The Danbury Line is a branch of the New Haven Line servicing the western Connecticut's need to rail transportation and allowing of commuters to travel to and from New York City without having to deal with rush hour traffic. It is owned by Metro-North.

The two main branch stations are that of Danbury Station and South Norwalk Station CT where the trains wait for their departure times. The line itself is only one track, and to my knowledge only one train runs on it at a time (either northbound or southbound); though at the stops there are brief runs of extra track which I assume are to allow trains to circumvent other trains in the event they become broken, or something, I don"t quite get the point of the extra track to tell you the truth.

The stops along the line are as follows on a southbound trip towards The City. Reverse order is for a northbound trip.

  • Danbury, CT
  • Bethel, CT
  • Redding, CT
  • Branchville
  • Cannondale, CT
  • Wilton, CT
  • Merit 7
  • South Norwalk, CT

  • The majority of these stations are nothing more than outdoor stops with South Norwalk and Danbury being the only ones of consequence.

    The actual trains that run the Danbury Line are diesel powered, and because of this there is no third rail or overhead power-lines. There is talk of converting them to overhead lines, but this does not seem to be going anywhere soon. The diesel engine is a minor novelty treat for those who have never rode a train before, as it gives a greater appearance of the mental image of a train most have.

    As for the scenery of the line the majority of the line runs along either the Norwalk River or Route 7, and because of this grants a rider a (for the most part) uninhibited view of woods and small pond lakes.

    Riders of the Danbury line tend to be business men and women and those from the nearby towns going to the city for some reason or another. The conductors on the line tend to be if not just understanding but genuinely friendly. This is due to the fact they work those trains because of the easiness of the run as they have told me, and that the average train is somewhere around 3-4 cars long, and because of this you will see the same conductor everyday, they often learn the names of their riders and have chats with them between stations.

    The Danbury line is for the most part the modern day equivalent to the romanticized notion of trains the majority of the American people have. The only drawback of the line on a whole is the rarity of the trains and those delays are more likely that not due to either inclement weather or mechanical issues with the engines.
