CTDOT prepares for rail project on Ann Street Bridge

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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Existing tracks on the railroad bridge over Ann Street. The bridge’s superstructure will be replaced and the new structure will accommodate three tracks.
CTDOT

A bridge project that will support work performed as part of the Walk Bridge Program in Connecticut will begin in mid-June.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) will start the first half of the Ann Street Railroad Bridge superstructure replacement during the weekends of June 8-10 and June 15-17. The bridge hosts Metro-North New Haven Line trains.

The Ann Street Bridge currently carries two railroad tracks. The renewed bridge will carry a third track to provide train storage. Officials explain that during the first phase of the bridge replacement, crews will install a temporary support of excavation. Once the support of excavation is in place, crews will remove four existing steel girders on the eastern half of the bridge.

Metro-North and CTDOT say that once the superstructure is replaced, operations along the New Haven Line will improve. The replacement of the Ann Street Railroad Bridge supports the Danbury Branch Dockyard Project, which will enhance operations on the New Haven Line by providing a midline yard location where trains are stored and staged when not in use on the mainline.

While the Danbury Branch Dockyard Project is independent of the Walk Bridge Replacement Project, it will improve dependability of operations on the mainline as well as minimize impacts to commuter rail services during construction of the new Walk Bridge. The Walk Railroad Bridge in Norwalk, Conn., is a 122-year-old bridge carrying Metro-North trains over the Norwalk River. That bridge is being replaced under the Walk Bridge Program, starting in 2019.

Metro-North plans to take advantage of the work windows during the two June weekends by scheduling to weld track and cut brush along the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line.

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