Aug. 27—Before torrential rains washed out a 220-foot section of track earlier this month, the Waterbury Branch Line was a success story for the state's commuter rail system still struggling to rebound from the pandemic.
More than 138,000 people rode the route during the first half of the year, a 14 percent increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. The Waterbury Branch was one of two routes in Connecticut — the other being the Hartford Line between New Haven and Springfield — that has seen ridership surpass pre-pandemic levels in recent years.
That comeback is now being disrupted by service closures that could last up to four or five weeks as officials spend millions of dollars to repair the damages caused by this month's historic rainstorms. The rain — more than a foot in some areas — caused the Naugatuck River to overflow its banks, washing away a chunk of bedding underneath the Waterbury Branch tracks.
"The flood was devastating for a portion of our state, including rail service along the Waterbury Line. Travel has been impacted, and transit is no different," Department of Transportation spokeswoman Samaia Hernandez said in a statement Monday. "CTDOT is aggressively working with Metro-North to repair the Waterbury Line as quickly as possible."
To make up for the suspended rail service, Metro-North is running buses between Bridgeport and Waterbury making stops at each of the Waterbury Branch stations. That service is scheduled to continue indefinitely while repairs are made to the tacks.
Riders on the line have had to rely upon substitute bus service on several occasions in recent years as the Department of Transportation has undertaken work to install new passing sidings, replace tracks and update signal switch and signal systems.
"I think it's something that we're used to, I think it's something that, quite frankly when it's planned, the state and Metro-North does real well," said Jim Gildea, the chairman of the Connecticut Public Transportation Council and a Waterbury Branch rider from Derby.
"There will be some drop off, but I definitely expect those people will come back when rail ridership resumes," he added.
Given the extent of the damage on the ground underneath the tracks, Gildea said the state's timeline for completing repairs in four or five weeks is "a quicker turnaround than a lot of commuters expected."
The Waterbury Branch is operated by Metro-North as a branch of the busier New Haven Line. The tracks themselves are owned by the state of Connecticut, as are the eight stations between Bridgeport and Waterbury.
The railroad, which largely follows the path of the Naugatuck River, was heavily damaged by flooding caused by back-to-back hurricanes in August 1955. Those floods destroyed the train station in Ansonia and service was not fully restored until the following February, according to the Derby Historical Society.
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