The New Haven Line’s New Canaan Branch is an 8.2 mile long Metro-North branch that leads from Stamford up the Connecticut Panhandle, serving some of the most expensive real estate in the United States. Service on the line is operated by M8 electric shuttle trains running every hour between Stamford, leaving from Track 5 and New Canaan on the single-tracked line that has grade crossings. Travel time is 18 minutes in each direction. In Stamford the train schedule is designed so all shuttle trains connect within 10 to 15 minutes to and from an Express train to Grand Central and local trains to New Haven and Grand Central. In rush hours (currently discontinued since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) direct train service operates in both directions between New Canaan and Grand Central, many of these trains are only semi-expresses making various local stops along the New Haven Line.