Wilton 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 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 ...

's New Haven Line, located in Wilton, Connecticut. It's one of 2 rail stations located within the town of Wilton. The station first opened in 1852 and is the most used station on the Danbury Branch by weekday passengers.

History

Wilton station opened in 1852 alongside

Cannondale station Cannondale station is a commuter rail station on the Danbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, located in the Cannondale neighborhood of Wilton, Connecticut. The station building was added to the National Register of Historic ...

Georgetown station Georgetown or George Town may refer to: Places Africa *George, South Africa, formerly known as Georgetown *Janjanbureh, Gambia, formerly known as Georgetown * Georgetown, Ascension Island, main settlement of the British territory of Ascension Isl ...

, and Kent station 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 house was replaced in 1939 by the current one. The original station was moved north to the nearby property of Charles Dana in 1941. Following the death of Dana in 1968, the town acquired the Dana property. However, the original station had fallen into advanced disrepair, and after almost being demolished in 1974, the original station house was moved to Lambert Corners in 1978., where it remains today. On May 21, 2014, both businesses housed inside of the station house closed unexpectedly. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, ridership at Wilton station dropped significantly, prompting a decreased frequency of trains stopping at Wilton.

Station layout

Facing north at Wilton station, November 2011

The station has one four-car-long high-level

Island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

serving trains in both directions. On both the north and south end of the platform, the two tracks merge into a single track. The station has 212 parking spaces, 105 owned by the state and all managed by the Town of Wilton."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
/ref> The station is owned and operated by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), but Metro-North is responsible for trash and snow removal as well as platform lighting.

References

Notes

External links

Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Condition Inspection for the Wilton Station" report, September 2002

Station from Ridgefield Road from Google Maps Street View
{{MNRR stations navbox Stations along New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad lines Metro-North Railroad stations in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Wilton, Connecticut Railroad stations in Fairfield County, Connecticut