Digest: Metro-North to add trains on three lines as of June 21

Metro-North to add trains, increasing service to 67% of pre-pandemic levels

Metro-North Railroad will add trains on three lines as of Monday, June 21, bringing service to two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, and will increase that to 83% of prior service levels as of Aug. 29. The Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines will each add eight trains during peak periods. “We are thrilled to see sustained ridership growth as the region comes back from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Metro-North president Catherine Rinaldi said in a press release. “Metro-North is increasing service to meet the demand that we are seeing, and we couldn’t be happier to be welcoming so many of our customers back.” The railroad also announced that it will extend the hours of Grand Central Terminal’s entrances to 46th, 47th, and 48th streets, and that it has completed the replacement of 217 miles of catenary dating to 1907 on the New Haven Line.

Wisconsin grant to help fund spur for new chocolate factory

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation has awarded a $250,000 grant to help fund extension of a rail spur to serve a new chocolate factory in Milton, Wis. The Milton Courier reports the state will provide 25% of the funding for the $1 million project to extend the Wisconsin & Southern line to serve the Clausen Quality Chocholate factory, a $105 million project that city administrator Al Hulick told the paper would not have been built without the spur. The first phase of the 350,000-square-foot plant is expected to begin operation in fall 2022 and employ 50 people.

Kansas grant to build spur for railroad tie factory

Another Watco railroad, the South Kansas & Oklahoma, is receiving a $343,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation to construct a spur in Neodesha, Kan., to serve a new plant for Sicut Enterprises Ltd., which manufactures recycled plastic railroad ties. The Morning Sun newspaper reports the plant is expected to bring about 135 jobs to the area in the next five years. “Sicut needed a rail spur, and the city did not have the funds to do it,” Neodesha Community Development Director Jeri Hammerschmidt said. “KDOT came to our rescue.”