NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Seating areas at New Haven Union Station are expected to be reopened today (Tuesday, April 25) after being shut down Monday following a report of bed bugs in the waiting room.
The New Haven Parking Authority, which operates the station, conducted a deep cleaning with chemicals and compounds on Sunday night and was repeating the process on Monday, WVIT-TV reports. Parting Authority Executive Director Douglas Hausladen told the station the surfaces involved are hard “so they’re easy to clean and treat. And there shouldn’t be any concern to the traveling public going forward.”
The station remained open during the cleaning process.
The station, opened in 1920, is one of the busiest in the Amtrak network, with more than 600,000 riders in fiscal 2022, It is also used by CTRail’s Hartford Line and Shore Line East commuter operation, and the MTA’s Metro-North Railroad.
There certainly have been some unusual items in the Trains news wire this week!
Bedbugs are hitchhikers: namely, passengers in this case. I wouldn’t rush to blame the State of Connecticut. In fact, maybe praise for their discovery and (hopeful) eradication before they could spread further. Has anyone inspected and fumigated every train that stopped there on Sunday?
The station is owned by the State of Connecticut, not Amtrak. If you think the station is understaffed, then direct your comments towards the State of Connecticut.
The plagues of ancient Egypt are being visited on the Coscia/Gardner Amtrak! Bed bugs join the mice and the rats attracted by Fresh and Contemporary in-room dining.
Sarcasm hopefully aside–there is a message about the consequences of cost-cutting, and of management by institutionalized pessimism here! Staff up so that things do not decline–but rather, may get better.