Barnum (Metro-North station)

Barnum
File:Barnum station site, January 2016.JPG Proposed station site in January 2016
Location	812 Barnum Avenue Bridgeport, Connecticut
Coordinates
Owned by	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Line(s)
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	4
Construction
Parking	1000 spaces (planned)
History
Opened	2018 (planned)
Electrified	12,500V (AC) overhead catenary
Services
Preceding station   Metro-North Railroad   Following station Bridgeport toward Grand Central New Haven Line Stratford toward New Haven – State Street

Barnum is a planned regional rail station to be located on the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line in East Bridgeport, Connecticut. The station will be on the south side of Barnum Avenue, named after the circus showman and one-time Bridgeport mayor P. T. Barnum. As of July 2014, the station was planned to open in late 2018. A feasibility study was released in July 2013, followed by preliminary planning funding in July 2014 and an application for planning funding in June 2015.

The station is estimated to cost $146.1 million to complete and will have two island platforms to create the possibility for some Amtrak service to stop as well. The station will have 1,000 park and ride spots for commuters.

History

The New York and New Haven Railroad was completed through Bridgeport by 1849. Local and intercity service both used the main railroad station in downtown Bridgeport; no station served the East Side or East End neighborhoods across the Pequonnock River from downtown. In the early 2000s, Metro-North Railroad began adding infill stations to underserved areas along the line, which resulted in the opening of Fairfield Metro in 2011 and West Haven in 2013. Around 2010, the Greater Bridgeport planning Commission and the City of Bridgeport began studying the possibility of adding a second station in Bridgeport.

A feasibility study was released in July 2013 which analyzed the potential for a station sited at the former Remington Arms Company factory in East Bridgeport. It analyzed several different possible platform configurations with the possibility of adding Amtrak Northeast Regional intercity service in addition to Metro-North commuter rail service, and determined that all Metro-North trains operating local east of Bridgeport except for some that make quick reversals at New Haven would be able to stop without substantial operational issues. At the time of the report, the station was estimated to cost $48.0 million.

In July 2014, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy approved the project and authorized $2.75 million in bonds for preliminary planning, with the intention that the station would be open in late 2018. The bond funding was later increased to $7.4 million. In June 2015, CTDOT applied for $11.0 million in federal TIGER grants for station design. The agency then estimated that the environmental review, design, and construction would cost $146.1 million in total. The station's name comes from P. T. Barnum, the circus leader who later became a state senator and mayor of Bridgeport.

External links

• Greater Bridgeport Regional Council – Barnum Station Feasibility Study