WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. (WTNH) — Transportation leaders broke ground Wednesday on the construction of a new train station in Connecticut.

The stop in Windsor Locks is set to make a big impact on the region.

News 8’s cameras were rolling as this train sped through Windsor Locks, foreshadowing what’s to come, with passenger rail service coming back.

“Twenty years to get to this point but we’re here,” Paul Harrington, Windsor Locks First Selectman, said.

And still more than two decades to go ahead and build a new East Windsor train station. Windsor town leaders, along with Amtrak, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and Gov. Ned Lamont, broke ground on construction.

“There will be connections to multi-use trails, as well, so this does everything,” Joe Giulietti, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said. “You have trails, roads rail system going on, residents wont just take a train to go somewhere, they will take the train to come here to Windsor Locks.”

Windsor Locks is excited for its economic impact, as well as its direct connection to Bradley with a shuttle that will take passengers right to the airport.

“It unlocks the world to you,” Harrington said. “You can go anywhere you want to go, once you get off the train station and Windsor Locks.”

One of the major benefits of the train station construction project is the jobs it’s creating. Many of those are incarcerated individuals who returned home and are looking for a second chance.

“It ensures these folks returning citizens have an opportunity have a career in the building trades and make a liveable wage,” Joe Toner, executive director of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council, said.

The 520-foot platform will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the project also includes improvements to more than a mile of mainline track. Since they will be Amtrak trains — with an invested $10 million into the project — leaders also cleared the air on the threat of a national freight rail strike.
“It’s not impacting service on the northeast corridor or this line, and we don’t expect it to impact the commuter line throughout the northeast corridor,” Tom Moritz, Amtrak’s assistant vice president of infrastructure, access and investment, said.

With construction now officially underway in Windsor Locks, residents can expect to hop on a train by 2025.