Bicycles parked Darien Railroad Station Darien Train Station Bikes 09-18-17

More Cameras at Train Stations: State to Hold Public Hearing in Norwalk

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The state Department of Transportation wants to install more video surveillance cameras next year to improve security at various train stations from Darien to Westport, and it will hold a public hearing to get your views on Oct. 17 in Norwalk. Here’s the entire announcement from the department:

The Connecticut Department of Transportation will be conducting a public information meeting for State Project No. 0300-0202 concerning the Network Infrastructure Upgrades Project. Department of Transportation personnel will be available during the meeting to discuss the project.

Map Noroton Heights Railroad Station platform replacement 03-25-17

State Says Noroton Heights Station Platforms To Be Replaced By Next June, Town DPW Director Thinks by Christmas

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The project to replace all the concrete platforms at Noroton Heights Railroad Station is officially not due to be over until June 2019, according to the state Department of Transportation, but Darien Public Works Director Edward Gentile doesn’t believe it. He thinks commuters will be more likely to be using the new platform by this coming Christmas. The project got off to a slow start, with plenty of pauses, Gentile said, while the Manafort construction company became more accustomed to the work. Now that they have, the pace should continue to moving at a good clip, he said. According to a town DPW report Gentile gave to the Board of Selectmen before Tuesday mornings town government department heads meeting with the board, the fourth phase of the project, covering the platform around the station building and the northern (Heights Road-side) entrance to the pedestrian bridge, should be starting by Aug.

Noroton Heights Station Train Railroad platforms project 04-03-17

Noroton Heights Station Platform Replacement Project: More on Which Parts Will Be Done When & Parking Impact

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Darien Public Works Director Ed Gentile gave out more details Monday night on what parts of the Noroton Heights Railroad Station platform-replacement project will be done at what times and how various elements of the plan would affect parking. Gentile added to information already released on the project by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), which is financing the project and which owns the station. Darien town government maintains the station and regulates the parking with the state’s permission. These were the points Gentile made:

ConnDOT had originally planned to replace the current platforms with concrete platforms created off-site and trucked to the station. Instead, the department will now have the contractor pour the concrete in place.

Parking Noroton Heights Station 03-28-17

Town Officials Consider Parking Situation at Noroton Heights Station as Platform Project Starts

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With the passenger platform replacement project now started at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, town officials have taken some steps to try to minimize the parking spaces that commuters can’t use during construction, and if that’s not enough, they’ve identified some other options. The project to replace all the concrete platforms on either side of the tracks has begun, with the western end of the south platform, roughly half of it, already marked off with yellow tape and now unusable for passengers. Work on that quarter of the platforms was expected to continue to about mid-summer, ConnDOT said during the initial planning for the project last year. A number of parking spaces up against the platform are already out of commission. At Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, members of the board said they were concerned about commuters losing spaces and wanted to know if the town could help with that.

Map Noroton Heights Railroad Station platform replacement 03-25-17

Noroton Heights Train Station Platform Replacement Project Begins Monday

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An 18-month-long demolition and reconstruction of the concrete platforms at Noroton Heights Railroad Station is scheduled to begin Monday, with work starting on the western end of the south platform (nearest Hollow Tree Ridge Road).  

The state Department of Transportation announced the beginning of construction with this news release on March 21:

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is announcing the replacement of the Noroton Heights Railroad Station Platforms in Darien starting on March 27, 2017.  

The project consists of the replacement of platforms along Track 3 (New York Bound) and Track 4 (New Haven Bound) including guardrails/hand rails, bearings, an eastbound platform shelter, illumination upgrades, and minor appurtenances. The Notice to Proceed was Nov. 22, 2016 and the demolition segment of Stage 1 of the project is scheduled to begin on March 27, 2017 with Stages 2 through 4 to follow subsequently.  The project completion date is Nov.

Building Noroton Heights Train Station 3-3-16

Stevenson: Building at Noroton Heights Station Creates Safety Problem for Pedestrians

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First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said she’d like to fix a safety problem for commuters walking past a small storage building at the Noroton Heights Train Station, but it doesn’t look easy. The building, several hundred feet to the east of Darien EMS-Post 53 on the south side of the station, is in the midst of station parking lots on either side of it. Commuters going to and from the station platform walk around it on a sloped driveway they share with passing vehicles. At a recent meeting of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council held in Darien Town Hall, a Stamford woman asked the officials about the spot. Esther Giordano of Stamford said she was asking on behalf of a colleague at work who leaves from the Noroton Heights station.

Rail Commuter Council 3-17-16

ConnDOT Official: Noroton Heights Station Project Will Replace Platforms, Not Expand Them

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When all the Noroton Heights Railroad Station concrete platforms are replaced starting next spring, the state Department of Transportation won’t be expanding the platform, a department official said Wednesday at a meeting in Town Hall. A project to replace the concrete “Double T” platforms that are crumbling at the station will be undertaken in segments until all of them are replaced, the department has already announced. At a meeting of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council held in Darien Town Hall on Wednesday, council members asked John Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the department, whether or not the station could get the platform lengthened, since future trains may have as many as 12 cars. Right now, the north platform has 10 segments and the south platform has nine, Bernick said. Council members asked First Selectman Jayme Stevenson whether or not she’d prefer a longer platform, and Stevenson said that in talks with ConnDOT, she’d told the state she would want to maximize the number of platforms, ideally to 12 on each side.

Police Car

Somebody Stole the Door Off a Car at the Noroton Heights Train Station

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Sometime on Monday, the driver’s side rear door of a car parked at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station was removed from its hinges and taken away. The theft was done out in the open, sometime between 6 a.m. and 3:07 p.m., when a town Department of Public Works employee saw it and reported it to police. The car, a gray 2015 Honda Accord, was parked by its owner, a New Canaan man headed for New York City, on the south side of the tracks, not far from Hollow Tree Ridge Road and near some stairs by the platform. The owner thought he had locked the car. The lock and handle of the driver’s side front door had been tampered with.

