Main articles: Transportation in New York City
The 'Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company', or 'MTA Metro-North Railroad', or, more commonly, 'Metro-North', is a
suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by an
authority of
New York State, the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or, more simply, the
MTA. Metro-North runs service between
New York City to its northern
suburbs in
New York and
Connecticut, as well as to other regions, including, in conjunction with
New Jersey Transit, to parts of
New Jersey as well. Trains terminate in places respective to their branch line; these locals include, in
New York State, in
Port Jervis,
Spring Valley,
Poughkeepsie, and
Wassaic; in Connecticut, in
New Canaan,
Danbury,
Waterbury, and
New Haven. Metro-North also provides local rail service within
New York City with a steeply reduced fare.
The
MTA, which also operates the
New York City Transit Authority buses and subways, as well as the
Long Island Rail Road, also has jurisdiction, through Metro-North, for use of the railroad lines on the western and eastern portion of the
Hudson River in
New York State. Service on the western side of the Hudson, within
New Jersey, is actually operated by
New Jersey Transit under contract with the MTA. North of the
New Jersey State Line, the western portion of the Hudson is part of New York State, and is also under the jurisdiction of Metro-North.
In addition, the MTA had announced in October 2002 that it had plans to merge Metro-North with the
Long Island Rail Road, which serves all of
Long Island, including parts of
Brooklyn and
Queens; into a new entity, to be called
MTA Rail Road[1]. This merger, however, will require approval by the
New York State legislature, which, as of April 2006, has failed to happen. The proposal was resubmitted to the state legislature in January 2007.
[2]
Background
Before the MTA
Before the Metro-North service was running as it is today, most of the same trackage was under the control of the large
New York Central Railroad. Among the multiple rail branches the group eventually controlled was the
New York & Harlem Railroad, which is where a fair portion of Metro-North trains serve today.
[1] This branch was started in the 1830s as a system of horse-pulled cars that connected the then-early
Lower Manhattan to
Harlem. The railroad had blossomed into multiple rail lines by 1852 that provided connecting service to
Albany,
Boston,
Vermont, and even to
Canada, through the junction of
Chatham[2]. In the 1870s, the New York & Harlem Railroad was bought by
Commodore Vanderbilt, which added more railroad lines to his , which were run by the
New York Central Railroad. However, a century later, around 1968, the northern section of rail in New York state was then owned by
Penn Central Transportation because of a merger between the New York Central Railroad and the
Pennsylvania Railroad. However, this merger eventually failed, due to large financial costs, and the group would rename itself
Conrail. The northern branch of railroad which served the Harlem Valley had then been ignored by Conrail, because of outrageous costs of maintaining service. At that point operational service ran only through
Millerton, New York, by 1976; in 1980, to
Wassaic, and after that, to
Dover Plains, where it remained until 2000. However, the MTA had assumed responsibilities of all commuter rail from New York City earlier, in 1972, which has led to some success.
After the MTA
After the state-run MTA had taken control over parts of the former
Conrail System in 1972,
[3] there was much work needed in reorganization, as significant business success would not appear for at least two decades, following the altogether faltering railroad industry in the 1970s. By 1983, Metro-North, as it is today, was founded, and began to serve various regions in New York state and
Connecticut[4]. Today, the service has gained both respect and monetary success, according to the MTA's own website. 2006 was the best year for the line, as there was a 97.8% rate of on-time trains, a record amount of ridership (76.9 million people), and a passenger satisfaction rating of 92%.
Lines
East of Hudson
There are three Metro-North lines that provide passenger service on the east side of the
Hudson River, all of which terminate into
Grand Central Terminal in
Manhattan: the
Hudson Line,
Harlem Line and
New Haven Line, which is, for the most part, located in
Connecticut. An additional line, the
Beacon Line, is used for internal equipment moving between the Brewster shop & Danbury station, and does not provide passenger service.
