This newest link in Metro-North’s operations will access Penn Station via the New York Connecting Railroad from New Rochelle NY over the Hell Gate Bridge to Sunnyside, Queens, using the Long Island Railroad and the East River Tunnels to, gain access to New York Penn Station. The New York Connecting is Amtrak’s route for Northeast Regional and Acela Express trains to Boston, along with Providence & Worcester Railroad freight trains that connect with the New York and Atlantic’s freight operations out of Fresh Point Yard in Queens. CSX Transportation also has trackage rights on the line.
The Penn Station Access Project will provide a direct one-seat ride into Penn Station for Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line riders. It will provide new direct rail service to East Bronx workers who live along the Metro-North New Haven Line in Westchester, N.Y., and Connecticut. Four Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible Metro-North stations will be newly constructed in the eastern Bronx at Hunts Point, Parkchester/Van Nest, Morris Park and Co-op City to enable a speedy ride to Manhattan.
The plan for the station, first developed in 2009, had been stalled for some time over an operating agreement between the MTA and Amtrak. Amtrak owns the New York Connecting tracks that the new service will be traveling over. A Metro-North committee approved the $35 million contract with HNTB New York Engineering and Architecture for preliminary engineering and design of the project, known as Metro-North’s Penn Station Access project. As part of the agreement, Amtrak and MTA will jointly study the feasibility of Amtrak running several trains daily from Long Island to Penn Station and continuing either north to Boston or south to Washington.
Timing is everything; the three- to five-year project is expected to begin after both increased Acela levels between New York and Boston in 2021, and the conclusion of the East Side Access Program to Grand Central Terminal opens in 2022. The start of Long Island Rail Road train service to Grand Central will free up necessary slots at Penn Station for this new service.
“Bringing Metro-North service to the east Bronx is a game changer for the borough, and we have all been eager to get started.” Acting MTA Chairman Fernando Ferrer says. “This project will significantly reduce travel times for east Bronx residents and help area businesses and institutions attract employees.”
Seems the article forgets these stations are not new, but long ago abandoned and still exist to some extent. The NHRR and the NY, Westchester and Boston made stops there until the the former abandoned its station at Willis Ave, in the Bronx and the Westchester was abandoned.
Well,
Do expect to see this too soon. First the East Side Access Project must be completed to free up tracks in Penn Station. Secondly, the East River tunnels must be repaired due to the extensive damage by hurricane sandy. The plans for that project haven’t been completed. Knowing that these and other MTA projects proceed at glacial speed with enormous cost overruns it might be ten years before it comes to fruition. Remember, the east side access project started in the 1970s.
Good proposal. I would add that MTA/CDOT operating LI-Connecticut local/commuter service that bypasses Penn Station perhaps saving an hour of transit time (eg, Jamaica – Stamford) should be considered.
And a nit but I don’t believe CP has used the NY Connecting in many years as it stopped running freights between Saratoga and New York City quite awhile ago.
This is a great idea. I surely hope it comes in on time and on budget. It’s taken a century or more to fix the rivalry between New York Central and the Pennsy that limited travel options into Manhattan. It’s taken a half century to undo putting Co-Op City Bronx in a transit desert. Whatever, we can’t undo the past but it’s getting fixed now. Good for New York and credit where credit is due.
Now Amtrak can get back at Metro-North for all the delays MN imposes on Amtrak passengers between New Rochelle and New Haven.