South Norwalk (Metro-North station)

Infobox Station
name=South Norwalk
style=MNRR New Haven
type=


image_size=
image_caption=West entrance, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
address=29 Monroe Street
at 1 Chestnut Street,
Norwalk, CT 06854
coordinates=coord|41.0967|-73.4211|display=inline,title
line=
Metro-North Railroad:
other=Norwalk Transit District:
10, 11, 12, Evening Shuttle, Sunday Shuttle, Norwalk Commuter Connection - Hospital-Virgin Atlantic, Merrit 7, Westport Road
structure=
platform=
depth=
levels=
tracks=6
parking=816 spaces
bicycle=
baggage_check=
opened=
closed=
rebuilt=
electrified=
ADA=yes
code=
owned=
zone=
former=
passengers=494,260 [Using 260 weekdays in a year multiplied by number of weekday passengers (1,901)]
pass_year=2006
pass_percent=0
pass_system=
mpassengers=
services=
map_locator=

The South Norwalk Metro-North Railroad station is one of three stations serving the residents of Norwalk, Connecticut via the New Haven Line and is the more significant of the three. Nicknamed "SoNo" by riders and staff, the station is the point where the Danbury Branch connects to the Northeast Corridor as well as a peak-hour terminal for some express trains (and the last stop for New Haven super-express runs before running non-stop to Grand Central Terminal. Just east of the station is the [http://www.westctnrhs.org/tower.htm SONO Switch Tower Museum] , a preserved switch tower which is open weekend afternoons during the summer months.

South Norwalk is convert|41|mi|km from Grand Central Terminal and the average travel time from Grand Central is 64 minutes though this varies depending on run and time of day.

The station has 816 parking spaces, none owned by the state. [ [http://www.ct.gov/dotinfo/lib/dotinfo/ctgov/FinalParkingReport.pdf] "Task 2: Technical Memorandum parking Inventory and Utilization: Final Report" submitted by Urbitran Associates Inc. to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Table 1: New haven Line Parking Capacity and Utilization", page 6, July 2003]

The station was the first to receive Wi-Fi service on the New Haven Line in March 2006. The service was provided for one year from a federal grant received from the "One Coast, One Future" initiative designed to help economic development in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport. The grant provides for Wi-Fi service for one year with the expectation that local governments will provide it in the future if they find it valuable enough to do so. Similar service was planned for Stamford and Bridgeport stations in the spring of 2006 but no others. Westport also started providing the service in the spring of 2006. [Ginocchio, Mark, "Area train stations ready to ask Wi-Fi", news article in "The Advocate" of Stamford, March 18, 2007, pp. A3, A8]

The City of Norwalk and the Norwalk Transit District let a contract for $238,000.00 to study possible improvements to the South Norwalk Station with a goal to make it a better "intermodal" facility with improved access for cars, buses, shuttles, pedestrians, and taxis in February 2008.cite news
author=Jared Newman
title=$238K contract awarded to study rail station
work=The Hour
publisher=The Hour Publishing Company
date=2008-02-28
page=A1 ]

Connections

*Norwalk Transit District; 10, 11, and 12.

ee also

* Connecticut Rail Commuter Council is the official state advocate for commuters and brings station problems to the attention of officials.

Notes

Pictures

External links

* [http://as0.mta.info/mnr/stations/station_detail.cfm?key=234 Metro-North Railroad - South Norwalk]
*cite web|url=http://www.sonorailstudy.org/|title=SoNoRailStudy|accessdate=2008-06-07.