NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad on Friday announced plans for additional weekend trains and other capacity moves on its New Haven line in light of a collision and fire involving a gasoline tank truck that has closed Interstate 95 in Norwalk, Conn., at least through Monday.
Today (May 4) and Sunday, May 5, two additional trains are operating between New Haven and Grand Central Terminal. Morning departures from New Haven are at 8:29 a.m. and 9:26 a.m. ET; returns from New York are at 4:53 p.m. and 6:59 p.m. Some other trains will have additional cars added to increase capacity.
No additional trains are planned on Monday, when the route already has an extensive schedule, but trains will have additional cars added to increase capacity. Station ambassadors will be on hand at New Haven, Bridgeport, South Norwalk, and Stamford, Conn., between 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to help answer customer questions.
More information on MTA plans is available here; updates on I-95 are available here from the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The I-95 accident damaged a highway overpass directly above the fire to the point that it must be demolished, leading to the closure. The section of the highway involved carries about 150,000 vehicles daily, the New York Times reports.
There were two incidents in NE Philadelphia in the last 12 months, one involving a RR bridge.
On June 11, 2023, a tanker tractor trailer crashed and burned destroying an I-95 bridge with four lanes each way. A shoofly bridge was in service with three lanes each way on June 23. By November 9, permanent bridges were in service.
Amtrak’s NEC was nearby but undamaged. SEPTA added three trains each way to its Trenton Line, more cars to other Trenton trains and some Fox Chase trains and substituted busses for some Cynwyd trains to supply the cars.
On April 1, 2024 (!)a special oversize highway load moving under police escort struck a Conrail overhead bridge over I-95, The bridge connects Amtrak’s NEC at Frankford Jct. with CR Shared Assets operations in South Jersey and also carries NJT’s Phila-Atlantic City trains. Bridge is ex-PRR and RDG had trackage rights in later years. Rail and highway traffic resumed the weekend of Aptil 6-7.
So, where’s all the politicians at pointing fingers at the trucking industry and demanding answers and unworkable solutions?
This is the second interruption of I-95 in SW Connecticut. Quite some time ago (maybe 25-30 years) a mainline I-95 bridge collapsed. Maybe around Stamford or Fairfield.
That was the I-95 bridge over the Mianus River. The collapse happened in June, 1983.
No Alex your memory is just fine. I think it was last year a overpass on the same Highway ( I-95) around Philadelphia collapsed when a tanker took the curve to fast and crashed and burned. It was a ramp from 95 that went under the highway so they took out the scrap and filled in the hole so they could reopen the highway.
Isn’t this the second time this sort of thing has happened to a highway overpass, with trains stepping up to replace it? (or is my memory faulty)