The Hudson and Harlem Lines terminate in
Poughkeepsie, New York, and in
Wassaic, New York, respectively. No other branches extend from these lines, with one exception, being that Metro-North does provide connecting service at the termination of the Harlem line to the surrounding region during summer months.
The New Haven Line has three branches providing connecting service in Connecticut- the
New Canaan Branch,
Danbury Branch and
Waterbury Branch.
Amtrak also operates
intercity train service along the New Haven and Hudson Lines; on both lines, there is also use of its own trackage, en route to
Pennsylvania Station, in New York City. At New Haven, the
Shore Line East connecting service, which is run by Connecticut, continues east to
New London.
Future Plans
Hudson Line: Metro-North plans to build a
new station to directly serve the
new Yankee Stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2009. It has been said that all three lines will be able to access the new station, but Metro-North hasn't said if Harlem and New Haven Line trains will go there directly (by turning at Mott Haven Junction) or if passengers will be required to transfer, likely at Harlem-125 Street, or Grand Central Terminal.
Harlem Line: There are a plans to redevelop the former
Wingdale Psyciatric Center into a community of mixed housing and commercial space, respective to the
Wingdale-Harlem Valley Station.
[5]
New Haven Line: Plans are underway to reelectrify the
Danbury Branch[3] with a concurrent expansion to
New Milford. Work is set to begin in late 2007 on a third Metro-North station for the Town of
Fairfield, Connecticut. This station, to be located in eastern Fairfield near the
Bridgeport line, will be part of a large mixed-use development known as
Fairfield Metro Center, though the station is likely to be named Black Rock or Black Rock Turnpike.
Systemwide: Metro-North is continually upgrading trackage and station facilities.
[6]
Expansion
There has occasionally been talk of expanding all three lines northward. Northward expansion of the Hudson Line has often met opposition from residents of communities including
Hyde Park and
Rhinecliff, even though the latter is home to
Amtrak's
Rhinecliff-Kingston station, frequented by commuters who live in northern Dutchess and
Ulster Counties.
Northward expansion of the Harlem Line took place most recently when it was expanded from Dover Plains to Wassaic, requiring a costly rebuilding of tracks that were abandoned years before. Going even further north would require further substantial investment to rebuild tracks,
grade crossings, stations and other facilities which existed in the past, but were removed long ago.
Furthermore, expansion of either line would be limited to Dutchess County. Extending Metro-North service into
Columbia County would require changes to the MTA charter, and residents of that county would become subject to the MTA tax.
As for the New Haven Line, expansion further east beyond New Haven is not likely, as service is already provided by the
Connecticut Department of Transportation's
Shore Line East trains. Even if Metro-North assumed the contract currently held by
Amtrak to operate Shore Line East service, it is presumed that Shore Line East would remain a separate entity from Metro North.
Metro North's new
M8 trains, however, are equipped to run on the caternary wire to New London, so the state of Connecticut in the future could coneivably extend Metro-North to New London with no difficulty, to coincide with new New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Rail. Rhode Island has requested commuter rail from at least New London, and most likely New Haven, though this would require a new Congressional law to mandate the MTA to control rail in three states.
West of Hudson
A Metro-North West of Hudson train, operating as Train #53, entering
Secaucus Junction.
Metro-North also provides service on trains west of the Hudson River that originate from
Hoboken Terminal,
New Jersey, or from
Penn Station. This service is jointly run by both
New Jersey Transit, and by Metro-North, under contract. There are two branches of the west-of-Hudson service, the
Port Jervis Line, and the
Pascack Valley Line, according to a
Metro-North map. An additional line, that is not technically a branch, disconnects from the main branch and then rejoins the Port Jervis line.
The Port Jervis Line terminates in
Port Jervis, New York, and the Pascack Valley line in
Spring Valley, New York; these lines are located in Orange and Rockland Counties, respectively. Trackage on the Port Jervis Line north of the Suffern Yard is leased from
Norfolk Southern by the MTA.
New Jersey Transit, however, owns all of the trackage that is part of the Pascack Valley line in
Rockland County, New York. Both lines, were once part of the
Erie Railroad.
