Metro-North Railroad's decades-long catenary replacement project on its New Haven Line is "heading down the home stretch, with the finish line in sight," the railroad said.

Two segments remain in Connecticut to be converted from “fixed termination” catenary to constant tension catenary, with completion targeted for early 2017: from East Norwalk to Green’s Farms and from Bridgeport to Milford. Work on both segments “will start simultaneously and involve replacement of about 10-1/2 miles of catenary along track and in our Bridgeport Yard,” Metro-North said.

Metro-North announced the work through its monthly publication, Mileposts.

‘We recently completed catenary work in the seven-mile stretch between Southport and Bridgeport, allowing us to route peak-period trains on all four tracks in this area for the first time in four years. It also gave back to us greater operating flexibility and the ability to “run around” potential service disruptions during emergencies. With completion of this segment, 80% of the Connecticut catenary replacement project is finished,” Metro-North said.

“We also replaced four open-deck railroad bridges in Bridgeport and Fairfield (at North Benson Road, Fairfield Ave., South Ave. and Westway Road) with closed-deck ballast-style ones that provides a smoother ride. Another bridge (at Main St. in Bridgeport) was removed and filled in with backfill material flanked by retaining walls,” Metro-North added.

Amtrak Northeast Corridor service also will benefit from the catenary upgrade, which will establish constant-tension catenary on the NEC from Boston through New Rochelle, N.Y., where Amtrak trains diverge from the New Haven Line via the New York Connecting Railroad (Hell Gate Bridge) Line, which also has seen catenary work.

Work on the New Haven Line in the Nutmeg State is being funded through the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Constant tension catenary on the much shorter New York State portion of the New Haven Line was fully in place in 1995.