Category: Public Transit

Originally called the Shore Line under the New Haven Railroad, the merger with Penn Central led to a rename to the Clamdigger, where it ran from New Haven to New London once each day. However, after aquiring the service, Amtrak would discontinue it briefly, then replace it in 1978 with the Beacon Hill. This line, extending all the way to Boston, would have intermediate stops at Branford, Madison, Old Saybrook, East Lyme, New London, Mystic, Westerly, Shannock (in Richmond), Kingston, Wickford Junction, and East Greenwich, and Providence, then going express to Route 128 and into South Station (remember, the Southwest Corridor was being built at this time, so all trains had to run through the Fairmount Line!). However, the service didn’t last too long, with service being discontinued at most of these stations.

Fortunately, most of the Connecticut stations have seen revived commuter service, with the Shore Line East being created in 1990 to address congestion concerns on the interstate. Initially it was supposed to run only during construction, but it proved more popular than expected and it stayed, despite criticism. The service initially ran from Old Saybrook to New Haven Union, with intermediate stops at Westbrook, Clinton, Madison, Guilford, and Branford, but two stops would be added in later, with a one stop extension to New London, and an infill station half a mile from New Haven Union on State Street. Through service also ran to Stamford during rush hour, however due to COVID-19, that’s not running. Most of these stations would also be renovated over time, adding a second platform and making them ADA compliant. Unfortunately, though, service between New London and Wickford Junction (with an MBTA connection) still doesn’t exist, but there have been proposals to turn Kingston into a union station, moreso after the South County Extension opened in 2012.

Alrighty, enough of the historical mumbo jumbo, let’s get started. First off, New London! So, the line uses Kawasaki EMUs (think of them like FRA certified subway cars), so we’ll be running on overhead power to New Haven. It’s reasonably fast, though it probably is responsible for some slowdowns on the mainline, likely due to a lack of third tracks. Fortunately, most of the stations are close or in town centers. However, I do hate Madison’s single platform setup. Just, why?

The line begins in New London, at the waterfront-centered Union Station. That’s gonna be a common theme with the line, with it hugging the ocean, and MAN is it scenic! So, upon boarding after the train crawls over the grade crossing, we started crawling out and picking up speed. After about 20 minutes or so, our first stop is Old Saybrook, another Amtrak station.

Of course, since the train was too large for the platform (another common theme), not all the doors are usable for boarding and alighting. After a bit, we were off to the races to the stations served exclusively by the Shore Line East. First up, Westbrook!

Now, between here and Old Saybrook, a track change had taken place. This is because of how Madison’s scheduling works and the fact it’s single-tracked in practice due to a single side platform. Just, why? Nevertheless, this station isn’t exactly the most-used. Next!

Clinton was more-used, and is much better located than Westbrook. Being near the town center, there’s actually a reason to stop here during offpeak hours. Plus, there’s a CVS!

Madison. This station brings the whole line down. Why didn’t they add a second platform during the last rebuild?! What were they thinking?! Fortunately, there’s plans (currently unfunded, though) to install a second platform, which should make it much better than what it currently is. Next!

I’m also not big on this station, likely because I was here for 2 hours. Nevertheless, it’s not a favorite. Certainly, it’s too decrepit for my liking, which it shouldn’t be because it was rebuilt well after South Attleboro.

Branford is next, and it’s pretty decent again. After bending around the tracks a bit, we finally made it. And wouldn’t you believe it, it too is in the town center! Neat. And yes, it was scenic entering the town.

Finally, after going through a tunnel under the interstate and over another bridge, we enter State Street and Union Station, the end of the line. Not much here. State St. is in downtown, while Union Station is a little ways away.

The good: It’s scenic! Also, it’s electrified and fast! Plus, several stations stop at town centers along the line, which is always nice. And, pretty much every station is a park & ride.

The bad: Well, the headways. Hourly in peak directions, and 2 hours during weekends and off-peak? Yeah, no thanks. Also, I think they overbuilt the parking.

