looks to be a total loss, it was under renovation for Amtrak use.
http://fox61.com/2016/12/21/crews-in-be ... k-station/

there is a nice write up here on the station, built in 1900 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad
http://www.greatamericanstations.com/st ... in-ct-ber/

Oh gosh, that's just awful and sad. The station was under renovation as part of Amtrak's upgrading (restoration of double track, possible future electrification) of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield line (ex NYNH&H).

It's frightening how many fires in historic structures seem to occur when they're undergoing restoration or renovation.

-Philip Marshall

The article said the fire started on the roof. Often, these kinds of fires occur because of careless handling of hot materials by contractors. We lost an historic church in our neighborhood because of worker error in hot seaming a roof. Sad.

interesting, considering the fire was reported at 4am, and the roof was said to be made of slate..maybe they stripped off the slate, or the fire started in the roof beams and smouldered for a long time before catching?