Penn Station Access

Key components

First proposed in 1999 by the FTA and Metro North Railroad, using three miles of trackage, the project would also involve the construction of six new Metro-North stations in the Bronx and Manhattan, allowing riders in these areas to easily access Penn Station, Westchester, Dutchess, and Putnam counties upstate as well as Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut. Existing Metro-North riders would have the choice of arriving at either Penn Station or Grand Central on the New Haven Line and the Hudson Line.

While not proposed officially, in June 1973, two Congressman and the Mayor of Yonkers proposed having trains run from Stamford in Connecticut to Penn Station, making stops at Pelham Manor, Co-op City and the Parkchester development in the Bronx. They proposed that the line be operated by the MTA pending completion of the Second Avenue Subway, which was slated to be completed in 1980. Sixty percent of Co-op City residents that responded to a survey said that they would have used the proposed rail service.

Penn Station Access would also provide system resiliency to protect service in the event of natural or other disasters. In order to accommodate more trains, there would be upgraded power and signal systems, the installation of new track and the realignment of existing track, and the replacement of railroad bridges. Metro-North service to Penn Station will begin after the completion of the East Side Access project.

Phase One

The first piece of Penn Station Access would route some New Haven Line trains down Amtrak's Northeast Corridor to Penn Station. The New Haven Line to Grand Central splits off from the Northeast Corridor near New Rochelle; the Northeast Corridor (also known here as the Hell Gate Line) continues to Penn Station, crossing the Hell Gate Bridge into Queens, and entering Manhattan through the East River Tunnels also used by the Long Island Rail Road. This phase includes the construction of four new Metro-North stations in the Bronx to be served by the New Haven Line, located in Co-Op City, Morris Park, Parkchester/Van Nest, and Hunts Point. The stations would provide fast, direct rides to West Midtown and facilitate reverse-commuting trips to Westchester County and Connecticut. The new stations would provide transit access to the transit-deficient East Bronx.

Previously, a station was also considered to be built in Astoria, however analysis showed that there wouldn’t be enough riders to justify the high cost of constructing a station. The construction of a station was projected to cost over $20 million, and the station would only be able to be 4-car lengths long. The station would only have a projected annual ridership of 310,367. Recently, local residents have pushed to have a Metro-North station built in Astoria between 41st Street and 44th Street, or at Northern Boulevard and Broadway in Woodside.

In its 2015–2019 Capital Program, the MTA budgeted $695 million for New Haven Line Penn Station Access work, including track, structures, signal, power and communications work along the Hell Gate Line, specifications for rolling stock for the line, and construction of the four new stations. New track will be installed between the Parkchester/Van Nest station and north of the Co-Op City station. Three bridges along the route will be rehabilitated or replaced. The MTA plans to complete necessary environmental and federal reviews by 2017. On January 8, 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo voiced support for the project in his 2014 State of the State address.

Yard upgrades at Penn Station and at New Rochelle Yard will be part of the project.

Service will begin after East Side Access service commences. The opening of that project would divert some Long island Rail Road trains to Grand Central, therefore opening up slots at Penn Station for Metro-North service. During peak hours there will be between six and ten trains to Penn Station. There will be four trains per hour to Connecticut in the reverse peak direction, and there will be two trains per hour to and from Penn Station during off-peak and weekends.

The project would add redundancy to the regional transportation network in case of service interruption. Regional connectivity will be increased with accessible transfers to Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit at Penn Station. Through-running between the New Haven Line and New Jersey Transit would be possible, linking business centers in Connecticut and New Jersey while providing access to Newark Liberty Airport.

Existing service

New Haven Line service to Penn Station already exists in a very limited fashion; the Train to the Game runs between New Haven and New Jersey Transit's Meadowlands Sports Complex station to bring riders to Sunday 1 PM NFL games played by the New York Jets and New York Giants. This special service, operated using New Jersey Transit's equipment, makes a stop at Penn Station, but that is only a secondary benefit of the operation.

Phase Two

The second part of the project would bring Hudson Line trains into Penn Station using Amtrak's Empire Connection on Manhattan's West Side. The Empire Connection splits off from the Hudson Line near Spuyten Duyvil and is currently used by Amtrak's Empire Corridor trains traveling from Upstate New York, Canada, and other destinations. The majority of the Empire Connection is not electrified, so the M3 and M7 electric railcars in use on the Hudson Line are currently unable to travel to Penn Station. This phase includes a proposal for two new Metro-North stations to be served by the Hudson Line. Both stations would be located in Manhattan along the Empire Connection: one at West 125th Street in Manhattanville and the other near 62nd Street on the Upper West Side.

Possible Harlem Line service

It has been proposed to have Harlem Line access to Penn Station as well by reactivating the Port Morris Branch, which would connect the Harlem Line to the Hell's Gate Line.