Milford (Metro-North)

WOOHOO, METRO-NORTH IN DA HOUSE BABAAYYYYYYYYY

Alrighty, so Milford’s setup consists of two sides on a triple-tracked Northeast Corridor. In essence, it’s got the same setup as places like Guilford and Hyde Park. The platforms are mostly sheltered, which is nice. But, why is the inbound platform longer than the outbound?

Also, why are there bridges over track 4? Was MNRR trying to neuter performance through here, or is it because they’re doing work on that track upstream? Oh well. On either track you can also find MNRR ticket machines, which is nice to see this far out of Grand Central. There’s also plenty of parking and it’s clearly well-used. On the street, one can also make connections to CTtransit, Milford Transit, and the Coastal Link as well. Neat. I will say, though, the lack of any “train approaching” warnings like along the rest of the NEC does feel a bit weird given the sheer amount (at least 3 every 5 minutes!) passing or stopping here.

Alright, but how do you cross over? Well, to cross over, you have to go down the parking lot, onto the main street, and back up. This, um, isn’t very accessible. I mean, it is on paper, but in practice it’s not easy.

The good: It’s in a pretty good place, in downtown Milford! It’s also well-used, with even offpeak trains seeing a decent amount of ridership in each direction! But, given the mere amount of trains that stop here, that probably amounts to a relatively small ridership per train. Still, nice to see a station like this to be well-utilized.

The bad: The lack of any real ADA-accessible crossovers between platforms. Yes, it’s accessible on paper, but is it easy to use? Not really. Also the lack of any “train approaching” warnings like further up the NEC. And why are the platforms of differing length?

Nearby points of interest: Pretty much all of downtown Milford! The Connecticut Post Mall is also a stone’s throw away by bus, which is nice.

Transit connections:
Metro-North (New Haven)
CTtransit (271)
Coastal Link
Milford Transit (2, 3, 4)

Overall, first impressions matter. And, while it’s not the best station, it could certainly have been worse. In terms of how bad, it could certainly be worse, and much worse at that.

Rating: 5.5/10