Stamford Transportation Center

Stamford
Stamford station from the garage in 2007
Location	490 Washington Boulevard (30 South State Street) Stamford, Connecticut United States
Coordinates	41°02′49″N 73°32′29″W / 41.046937°N 73.541493°W / 41.046937; -73.541493Coordinates: 41°02′49″N 73°32′29″W / 41.046937°N 73.541493°W / 41.046937; -73.541493
Line(s)	Northeast Corridor (ConnDOT)
Platforms	2 island platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks	6 ( 5 Used )
Connections	CT Transit Stamford: 311, 312, 313, 321, 324, 326, 327, 328, 331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 341, 342, 344, 345, 351, 971 Greyhound
Construction
Parking	1,500
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	STM (Amtrak) ZTF (IATA)
Fare zone	16 (Metro-North)
History
Opened	1849
Rebuilt	1861, 1890s, 1987, 2004
Electrified	12,500V (AC) overhead catenary
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	1.928 million  18% (Metro-North)
Passengers (2015)	394,824[1]  1.7% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station New York City toward Washington, DC Acela Express New Haven toward Boston South Station New Rochelle toward Norfolk, Newport News, or Lynchburg Northeast Regional Bridgeport toward Boston South Station or Springfield New York City toward Washington, DC Vermonter Bridgeport toward St. Albans ConnDOT Terminus Shore Line East Bridgeport toward New London Metro-North Railroad Harlem - 125th Street toward Grand Central New Haven Line Noroton Heights toward New Haven State Street Old Greenwich toward Grand Central New Haven Line Terminus Terminus New Canaan Branch Glenbrook toward New Canaan Harlem – 125th Street toward Grand Central Greenwich toward Grand Central Danbury Branch (limited) Noroton Heights toward Danbury Harlem - 125th Street toward Grand Central Waterbury Branch (limited) Bridgeport toward Waterbury

Stamford, officially known as the Stewart B. McKinney Transportation Center^[2] or the Stamford Transportation Center, is a major railroad station in the city of Stamford, Connecticut, serving passengers traveling on Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, and Shore Line East.

The station is 33 miles (53 km) from Grand Central Terminal. Just northeast of the station is the split for the New Canaan Branch. A few Shore Line East trains terminate at Stamford during the morning rush hour, and originate there in the evening.

United Airlines codeshares with Amtrak to provide service out of Stamford station to the train station at United's Northeast hub, Newark Liberty International Airport. As such, the train station has the IATA Airport Code (as an IATA-indexed train station) ZTF.

Downtown Stamford is directly north of the station.

History

The 1861-built depot in 1868

The 1890s-built station in 1983

Regular daily train service began in Stamford on January 1, 1849. In 1867, a depot was built one block east of the present location. The railroad at that time consisted of two tracks and passed through town on ground level (crossing the streets at grade). In the mid-1890s two more tracks were added to the line and most crossings were elevated and bridged, so the 1867 depot, was razed and replaced.^[3]

In 1987, the New York Times published a review of the then-new Stamford Transportation Center by architecture critic Paul Goldberger. The station was criticized for "a harshness almost unequaled in contemporary architecture" as well as for cost overruns and many functional failings, including the lack of shelter for the track platforms. The route from the cross-tracks waiting room to the platform was so long and indirect that passengers who waited indoors until a train's arrival was announced could not get to the platform in time to board it.^[4]

A complete renovation of the station in the early 2000s, provided for in the original design of the overhead structure, addressed these problems. The two platforms were made island platforms, capable of serving four tracks. Added features included platform canopies, stairs and escalators directly from the waiting room for the tracks, and a new platform crossover, connecting to the parking garage.

Layout

The station concourse.

This station has two high-level 10-car-long side platforms and two high-level 12-car-long island platforms. The northern side platform, adjacent to Track 5, and the northern island platform, adjacent to Tracks 3 and 5, are generally used by New Canaan Branch trains, by westbound New Haven Line trains, and by southbound Amtrak trains. The southern island platform, adjacent to Tracks 2 and 4, and the southern side platform, adjacent to Track 4, are generally used by eastbound New Haven Line trains and by northbound Amtrak trains. The New Haven Line has five tracks at this location; track 1, not adjacent to any of the platforms, is used only by express trains.

