WATERBURY, Conn. — It could take up to five weeks and several million dollars to repair severe flood damage on Metro-North Railroad’s Waterbury Branch, officials said during a Thursday tour of damage on the commuter rail line.
Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said the damage from the storm on Sunday, Aug. 18, that halted operations caused “severe washouts in two main locations on the branch that require tons of crushed stone to restore. … we are working closely with CT DOT to complete repairs and provide substitute bus service in the meantime.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a press release that the washouts between Seymour and Ansonia, and near Beacon Falls, will require approximately 1,500 cubic yards of stone and 3,600 cubic yards of fill material to address damage along 200 feet of track.
The news site CT Insider reports that state DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said the 28.5-mile branch should be back to normal by early 2025. Bus service is replacing trains while the repairs continue.
Rinaldi said media was invited along on Thursday’s tour in part so the public could understand the extent of damage that will require the use of a 16-bus fleet to replace trains for the foreseeable future. Steve Kilpert, Metro-North’s deputy director of track projects, said the largest washout had created what is “about a 40-feet-deep, 220-feet long cavity to fill in.”
