform with Plexiglas shelters was located at John Street, almost exactly where the town's first station was located. Like the other original 1990 Shore Line East stations, the station was built before the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, and its low-level platform was not

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

. On May 24, 2004, construction of a new platform began at Clinton as well as Guilford and Branford. The rebuilt Clinton station, with a two car long, 200-foot-long high-level platform on the south side of the tracks, opened on July 25, 2005. A 2003 agreement between the Connecticut Department of Transportation (which operates Shore Line East) and Amtrak (who owns the tracks) included a requirement that all Shore Line East stations have second platforms added before Shore Line East service could be increased. Having two platforms allows SLE trains to use both tracks, providing greater operational flexibility. Per the agreement with Amtrak, a second platform was to be added to Clinton station. The project was originally planned to start in early 2012, but was indefinitely delayed in 2011. By mid-2012 the project was to be advertised to bidders in June 2013, it was then delayed indefinitely. In October 2017, the state announced that construction would begin in March 2018 and be completed by December 2019. It was announced in January 2018 that the then-$18 million project would be postponed again until new funding was identified. However, bidding for the project took place in August 2018. Funding was nearly withdrawn in December 2018, but town officials convinced the state to allow the project to proceed. A groundbreaking for the $12.5 million project was held in June 2019, with completion then expected in January 2021. The second platform and footbridge opened on April 4, 2022, doubling the amount of service that stops at the station.

References

External links

Shore Line East - Clinton
{{Amtrak Connecticut stations Shore Line East stations Former Amtrak stations in Connecticut Stations on the Northeast Corridor Transportation buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Connecticut Former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad stations 1990 establishments in Connecticut Railway stations in the United States opened in 1852 Railway stations closed in 1972 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1978 Railway stations closed in 1978 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1990 Transportation in Middlesex County, Connecticut