Nearby points of interest: New Haven, New London, and points in between! There’s also connections to Amtrak and Metro-North on either end.

Overall, this has got to be the most scenic rail line I’ve ever ridden. Likely also MORE scenic than the Rockport Line on the MBTA. Like, if you said “let’s go to New Haven”, the segment of the NEC that this line runs down would be enough for me to say “absolutely”. However, the headways are dogcrap and I still think the stations should at least be triple-tracked. Also, what’s with track 6 being unelectrified in New London?

Rating: 7/10 (but a 10/10 for the scenery!!!)

Finally, the last Shore Line East (-exclusive) station! And wouldn’t ya believe it, it’s actually pretty decent!

Whelp, we’re about 10 miles out from Union Station, and the last Shore Line East-exclusive station. Now, getting off the platform, it’s definitely a stark contrast to Guilford, again. And, it actually seems like it was cleaned recently! Neat. Of course, you have the usual benches and wastebins. Parking is found exclusively on the eastbound side, while the westbound side has a kiss & ride dropoff area. The town center also happens to be a short walk north. On top of that, this station’s probably the most used SLE-exclusive station as well, as a number of people got on when I alighted the train, at midday. Neat! Maybe it’s also because outside New Haven, Branford’s the most populated town along the line. Only one nitpick: The parking area floods (supposedly). That’s um, not good.

The good: It’s a well-used station in a modestly-sized town! I mean, I’m sure there’s a reason the lot is so huge, but I feel like most ridership is likely local in nature and most don’t drive. Oh yeah, CTtransit stops here at rush hour, too. It’s also pretty close to the town center, being a quarter-mile south.

The bad: The parking lot floods?! And, maybe it’s overbuilt. Despite it being well-used, I get the feeling most walk or transfer from CTtransit.

Nearby points of interest: Branford seems like an alright enough town, however nothing immediately jumps out.

Transit connections:
CTrail (Shore Line East)
CTtransit (204, rush hour only)

Overall, this is probably the best station on the Shore Line East that isn’t shared with Amtrak (or the Hartford Line, or MNRR). It’s in a town center essentially and it gets decent ridership. However, I can’t help but think that it’s overbuilt with regards to parking, though. I’m sure, however, there’s times where the lot is filled up.

Rating: 7.5/10

Ah, the second to last Shore Line East entry! (well, if you exclude shared Amtrak stations, anyways) So, if Clinton is about as good as it gets, Madison has poor service, and Guilford being decrepit, where would Westbrook fall? Well, simply put it: a bit “middle of nowhere”-feeling.

Alrighty, so after getting off the train, two people needing accessibility boarded, and they’d be the last people I see for the next hour. In essence, this station is a copy-paste of Clinton. However, unlike Clinton, there’s pretty much nothing around, nor is there transit-oriented anything. Sure, you could walk to the town center, but I get the feeling the road wasn’t made for walkability. Plus, most locals probably use it as a park & ride.

Now, the elevators work and aren’t sketchy like in Guilford, at least! Parking is plenty, however noone was parked on the westbound parking lot because of how the schedule is set up (where trains run on the eastbound track heading westbound during the morning commute). Plus, the platforms are clean and don’t have any taped-off benches, which is always nice.

Weirdly enough, every now and again I’d hear “TRAIN APPROACHING, PLEASE REMAIN BEHIND YELLOW LINE” with the signs flashing it, but no trains would approach. Maybe there was freight traffic upstream tripping it? Oh yeah, did I mention the sounds of a concrete plant? Yeah, there’s a concrete plant and is probably why I have a headache writing this.

The good: Well, it does the job of being a park & ride, and quite well at that. Plus, it’s close to the town center. And plus, it’s not decrepit like Guilford is!

The bad: It’s a bit far from the edges of what’s officially considered Westbrook’s “town center”. Plus, it’s also a ways away from Westbrook Outlets, which could’ve been transit-oriented had this station been built about a mile east. Also, 9 Town doesn’t deviate in here but is accessed at the street.