Metro-North Train

Darien Police Weren’t Notified When 100s Let off Train at Noroton Hgts Station as Bag & Beeping Checked

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Update 6:21 p.m.: Darien police were not notified about the matter until about an hour after it had ended, a police spokesman said. Original article:

A suspicious bag and suspicious beeping on a morning train led to 250 passengers being let off the train unexpectedly at the Noroton Heights railroad station. The bag — originally reported as “an unattended package emitting sounds,” turned out to be garbage, and the beeping came from a harmless phone wedged in between a seat and a wall, causing its alarm to go off, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The 250 or so commuters who were evacuated at the station (not one of that train’s normal stops) were picked up by a train originating in Danbury, which arrived at Grand Central Terminal at about 8:18 a.m., not long after the original train was due at Grand Central (7:59 a.m.), the MTA said in a news release. An MTA Police canine unit identified the bag and beeping.

Town Officials, Consultants Considering Improvements for Noroton Heights Station

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When it comes to making plans on how to improve the Noroton Heights Railroad Station, one of the highest-volume train stations in Connecticut and of enormous importance to many town residents, you could say there are a lot of moving parts. One illustration of that occurred within a recent eight-day period in town: On Sept. 23, state Department of Transportation officials held a public meeting in Town Hall to show the public their plans to replace two, 850-foot-long concrete boarding platforms on either side of the tracks at the station. Not to worry about this interfering with any plans for improvements at the station — we can replace other features of the station without disturbing the newly rebuilt platforms, they said. And eight days later, on Oct.

DOT NH 20

First Selectman’s Goal for Noroton Heights Station: New Building, Bridge

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Connecticut Department of Transporation officials have one immediate goal in mind for the Noroton Heights Railroad Station — Replacing the concrete platform to keep the station safe for commuters in years to come. When transportation officials visited the town to talk about that project, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson spoke with them with an additional goal in mind — to get support for replacing other parts of the station with improved structures. The DOT’s goal is immediate and, well, concrete: The concrete platforms have been crumbling — and apparently deteriorating faster than those of most stations on the New Haven Line. They also want to replace the roofed, three-sided shelter on the south side of the station with something larger if they can, and they’ll add some ramps compliant with the ADA — the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act — and replace some of the lamps and recycling bins. At a public meeting in Town Hall Wednesday, DOT officials explained their plans to replace the platforms in an $8 million-plus project that commuters will be walking and driving around from March 2016 through sometime “late in 2017.”

NH crumbling 4

All Noroton Heights Station Platforms to Be Replaced from March ’17 to Late ’18

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The concrete platforms at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station will be replaced between March 2017 and “late” 2018, Connecticut Department of Transportation officials said at a public meeting Wednesday in Town Hall. Darienite.com will have more coverage of this meeting concerning the desire of town officials and owners of two commercial tracts across Heights Road to improve the station and co-ordinate access to it. The platforms — what train riders stand and walk on just before and after they ride trains — can be seen to be crumbling (see photos attached to this article) and they’re in need of replacement, DOT officials said at the meeting. While they are being replaced in the state-financed project, other small changes will be made — new ramps will be added at the eastern end of the platforms, a short stretch of sidewalk will be added at the north side of the station just west of the station building, modern LED light will replace existing lights and guardrails compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act will replace the current guardrails. The shelter at the south side of the station will be replaced — and planners are hoping to replace it with a larger shelter.

Cameron Announcement for 9-23-15 meeting

Public Meeting Wednesday on Improving Noroton Heights Railroad Station

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The state Department of Transportation will present its plans to replace all or part of the platform at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station at a public meeting tonight, but town officials have more ambitious plans for a bigger overhaul of the station. The “public informational meeting” as announced by the DOT takes place in Room 206 of Darien Town Hall. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m., but people are encouraged to come by at 7 p.m. to see plans for the project. The public can discuss the matter, bring up concerns and have questions answered at the meeting. First Selectman Jayme Stevenson says the run-down station needs much more than just a replacement of the concrete and metal platform.

Murphy Noroton RR Station 1 Sept 2015

US Sen Murphy Visits Noroton Heights Train Station, Supports Renovations

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U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy visited Noroton Heights Railroad Station on Tuesday to learn about town officials’ hopes to replace much of it at about the same time that the Noroton Heights business district is rebuilt.

 

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson gave Murphy a brief tour of the north side of the station, accompanied by state Sen. Bob Duff and state Rep. Terri Wood. All said they’d like to see state and federal money used to help reconstruct the station. Stevenson said the town was willing to chip in if there was a partnership between other levels of government and some of the developers who want to replace much of the commercial district. Possible improvements

The plexiglas shelter at the station needs to be expanded or replaced with a structure that can hold many more commuters on cold winter mornings, Stevenson said. She told Murphy that a complete redesign “of the station building” would be a good idea.

Police Darien Police Lock Your Car Every Time

New Development in Scooter Thefts from Station & Another One Stolen

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Another motor scooter has been reported stolen in town, and Darien police say they have video surveillance of two people riding off after the thefts of two scooters at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station. Latest theft

In the most recently reported theft, a resident of Hollow Tree Ridge Road who lives near Wee Burn Country Club told police on Wednesday, July 29 that sometime between the previous Thursday and Sunday his 2013 Yamaha Zuma scooter was taken. It had been parked on the driveway outside the garage, and the owner remembered seeing it on Wednesday, July 22 or Thursday before leaving on a trip that day. He returned from the trip, then noticed the scooter missing on Tuesday, the day before he reported the theft to police. The vehicle is valued at $2,500.