Downtown New Britain | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | East Main Street and Harvard Street New Britain, Connecticut | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 41°40′07″N72°46′48″W / 41.6685°N 72.7800°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | ConnDOT | ||||||||||
Operated by | Connecticut Transit | ||||||||||
Bus routes | 101, 102, 128, 505, 506, 507, 509, 511, 513, 923, 928 | ||||||||||
Bus stands | 19 bays | ||||||||||
Connections | 41, 501, 502, 503, 510, 512, HNB (on Columbus Boulevard) | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Yes | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | March 28, 2015 [1] | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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Downtown New Britain is a bus rapid transit station and the terminus of the CTfastrak line, located just south of Route 72 off Columbus Boulevard and Main Street in New Britain, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. [1] The station consists of one side platform and one island platform, comprising a collective total of 19 bus bays for CTfastrak local and express services, plus local CT Transit buses which do not use the busway. [2] The station is located at the site of New Britain's former railroad station, which saw service from 1850 to 1960.
The Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H&NH) opened through the far east part of New Britain in 1839. [3] The railroad quickly established a New Britain station on what is now New Britain Avenue (CT-174) just over the Wethersfield border, possibly in a privately owned building or house. [4] It was replaced with a dedicated station at the same location in 1848. [4]
The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad (HP&F) opened in 1850; it shared the H&NH right of way north of Newington Junction, but diverged to the south and ran to downtown New Britain and beyond. [3] The HP&F established their own station just east of Main Street; the H&NH then moved their New Britain station north to Newington and finally Newington Junction. [4] The H&NH established their own branch from Middletown to New Britain via Berlin in 1865, sharing the HP&F station. [3] [4]
The station may have been expanded in 1876, but by the 1880s it was in poor condition and publicly maligned. The state legislature ordered a new union station in 1884, which was completed in 1887. A retail arcade stretching west from the station, unique on the New Haven Railroad, was completed within the next three years. It proved profitable but the railroad declined to pursue similar dedicated retail spaces at other stations, stating they were "not in that kind of business". [4]
Passenger service declined in the 20th century; service on the branch to Middletown ended in 1932. [3] Waterbury–Boston intercity service via New Britain, including the Nutmeg , operated until 1955. [3] The city purchased the station in November 1956; it was demolished at the end of the month and replaced with a parking lot weeks after. Tickets were thereafter sold from an office in the arcade. [4] Waterbury-Hartford local service ended on January 22, 1960, replaced with buses to Newington Junction. The ticket office closed on September 16, 1960, leaving only local buses serving New Britain. [4]
The 2013 Central Connecticut Rail Study, which analyzed the possibility for commuter rail from Waterbury to Hartford via New Britain and Berlin, recommended placing a rail platform on the straight section of track just south of the bus platforms. This would allow a cross-platform transfer between trains and buses. [5]
Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. Located 8 miles (13 km) south of downtown Hartford, Newington is an older, mainly residential suburb located in Greater Hartford. As of 2023, the population is 30,527. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of the New York and New Haven and Hartford and New Haven railroads, the company had near-total dominance of railroad traffic in Southern New England for the first half of the 20th century.
The New Canaan Branch is an 8.2-mile (13 km) long branch line of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line that begins from a junction east of downtown Stamford, Connecticut, north to New Canaan. It opened in 1868 as the New Canaan Railroad.
The Waterbury Branch is a branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, running north from a junction in the Devon section of Milford to Waterbury, Connecticut. Originally built as the Naugatuck Railroad, it once continued north to Winsted. The part north of Waterbury is now leased from CTDOT by the Railroad Museum of New England, which operates excursion trains from Thomaston station through their operating subsidiary Naugatuck Railroad ; this name was chosen in homage of the original railroad. The trackage ends in Torrington, but Metro-North service on the branch ends at Waterbury. There are conceptual plans to extend service from its current terminus in Waterbury to Hartford via Bristol and New Britain. Currently, riders that want to continue to New Britain and Hartford have to transfer to an express bus operated by CTtransit at Waterbury. All trains on this branch operate as shuttles between Waterbury and Bridgeport.
Hartford Union Station is a railroad station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States on the New Haven–Springfield Line. It is served by Amtrak Hartford Line, Northeast Regional, Valley Flyer, and Vermonter intercity rail service, plus CT Rail Hartford Line commuter rail service and CTfastrak bus rapid transit service.
