ENFIELD, Conn. — Connecticut has begun building a $125.3 million train station in Enfield that will bring passenger rail service back to the town for the first time since 1986, Gov. Ned Lamont and state Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said Wednesday.

The station, in the Thompsonville neighborhood, is part of the Hartford Line and will fill a gap of about 15 miles between Springfield Union Station in Massachusetts and Windsor Locks, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which is leading the project. Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site, and construction is expected to be finished in fall 2030.

The state projects the station will handle nearly 130,000 passenger trips a year by 2031. Trains are expected to reach Hartford in about 23 minutes and Springfield in about 13 minutes.

Plans call for a high-level platform, a mostly enclosed waiting area, covered seating and an electric snow-melting system for the platform, ramps and stairs. The station will have about 80 parking spaces, about 15 of them with electric vehicle chargers, and a bus area for two full-size buses connecting riders to Enfield's Magic Carpet bus service.

The work also includes replacing the railroad bridge over Main Street, roadway changes to increase clearance under it, new sidewalks and realigning about 4,400 feet of track, along with signal and drainage upgrades. A separate gauntlet track will let oversized freight shipments pass through the station area, the department said.

About 85% of the money comes from the state and about 15% from the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The station was designed in coordination with the surrounding Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Mills Historic District, the state said.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, whose district includes Enfield, said restoring rail service "has been one of the most important goals of the Town and its citizens ever since the old station closed in 1986."

This brief was drafted by AI from a public agency or political press release and published by The New England Signal. Why we use AI for stories like this one.