The main station concourse straddles the tracks of the Northeast Corridor, and contains the ticket booth, a passenger waiting area, newsstands, a shoe-shine spot, a Dunkin' Donuts, and Java Joe's. Downstairs below the platform level in the tunnel there is an MTA police station, Juan's Barbershop and a Subway restaurant. There is also a Greyhound/Peter Pan office and CT Transit Customer Information Center. Stairs and escalators lead to the platform level. Stamford has four high-level platforms, which give access to four tracks. A fifth track lies between the express tracks, so that Amtrak and peak-hour Metro-North trains not stopping there may bypass the station safely at full speed. On the south side of the station, across an access street, is a large parking garage connected to the concourse by one pedestrian bridge and directly connected to the east end of the platforms by a second bridge (both bridges connect to Level 4 of the garage).

A bus station is located just to the north of the train station, underneath a large bridge carrying Interstate 95. Taxis, often lined up by the dozens, pick up passengers at a stand on the south side of the station. A car rental agency is located southwest of the station building.

Parking

Multiple parking garages are within the area, including a garage that is open 24/7 and is linked by air-bridge to the upper level of the train station.

In 2012 it was announced by the Connecticut Dept of Transportation that the old parking garage would be demolished. An RFP was issued seeking developers' ideas for what to construct on the site of the old garage with the possibility that replacement parking (for 1000 spaces) would be moved to a quarter mile from the rail station.

Harbor Point Gateway Garage, at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and West Henry Street, provides indoor parking near the station. The facility includes an electric vehicle charging station as well as a car wash/detail service. A pedestrian bridge over Washington Boulevard provides direct access to the train platform from the garage.

Ridership

The number of people taking Metro-North to Stamford doubled from 2,155 in 1996 to 4,226 in 2006. In recent years, additional office space has been built near the train station to allow commuters to avoid Interstate 95, which is typically very congested during rush hour. For example, The Royal Bank of Scotland completed a $400 million office building in 2008 within 200 yards of the station.^[5]

Stamford is the busiest New Haven Line station outside of New York City. As of 2012, average weekday commuter ridership for the center was 30,000 passengers, ranking among the busiest in the metropolitan area.<ref name=http://blog.tstc.org/2012/07/27/making-stamfords-transit-center-a-gateway-to-the-city/

The station, along with the downtown Greenwich railroad station, is receiving increasing numbers of "reverse commuters" who work in Stamford but live in New York City. Reverse commuting has doubled from 1997 to 2007 and increased 150 percent since 1990, with 1,900 reverse commuters as of 2007. Younger employees, often single and with enough money to live in Manhattan, for instance, sometimes prefer to live there, although more housing and nightlife have come to Downtown Stamford in recent years. Metro-North has added trains and express service to serve these commuters. As financial companies move to Stamford from Manhattan, some employees often become reverse commuters. Larger companies that are farther away than a few minutes walk from the station routinely provide shuttle service for their workers.^[6]

Services

Stamford receives very frequent rail service on the New Haven Line. During peak hours, trains at Stamford come in intervals as little as three or seven minutes apart.^[7] Reverse commute trains during rush hours also operate relatively frequently, at intervals of ten to twenty minutes.^[7] Off-peak trains in both directions arrive at Stamford every thirty to forty minutes, but usually within a half-hour of each other.^[7]

Due to ridership growth in recent years, eastern Connecticut rail service provider Shore Line East announced on 19 March 2007 that it would extend more of its trains to Stamford station during peak hours.^[8] To coincide with the extension of this service, Metro-North added another five trains on the New Haven Line to cope with the increases in passenger demand at Stamford.^[8]

Along with Metro-North service, trains run by national service provider Amtrak stop at Stamford station. The Acela Express, the only high-speed rail service in the United States; the Northeast Regional, providing local service along the Northeast Corridor, on which Stamford is a vital station; and the Vermonter, the only train from Connecticut that goes to Vermont and splits at New Haven, all stop at Stamford station. Stamford is now the second-busiest Amtrak station in Connecticut, after New Haven's Union Station.^[9]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stamford (Metro-North station).

• Metro-North Railroad web page for the Stamford station
• List of upcoming Metro-North train arrival and departure times and track assignments

• Amtrak – Stations – Stamford, CT
• Washington Boulevard entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Entrance south of tracks from Google Maps Street View
• Station Building on State Street from Google Maps Street View
• Stamford Amtrak-Metro North-Shore Line East Station (USA Rail Guide - Train Web)
• Stamford (STM)--Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CT-9, "New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Stamford Station, 44 Station Place, Stamford, Fairfield County, CT", 15 photos, 25 data pages, 1 photo caption page