The Connecticut Company was the primary electric street railway company in the U.S. state of Connecticut, operating both city and rural trolleys and freight service. It was controlled by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which also controlled most steam railroads in the state. After 1936, when one of its major leases was dissolved, it continued operating streetcars and, increasingly, buses in certain Connecticut cities until 1976, when its assets were purchased by the state government.
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Meriden Transit Center is a train station on the New Haven–Springfield Line located in Meriden, Connecticut. It is served by Amtrak's Northeast Regional, Valley Flyer, and Vermonter, in addition to Hartford Line commuter rail service, consisting of Connecticut Department of Transportation and Amtrak trains. The station was rebuilt from 2014 to 2017 for the Hartford Line service, which began on June 16, 2018.
Berlin station is a train station located in the Kensington neighborhood of Berlin, Connecticut. It is on the New Haven–Springfield Line and is served by Amtrak's Northeast Regional, Hartford Line, and Valley Flyer, in addition to the Hartford Line commuter rail. Two high-level platforms, each six cars long connected by an overhead pedestrian bridge opened at the Hartford Line service launch on June 16, 2018. On December 21, 2016, the historic 1900-built station building was destroyed by a fire.
CT Hartford is the largest division of Connecticut Transit, providing service on 43 local routes, 5 "flyer" limited stop routes and 18 express routes throughout 27 towns in Hartford County, including Bloomfield, East Hartford, Farmington, Glastonbury, Manchester, Middletown, Newington, New Britain, Rocky Hill, South Windsor, West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, in addition to Hartford. Service is provided seven days a week in the region, with routes centered on Hartford. The Hartford Division provides connections with local routes in Bristol and New Britain.
CT New Britain Division and CT Bristol Division is one division of Connecticut Transit that collectively provides local bus service to four towns in the Central Connecticut Region with connections to CT Transit Hartford Division in downtown New Britain, downtown Bristol, along the Berlin Turnpike, at UConn Health, at Tunxis Community College, CT Transit Waterbury Division and Middletown Area Transit in Cromwell. Service in both divisions operates daily along 13 routes.
CTfastrak is a regional bus rapid transit system currently operating between downtown Hartford and Downtown New Britain station in New Britain in central Connecticut. Operated by Connecticut Transit, it is the first bus rapid transit system in Connecticut and the second in New England after the MBTA Silver Line. CTfastrak opened on March 28, 2015 after fifteen years of planning and three years of construction.
East Street is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located off East Street (CT-175) in New Britain, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of two side platforms serving the busway, with two center passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station. Along with Cedar Street, it serves Central Connecticut State University.
Cedar Street is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located near the intersection of Cedar Street (CT-175) and Fenn Road in Newington, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of two side platforms serving the busway, with two center passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station. Along with East Street, it serves Central Connecticut State University.
Elmwood is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located near the intersection of New Britain Avenue (CT-529) and New Park Avenue in West Hartford, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of two side platforms serving the busway, with two center passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station.
Flatbush Avenue is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located near the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and New Park Avenue in West Hartford, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of one island platform to the side of the busway, with passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station. A CTrail Hartford Line commuter rail platform is planned to open in 2022 under the name West Hartford.
Parkville is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located near the intersection of Park Street and Francis Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of two side platforms serving the busway, with two center passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station.
Waterbury station is a commuter rail stop on the Waterbury Branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, located on Meadow Street in Waterbury, Connecticut. It is the northern terminus of the Waterbury Branch.
Newington Junction is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line opened in 2015 located off Willard Avenue (CT-173) in the Newington Junction neighborhood of Newington, Connecticut.
The Nutmeg train was a unique east-west train through Massachusetts and Connecticut which did not travel along the Atlantic Coast; in the course of following its route it connected several of Connecticut's medium-sized cities. Operated by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) from 1950, it took a route from Boston's South Station, running through southwestern Boston suburbs but making no stops until Blackstone, Massachusetts, then through northeast Connecticut along the path of the old Southbridge and Blackstone Railroad, divisions of the old New York and New England Railroad to Hartford's Union Station, and finally to Waterbury's Union Station. Running directly through northeastern Connecticut, it made a shorter trip than the itineraries through Springfield, Massachusetts that the New Haven offered.
Media related to Downtown New Britain station at Wikimedia Commons