ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to propose infrastructure improvements to the Hudson Line used by Metro-North and Amtrak’s Empire Service that could cut travel times by as much as 15 minutes, and reduce Metro-North’s fastest service between Poughkeepsie and New York City to less than 90 minutes.
The proposal will be part of Hochul’s State of the State address, set for Jan. 14, the Governor’s Office said in a press release today (Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025). It includes planning, evaluation, and design for projects including a second track at Spuyten Duyvil; interlocking, signal, and track improvements at Croton-Harmon; capacity improvements at Poughkeepsie Yard; Metropolitan Transportation Authority signal improvements near Yonkers; and climate-resilience projects on the line’s most vulnerable and highest-ridership segments.
“Over the coming years, these much-needed infrastructure improvements will allow us to modernize our rail system, increase connectivity, reduce travel time and strengthen economic connections across the region,” Hochul said in the press release. With these proposals, we are laying the groundwork to deliver faster and more reliable rail service for suburban and rural commuters across the Hudson Valley and beyond.”
Currently, the fastest peak-period Metro-North express trips between Poughkeepsie and Grand Central Terminal, which include just three intermediate stops, take 95 minutes, while the fastest Grand Central-Poughkeepsie trip in the afternoon peak takes 96 minutes. Empire Service trains already travel between New York and Poughkeepsie in as little as 1 hour, 23 minutes, and make the New York-Albany trip in as little as 2 hours, 25 minutes.
The plan calls for MTA to evaluate and design other projects — such as adding a third track to the Harlem Line or connecting Hudson Line service to Penn Station — under an appropriation anticipated to be available as part of the agency’s 2025-29 capital plan. The MTA and New York State Department of Transportation will also create a regional rail working group with New Jersey and Connecticut to better coordinate matters such as interoperability, ticketing and schedules. The working group will also develop plans to make Metro-North or Long Island Rail Road travel to the 2026 World Cup at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium “as seamless as possible,” and explore further integration of regional travel.
“Metro-North is the economic backbone of the lower Hudson Valley, and these are smart targeted investments to protect its future and record-setting 98%+ on-time performance,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said in the release. “In the age of climate change, resiliency is especially important, and Gov. Hochul has shown she gets it intuitively.” Said state Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, “NYSDOT is proud to help spearhead these investments on our state-supported Amtrak services, and we look forward to partnering with the MTA on separate enhancements to Metro-North services along the Hudson Line rail corridor.”
The announcement does not address costs or funding — those details will apparently be part of the State of the State address — or indicate project timelines.
To speed up the Hudson line will require some real estate purchases. Maybe NY state can even get small help from Amtrak if Amtrak will be able to speed up itself on that MNRR section. That may require MNRR increasing the max authorized speeds on its sections or at least eliminating any slow sections.
As far as Hudson line to NYP. IMO Amtrak will not want the West side line to have 3rd rail installed. There are too many locations on the west side line that can allow for trespassers to get electrocuted. That then will require overhead CAT. Then MNRR will need to purchase M-8 type EMUs at a cost. As well, the west side line will need to finish being made 2 main tracks from the NYP tunnel exit to past Spuyten. Another cost.
Alas, MNR M-8’s are 60 Hz only (smaller transformers) and cannot use AMTK’s 25 Hz catenary, nor can they run on LIRR’s overrunning 3rd rail.
NOTE: AMTK’s dual mode diesels can’t use MNR’s underrunning third rail. They dieselate from A-R to the tunnel into Penn Sta,
It seems whatever PRR did, NYC did the exact opposite. And vice-versa,
Though it’s not specifically mentioned in the above article, I see that the north end of the Pascack Valley line, (once the NJ-NY RR), is highlighted on the article map for future upgrades.
If so, Gov Hochul et al, should consider reopening the connecting west end of the remaining Piermont Branch and repair the minor washout just west of Spring Valley, that separates Spring Valley from the Suffern commuter train yard on the former E-L Rwy mainline. The current Piemont Branch RoW between that washout and Suffern is still used for local freight customers such as a lumber yard, so financial investment should be relatively minimal with some potential payback from commuters and hopefully better efficiency.
That restoration would enable to easily extend the Pascack Valley commuter trains to the Suffern commuter train yard while picking up more commuter business on the way through in the towns of Monsey, Tallman, Ramapo, etc. That extension would also enable to shut down the current commuter train yard at the north end of Spring Valley known as the Woodbine Yard.
BTW, the old Piermont Branch was where Daniel Webster took his famous train ride in the 1830s, what was then known as the Erie RR mainline to Piermont on the Hudson River shipping port, for NYC bound freight and passengers via river ferry boats.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40721604@N05/11672984274/
Hmmm. Are Gov Kathy’s planners aware that the Hudson Line is currently connected to Penn Station – by Amtrak’s West Side line? Of course NYP’s overruning third rail shoes are not compatible with MTA’s underruning third rail shoes.
Sounds like this: when all is said and done, MTA’s Hudson Line, New Haven Line, and LIRR would each serve both Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. That would be awesome!!!! Problem is, all this costs money that Kathy doesn’t have.