Nearby points of interest: Well, you can always walk to Westbrook Outlets and the town center!

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

Overall, it’s not as bad as Guilford. However, I feel like geography and stations downstream are what hurts this station the most if anything. If it were closer to the Outlets, I’d probably give it a 7. But since that’s not the case, it hurts the station a little.

Rating: 6.5/10

So, it’s come to this. I’m reviewing a literal park that happens to be a bus station, and CTtransit’s New Haven hub. Well, whatever.

So, I took the 201 into New Haven from Branford, and after having a convo with an old lady who used to visit RI regularly in her youth, we arrived. Now, this was the Green? Well, it’s part of the New Haven divison’s hub, so I guess so. But, to get to the Green itself, you have to walk a couple of blocks northbound. So, I walk the few blocks, passing a Dunkin’, and finally make it.

So, it’s a park. That’s it. A park, with bus berths shoehorned in around its perimeter. They aren’t even lettered or numbered distinctly for ease of wayfinding, and even if they are, why the hell is one of them a couple of blocks south at the intersection of Church and George Streets?! At least there’s a CTtransit ticket and information office here.

The good: Well, it’s in the heart of downtown New Haven. Plus, it’s got a ticket office that, unlike Kennedy Plaza’s, is actually open and servicable.

The bad: No, no, NO! You literally have TWO train stations nearby! Why couldn’t the hub be at either instead?! Furthermore, why aren’t the berths labelled for wayfinding? Actually, why isn’t there much in the way of wayfinding, at all?! Only reason I was even able to find the Union Station shuttle was because it stood out clearly from all the other buses, but if you’re unfamiliar with the area, how the heck are you supposed to easily find out which stop is which when all the berths are unlabelled?!

Nearby points of interest: Yale! You’re also quite close to State St. and Union Stations, along with Worcester- wait, it’s spelt “Wooster”? Oh shit, neat. Wooster Square, sorry. Gateway CC is also nearby. I’m not very familiar with downtown New Haven, though.

Transit connections:
CTtransit (most New Haven routes)

Overall, just why? This should be a proper bus station, not a park with bus berths lining the primeter. Does this even make rush hour traffic awful???

Rating: 3/10 (though it seems like a 7.5/10 as a park!)

Oh god. This one’s gonna be a bit of a long entry because this one took two hours to ride from end to end. Back to Old Saybrook Station, we go! Well, if you look at that, this route’s gotta be high ridership (relative to the others) since this is the only route to use standard city buses. Baby-sized at 29ft, sure, but still city buses.

My friend and I boarded the bus, and first thing I noticed were the seats were considerably more comfy vs. RIPTA’s 40ft buses (exc. the Proterras).

DRIVER: “Ya headin’ to the outlets?” (referring to Westbrook Outlets)
FRIEND, to me: “where we heading?”
ME: “Nah, Madison.”

The prescribed scheduling of the route was about an hour and 20 minutes, which seemed about right with us riding it. Now, onto the ride itself.

The journey begins by going down Route 1 towards Stop & Shop. There’s a request-only deviation immediately towards the Old Saybrook senior center, but nobody requested it (it was just my friend and I after all, and noone called dispatch ahead of time). As we went into Stop & Shop, a few people got on the bus and would stick around. From here, we pulled out back onto Route 1, passing by some houses, a plaza with Ocean State Job Lot?!, and even the local high school. Neat. Eventually we’d enter Westbrook and turn towards the train station. However, no deviation. We DID, however, deviate into Westbrook Outlets, and holy crap it took a LONG time.

Holy moly, did the deviation take FOREVER!!! About 2 and a half miles into an outlet center….that someone actually got on and off at. Worth it, I guess. Wait, why are we deviating WITHIN THE DEVIATION?! HOLY SHIT, DEVIATION INCEPTION! Yeah, we deviated into the medical center that’s within the deviation. Double deviations, that’s a new one for this site. What’s next, is there gonna be a CTtransit bus route that deviates within a deviation, that happens to be within another deviation? Anyways, noone got on or off, and we were back to Route 1 in about 5 to 10 minutes. This had to have been among the worst deviations I’ve experienced, worse than the Warwick Mall on RIPTA.