Because the vast majority of the stops for the Port Jervis Line and the Pascack Valley Line
are located in New Jersey, New Jersey Transit provides much of the rolling stock (the cars for the trains) and the staffing, to operate the service west of the Hudson river. However, Metro-North equipment has been used on other lines that are operated by New Jersey Transit on the Hoboken division.
All stations west of the Hudson River in New York, except for the
Suffern Station, are owned and operated by Metro-North.
Future Plans
The MTA is working with the
Tappan Zee Bridge Environmental Review on several options where a future replacement for the
Tappan Zee Bridge would include a rail line to connect the Port Jervis Line in Rockland County to the Hudson Line in Westchester County. "Alternatives 4A, 4B and 4C" all include plans for such a rail line to connect with the Hudson Line at
Tarrytown, providing a one-seat ride from Rockland County to
Grand Central Terminal in
New York City. All three also include mass-transit service across Westchester County, connecting to the Harlem Line in White Plains, and the New Haven Line at Port Chester. The only difference between the three is whether the cross-Westchester trip will be accomplished by heavy rail,
light rail or rapid
bus service.
Metro-North is also considering extending Port Jervis Line service to
Stewart International Airport in Newburgh
[7], a move that could make a Tappan Zee Bridge rail line even more useful, as it would serve both commuters and travelers who choose to fly to/from Stewart, instead of the other three New York City-area airports.
Technical details
East of Hudson
Some services are operated by
diesel, but most services running directly into
Manhattan Grand Central Terminal are electric powered using Older M1,M2,M3,M4,M6 and brand new M7 MU cars.. The exception are 4 peak-hour trains from Wassaic and all through trains from Pougkeespie. In the case when the diesel powered train runs into Grand Central, the switch over from diesel to third-rail operation is made some where around the Harlem-125 Street station. Most of Metro-North's passenger diesel locomotives are
General Electric GENESIS P32 diesel-electric hybrids capable of switching to a pure electric mode using contact shoes to contact the railroad's under-running
third rail power distribution system. On the Hudson Line, trains are powered by electrified third rail from
Grand Central Terminal to
Croton-Harmon and are powered by diesel north of that station to
Poughkeepsie. The Harlem Line has third rail from
Grand Central Terminal to
Southeast and are powered by diesel north of that station to
Wassaic. The New Haven Line is special in that electrical
Multiple Unit (EMU) trains are powered through either 700 V
DC from a third rail or 13.8 kV
AC from an overhead
catenary wire. Nominally 13.8 kV (per a MN Power Director), the voltage floats between 13.2 to 13.8 kv. The main line from approximately
Woodlawn to
Pelham (3 miles, or 4.8 km), is powered by third rail, while from
Pelham, New York east to
New Haven, Connecticut (58 miles, or 93 km)), as well as the entire
New Canaan Branch, is powered by catenary. The
Danbury Branch was formerly electrified but in 1961 became a diesel-only line. Locomotives on the
Waterbury Branch, the only east-of-Hudson Metro North service which has no direct service of any sort into Grand Central, are powered by diesel.
As of February 2007, some services are still operated by
FL9 and F10 diesels built between 1946 and 1960. Also the railroad has a fleet of leased Amtrak Genesis diesels that operate only in non-electified territory as they are not equipped for dual-mode third rail service.
The third rails on the three Metro-North lines (East-of-Hudson) which go into Grand Central Terminal are unusual in that power is collected from below the
third rail as opposed to above, unlike most other third rail systems (including the
Long Island Rail Road and
New York City Subway). This allows the third rail to be completely insulated from above, thus decreasing the chances of a person being electrocuted by coming in contact with the rail. This was important, because until the early 1970s the majority of the suburban stations had low platforms where the third rail was easily accessible; this danger was greatly reduced with the introduction of the high-level platforming of
Budd Company-made
Metropolitans (M1A's) in 1971 and the
Cosmopolitans (M2's) between 1972 and 1977, both purchased by the MTA and practically identical to their sister cars on the Long Island Rail Road.
