Newington Junction (CDOT station)

Newington Junction
CTfastrak platforms at Newington Junction under construction in December 2014
Coordinates	41°43′00″N 72°44′10″W / 41.7167°N 72.7362°W / 41.7167; -72.7362
Line(s)	CTfastrak   Hartford Line
Platforms	2 side platforms (CTfastrak) 2 side platforms (planned for Hartford Line)
Tracks	2 (Hartford Line)
Construction
Parking	28 spaces
History
Opened	March 28, 2015
Opening	2022 (Hartford Line station, planned)
Services
Preceding station   ConnDOT   Following station Cedar Street toward Downtown New Britain CTfastrak Elmwood toward Union Station   Planned service   Berlin toward New Haven Union Station Hartford Line Future infill station Flatbush Avenue toward Springfield
Newington Junction Railroad Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
1890-built New Haven Railroad freight house
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Location	160 Willard and 200 Francis Avenues, Newington, Connecticut
Coordinates	41°42′55″N 72°44′13″W / 41.71528°N 72.73694°W / 41.71528; -72.73694Coordinates: 41°42′55″N 72°44′13″W / 41.71528°N 72.73694°W / 41.71528; -72.73694
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built	1890 (NYNH&H freight house) 1891 (NY&NE station)
Architectural style	Stick/Eastlake
MPS	Newington Junction MRA
NRHP reference #	86003478
Added to NRHP	December 22, 1986

Newington Junction is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line and a planned passenger rail station located off Willard Avenue (CT-173) in the Newington Junction neighborhood of Newington, Connecticut. The first railroad station was built there at the site in 1850; a newer station building and freight house, both built in the 1890s, are extant and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Newington Junction Railroad Depot". Rail service lasted until approximately 1959. A bus rapid transit station, Newington Junction, opened as part of CTfastrak in March 2015.

A commuter rail station, to be located adjacent to the bus station, is also planned. As of late 2015, funding for the startup of the Hartford Line had been secured and the service is scheduled to begin operation in early 2018. However, the construction of the commuter rail platforms at Newington Junction is not currently funded, and it will not be a stop on the initial service. Newington and the other infill stations are planned to be complete by 2022.

The Hartford and New Haven Railroad opened through Newington in 1839, but the railroad did not immediately establish a station there. The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad opened in 1850; it shared the H&NH right of way north of Newington, but diverged to the south and ran to New Britain. The H&NH then moved its New Britain station, built two years before, to serve as Newington station for both railroads.

For four decades the two railroads shared the station; by 1872, the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad (the 1863 successor to the HP&F) paid the H&NH $100 per year to share it. Later in 1872 the H&NH was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and the next year the BH&E became part of the New York and New England Railroad. The depot was served for years by a single agent, John C. Sternberg, who sold tickets, handled freight and Adams Express packages, and threw switches to direct trains at the junction. From 1865 it was the site of church services, the beginnings of what in 1875 became nearby Grace Episcopal Church. The development of Newington Junction as a result of the railroad was instrumental in the separation of the town of Newington from its mother town of Wethersfield.