So anyways, we were still on Route 1, with people getting on and off as we went down the road. And, to be real, it was kinda scenic going down the road along the coast in Westbrook. And, fortunately, there were no de- OH FOR FUCKS’S SAKE! Well, guess A. we’re in Clinton now and B. we’re deviating into a ShopRite. This is, what, deviation #5 now?

Ugh. And this deviation felt like it dragged on forever. But, it wasn’t the worst offender. Soon enough, we deviated into ANOTHER STOP & SHOP!!!! This one was WORSE because we were in the plaza for seemingly forever! Maybe it was because someone (whom will not be making any further appearances) started bothering me at 2am on an already largely sleepless night, rendering me unable to sleep. I also shouldn’t be surprised given the fact they always came complaining to me about a number of people between two Discord servers over even the slightest of nonissues. Anyways, I digress. The driver even had the balls to yell at someone “Learn to drive!” Like, DAMN. Once again, we were back on Route 1, going towards Clinton. From here, we turned, not to deviate into Clinton Station, but rather to Clinton Crossing. While it too was long, it wasn’t as bad as Westbrook Outlets. And no, noone got on or off here.

From here, it was essentially a straight shot. And no, we didn’t deviate into Hammonasset Park. We eventually made it to Madison, and a couple of turns later, we were at the train station, our destination. Thank GOD.

The good: It serves a lot! And, clearly, given by the choice to use a 29ft bus rather than a cutaway van, it’s probably the most-used 9 Town route. Furthermore, it’s a decent-ish alternative for local travel between Old Saybrook and Madison’s stations, with the route running close enough to Westbrook and Clinton’s stations. It also happens to be scenic, as is the rest of the Shoreline region. There’s also Saturday service! However…

The bad: It goes crazy with the deviations! We’re talking more than RIPTA’s 16 or 21. Probably worse than the 63 even. However, it doesn’t have the drunk snake factor like it or the 112 on the MBTA. As with the rest of 9 Town Transit, frequency is dogshit, however at least there’s two buses on this route instead of just one. Now, out of all the deviations, I would’ve expected an attempt to deviate into Westbrook, Clinton, and Madison’s stations, but guess not. Ah well, this isn’t a commuter-oriented route, after all, though it would’ve been nice to see them try to cater to commuters in each town. However, for what it is, it does the job alright.

Nearby points of interest: Well, you got a lot of shopping plazas! Plus, you have Hammonasset Park, the town centers for Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Madison, and Clinton.

Overall, it could be better, but it’s decent enough as a start. For one, I’d axe a couple of deviations (or make them request-only), or in lieu of that increase frequency to hourly (minimum), or if the resources exist, why not half-hourly? Also, out of all the places to deviate to, I’d at least add the various SLE stations other than Old Saybrook to the schedule. However, that’d muddy things up further.

Rating: 6/10

Alrighty, another SLE station! Let’s get into it. Now, as a fun aside, this was the first time I’ve ridden the SLE – or anything commuter-oriented that isn’t the MBTA.

Now, since this, Westbrook, Branford, and Guilford are essentially copy-pastes of the same general design, I’ll have to be a bit more nuanced and look at the general area as a whole, rather than just the immediate surroundings of the station.

In general, the station is alright. You’ve got a sheltered platform on both sides, with benches and wastebins. There’s also outdoor power outlets, should you need to plug something in while waiting for an M8 to pull in.

Now, I can confirm the elevators are clean, they speak, and …have a window? Weird choice, ConnDOT, weird choice. As for the pedestrian bridge between tracks 1 and 2, there’s power outlets on them (again, strange choice), and weirdly enough, buttons next to the stairs intended for accessibility in case of a fire, since the ends are designated places of refuge.

