Madison (CTrail)

Alrighty, a SLE-exclusive (SLExclusive?) station!

Alrighty, so Madison isn’t much. You have a big parking lot, presumably intended for a park & ride. Needless to say, parking was plenty and the lot was about half-full. That’s normal. What isn’t normal, however, is the platform.

Yup. It’s just a singular side platform. This means not every run of the SLE can stop here. So, how does scheduling work? Well, in the morning rush hour period, trains are ran only westbound, while all other times have eastbound-only trains stopping here.

The station is pretty much fully sheltered, with a facade of a station building. However, it’s not a building, but there are benches and some partly enclosed space.

Fortunately, there are benches and wastebins, so there’s some amenities. However, is it enough to save the lack of a second platform? No.

The good: It’s a park & ride off the interstate! It’s also fairly close to Madison’s town center, which seems like a nice place.

The bad: NO, NO, NO! WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE PLATFORM?! The single platform not only greatly hinders the Shore Line East’s service here, but also the Regional and Acela heading either way! Just, AUGH! No, just no! If there was a platform, this station could’ve scraped by with a 6, but NO!

Nearby points of interest: Madison’s town center! I’m not too familiar with the area, but it seems like a pretty nice place to relax and unwind.

Transit connections:
CTrail (Shore Line East)
CTtransit (201)
9 Town Transit (641)

Overall, why? I think it’s the least-used SLE station, given it’s the only one that’s still single platform. However, a “least used” station still deserves at least two platforms, one for each direction. And if it doesn’t have that, it’s kinda a bad station. Sorry, Madison, but you deserve better.

Rating: 4/10