West of Hudson
Most of the
rolling stock on west-of-Hudson Metro-North lines consist of Comet V Metro-North cars, and occasionally other NJT cars are used. The trains are also usually handled by EMD
GP40FH-2,
F40PH-2CAT or
Alstom PL42AC diesel locomotives, although any Metro-North or New Jersey Transit diesel can show up and the Metro-North diesels, which are based out of Hoboken, are banned from the
Pascack Valley Line, due to the installation of SES. Most passenger cars are
Comet V coaches built by
Alstom, however, it is possible that anything can show up as the equipment is pooled with the New Jersey Transit.
Although Metro-North uses many official abbreviations (MNCR, MNR, MN, etc.) there are two official AAR reporting marks used on equipment. For non-revenue equipment, the mark registered and recognized on AEI scanner tags is 'MNCW', with revenue equipment is identified using 'MNCR'.
Fare policy
Metro-North F10 locomotive 413 in
Bridgeport, CT pulling Train 1926. This locomotive is one of the last surviving former
F3 locomotives, built in 1946.
East of Hudson
Tickets for travel on Metro-North trains may be bought from a station agent, a self-service ticketing machine, online, or on the train itself. There is a 5% discount for buying tickets online, and Metro-North will charge between
US$ 4.75 and
US$ 5.50, in cash, on top of the standard price, for purchasing a ticket on the train.
Local travel between stations located in
the Bronx and
Marble Hill, not physically a part of the New York before the
Harlem River Rerouting, costs US$ 2.25 per trip regardless of the time of the day. Inter-Manhattan travel (between
Grand Central Terminal and
125 Street) costs between US$ 4.25 to US$ 5.50.
West of Hudson
The fare structure, for west-of-Hudson trains, resembles the New Jersey Transit fare structure, and less like that of east-of-Hudson trains, despite the fact that both lines has prices dictated by the MTA. On the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines, the on-board surcharge is US$ 5.00 at stations with functioning ticket vending machines or ticket offices, which is substantially less than a possible price of US$ 23.00 for a peak-hour Metro-North train on the Harlem Valley line.
Trivia
★ The Metro-North
mascot is
Metro Man. A robotic
android in the shape of a train car, he educates children about railway safety.
In Pop Culture
The railroad has been featured in several films, most notably in a scene in the film
U.S. Marshals, when (
Wesley Snipes) jumps from the roof of a multi-story building onto a train; in
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, when a train that has just been attacked by aliens, speeds out of control and on fire through a railroad crossing; and in ''
The Ice Storm'', with M-2 cars on the New Canaan branch that are marked as "Penn Central". The trains are also mentioned in the movie
Madagascar as the rail service that “Marty the Zebra” wanted to use to get to Connecticut. Metro-North trains were also the setting for the 1984 film
Falling in Love staring
Robert DeNiro and
Meryl Streep.
On ''
Saturday Night Live'', the stage where featured bands play is set as Grand Central Terminal. A station list for the
New Haven Line can be seen on the side of the stage. Stops from Grand Central to the end of the line at New Haven, can be clearly read.
In addition, a recent
Tuscan Milk commercial featured the northbound platform at the
Crestwood Station on the Harlem Line.
References
1.
2. Kalikow riding his dream to the end Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
3. Danbury Branch Electrification Feasibility Study
External links
★
Metro-North map
★
MTA Metro-North Railroad (East of Hudson lines ONLY)
★
New Jersey Transit (West of Hudson lines ONLY)
★
Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, "a consumer liaison between riders and the Connecticut Dept. of Transportation (CDOT), Metro-North, and Shore Line East railroads"
★
The history of The New York Central Railroad in the Region
★
Mixed Residential and Commercial Devopment Adjacent to Harlem Valley – Wingdale Station
★
Pricing of Some Metro-North trains
See also
★
Railroads
★
Commuter Railroads
★
Transportation in New York City
★
Transportation in New York State
★
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