Parking is aplenty, however it might be a bit much since half the lot was used on one side, with the other being pretty much untouched. Fortunately, due to being in the town center, most people in the area can just simply walk to the station. There’s also the CVS next to the station, and some form of TOD sprouting up across the street. Overall though, Clinton seems like a nice place.

The good: It’s located in the town center! Furthermore, for (at least) half the town, who live in the town center, it’s walkable, and the parking is there for those who park & ride.

The bad: I mean, at the station itself, there’s no amenities. The biggest issue is the lack of any CTrail ticket vending machines. There’s no bathrooms either. But, c’mon, this ain’t Wickford Junction.

Nearby points of interest: Clinton’s a nice enough town, but there just isn’t much. You can get to Clinton Crossing via 9 Town’s route 641. There’s also a marina and Hammonasset Park (& beach!). As for railfanning potential, it’s definitely among the better spots on along the Shore Line East for that.

Transit connections:
CTrail (Shore Line East)
9 Town Transit (641, Clinton Trolley)

Overall, it’s a decent enough station to where it’s passable and gets the job done. There’s also some developments popping up around it, including a CVS, and it’s centrally located in Clinton’s town center, which helps with ridership. Certainly a lot better than Madison’s one-way only park & ride approach.

Rating: 7/10

Oh boy, a new RTA! I can’t wait to see how painful this turns out to be! Well, let’s look at 9 Town Transit’s route 643. Yeah, there aren’t gonna be many 9 Town entries since, well, they only have 6 routes total, one of which I already covered due to its seasonal nature.

Anyways, remember the cutaway van picture from the Old Saybrook entry? Yeah, we’re riding that. So, the driver yells “Get on, whadda y’all waiting for?” as we’re at the dinky bus station, and we’re off to the races. Leaving the train station, we take a right down Route 1 to make our first deviation: Stop & Shop. Fortunately, this one is shared by the 641 and 642 as well. And yes, a few people got on. Despite the overall low ridership for the system (remember, this IS rural Connecticut), the bus was half full. From here, we pulled back out onto Rte. 1 and went over the Northeast Corridor, and going right to remain on Rte. 1. Then, holy crap, we’re express on the interstate! But, it wasn’t for long, as we got off at exit 70.

Alrighty, moving along, it was mostly woodlands from here out, save for a deviation into Big Y. We proceeded down Route 156, which was kinda scenic in some areas. However, we also did pass through the main population center of Old Lyme. As we pressed on, people actually got on and off, much to my surprise. And, I’m not sure why, but there’s something relaxing about riding a bus (40ft city or a cutaway van) through what’s essentially the middle of nowhere. We also passed through some marshlands. We then continued down 4 Mile River Road, and took a right down Route 1 again. Now, there’s a request-only deviation here to the Old Lyme Senior Center, but we didn’t go that way since noone requested it. Nevertheless, we pressed on and eventually reached a shopping area in East Lyme. One right turn and a left later, and holy crap we’re express again!

So, we went express all the way down the interstate now. No, we didn’t cross the Thames. However, we were dumped into the streets of New London from here, where we went down Washington and State Streets, turning left onto Water Street at New London’s bus station.

The good: It’s a link between Old Saybrook (and the other 9 Town routes!) to New London. It’s also pretty well-utilized, if the ridership of my trip was to go by. It also serves a number of rural communities. It’s also free through the end of November. Thanks, governor Lamont!

The bad: The scheduling is a bit lackluster. Now, maybe it’s manpower or funding, but 2 hours for a bus is…no, just no. Unfortunately, this is gonna be a common theme with 9 Town, and most rural transit authorities. It’s also weekday-only. They also don’t give this thing enough time, despite the fact it’s every 2 hours.

Nearby points of interest: New London and the connections to SEAT! There’s also the Stop & Shop and Big Y. But, being rural, there’s not much otherwise.

Overall, it’s a good route on paper, but the major killer is probably the scheduling and lack of resources. And, unfortunately, that’s also going to be a common theme among the rural transit authorities in not just Connecticut, but Massachusetts too. But, I have to give 9 Town credit for trying, at least.

Rating: 5/10