Calling the Talmadge Hill train station inadequate in that it has no ticket kiosk or canopy that runs along the platform to provide shelter for rail riders, New Canaan’s highest elected official is calling for the state to address the problem.
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said he’s seen correspondence on the subject from the Connecticut Department of Transportation going back nearly 20 years.
“As I understand it, Talmadge Hill station may be the only station on the branch line without a weather canopy,” Mallozzi said in a letter sent Aug. 14 to the DOT public transportation bureau’s rail administrator.
“The station serves as the main departure and terminus for some 275 permit holders as well as 120 daily members of the commuting public. I would appreciate, and by this letter, do formally request a review of this deficiency and a possible timetable for its remedy.”
The Talmadge Hill station has only a few scattered weather shelters, but not a canopy—the responsibility of the state, as per New Canaan’s lease with the DOT. A review of correspondence in New Canaan shows that the project was to have been completed 10 years ago, DOT officials have said, and planning for it has been ongoing since 1995.
Mallozzi lays out his reasoning for pressing state officials on the matter in the video above.