Madison is a passenger rail station along

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 ...

commuter rail line, which runs on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

between

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

and

New London New London may refer to: Places United States *New London, Alabama *New London, Connecticut *New London, Indiana *New London, Iowa * New London, Maryland *New London, Minnesota *New London, Missouri *New London, New Hampshire, a New England town * ...

. Madison station consists of a mid-sized parking lot and one high-level

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 platforms ...

on the southbound side of the tracks. Madison is a commuter-only station;

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

'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, includ ...

'' 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 busies ...

'' services run through the station without stopping. Madison is served by about 11 Shore Line East trains in each direction on weekdays and 5 in each direction on weekends.

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 station similar to other on the line was located off Wall Street just north of downtown Madison. 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 York, New Haven, and Hartford 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 ...

(the "New Haven") in 1870. In 1896, the original station was replaced by a

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 ...

station of a standard New Haven design, located slightly to the west. The older station was moved for use as a freight house. A small wooden westbound shelter, similar to other Shore Line stops east of New Haven, was added in the 1950s. 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 Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

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

until January 28, 1972. The shelter was likely demolished around 1973, as were other such shelters at recently closed stations. A second version of the ''Clamdigger'' operated from September 9, 1976 to October 30, 1977, but it did not stop at Madison. The ''Clamdigger'' was reinstated on January 8, 1978, with commuter-based flag stops added at Groton,

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

, Madison, Stony Creek, and Branford. It was replaced by the Boston-New Haven '' Beacon Hill'' effective April 30, 1978. The ''Beacon Hill'' was discontinued on October 1, 1981, ending service to Madison a second time. In 1969, the 1896-built station was renovated as a showroom for a model home company. It is still in place, although the canopy was removed in the late 1990s during electrification work, and an expansion in 2005 modified its shape. In 1985, the 1852-built station was moved for possible renovations, but soon demolished. The Madison Senior Center, which had been a possible reuse of the station, was rebuilt on Old Route 79 as an exact replica; it was demolished around 2011 during the construction of a new ambulance facility on the site.

Shore Line East

The current station has one, two car long high level platform. The modern Madison 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 Wall 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 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

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.e ...

. On July 28, 2008, a new station with an accessible high-level

and commuter shelter area opened for service to the west of the previous station. A second platform and three-story parking garage are planned to allow the station, which is less than half a mile from

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

and

US-1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, ...

, to serve as a

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rapi ...

station. The second platform is mandated by a 2003 agreement between ConnDOT and

. A Record of Decision for the project was released in 2009. By 2012 it was to go out to bid in 2013, but this was indefinitely delayed as platform construction at busier Branford and

Guilford Guildford is a town in Surrey, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Guildford, the Diocese of Guildford and the Parliamentary constituency of Guildford. Guildford, Guilford, or Gildford may also refer to: Places Australia * Guildfor ...

and electrification work for future M8 service were prioritized instead. After a second attempt, it was announced in January 2018 that the project would be postponed again until new funding was identified.

References

External links

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