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Wednesday, September 25, 2019
CTDOT eAlert: News from the Connecticut Department of Transportation
MTA Metro-North Railroad today announced that new schedules will take effect on Sunday, Sept. 29, on the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines. Metro-North crews successfully completed a series of crucial improvements to the section of track between Mott Haven and Woodlawn on the Harlem Line in the Bronx. With the work complete, and all four tracks now back in service, customers will see significant improvements in train frequencies and will have more travel options.
Metro-North put its new SMARTTRACK program into action and strategically shut down a continuous segment of track between Mott Haven and Woodlawn; this gave multiple work groups uninterrupted access to maintain and improve the system, expediting completion of the project. Crews installed more than 1,400 ties, made drainage improvements, vacuumed debris- covered ties, installed new rail and insulated joints, dumped 80 tons of stone ballast, welded track and removed trees.
Metro-North is also able to restore full weekend service to North White Plains, eliminating the need to originate and terminate trains at Crestwood.
New Haven Line customers will see a new early-morning train from Bridgeport to New Haven, as well as stops added at Greenwich to two westbound express trains in the evening to allow a faster reverse commute trip to Grand Central Terminal from that business center. Additionally, several other minor adjustments have been made to provide reliable schedules to Metro-North customers and are designed to reflect more accurately where and when trackwork and infrastructure projects are occurring along the lines.
Service details are below:
Harlem Line
The trackwork between Mott Haven and Woodlawn is completed, allowing the restoration of full service.
Full weekday service is restored to Melrose and Tremont.
Additionally, seven southbound and six northbound mid-day and late-night weekday trains will add stops at Melrose and Tremont.
Train 324, the 8:01 a.m. local train from Mt. Vernon West to Grand Central Terminal, is restored to the timetable. As a result, extra temporary Bronx stops are removed from Trains 618, 620, 522 and 524.
Train 541, the 2:56 p.m. from Grand Central Terminal, adds Williams Bridge, Woodlawn and Wakefield to fill out its all-stops pattern
Full weekend service returns to North White Plains
14 southbound weekend trains originate in North White Plains instead of Crestwood. As a result, two temporary southbound weekend late-evening trains from Crestwood to Grand Central Terminal are removed from the timetable.
15 northbound weekend trains are extended from Crestwood to North White Plains.
With the return of full weekend service to North White Plains, four express trains in each direction between Southeast and Grand Central Terminal have had their Crestwood, Scarsdale and Hartsdale stops discontinued.
Because of the remaining track outages on the Harlem Line and the volume of trains, the five midday and two evening trains which turn at Crestwood on weekdays cannot be extended to and from North White Plains until the completion of the White Plains Station Improvement Project.
On weekends, there is a significant improvement to the number of trains serving stations in the Bronx, with stops added to trains serving Melrose, Tremont, Botanical Garden, Williams Bridge, Woodlawn and Wakefield. All weekend Harlem Line trains already stop at Fordham.
Stops are added to 17 northbound trains.
Stops are added to 16 southbound trains.
With the completion of track work, 30 trains running times are being shortened by 1-11 minutes. On weekends, 20 trains' running tie s are being shortened by 2-7 minutes.
Hudson Line
The popular Fall Foliage trains return to the Hudson Valley on three Saturdays: Oct. 19, Oct. 26, and Nov. 2. There are three extra northbound trains toward Beacon and Poughkeepsie and two extra southbound trains returning to Grand Central Terminal.
Weekdays, two southbound trains have 1 minute removed from their schedules.
There are minor internal adjustments to 14 weekday and 26 weekend southbound trains to accommodate the relocation of track work.
New Haven Line
At the request of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), there is a new Train 1402, departing Bridgeport at 6:57 a.m., which stops at Stratford, Milford and West Haven, and arrives in New Haven at 7:25 a.m., providing a train for customers who need to arrive in New Haven by 8 a.m.
At CTDOT's request, Trains 1583 and 1587 add stops at Greenwich at 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., providing new evening express service from Greenwich to Manhattan.
Trains 1633 and 1637, the Shore Line East diesel trains which operate from New London and Old Saybrook to Stamford, depart New Haven 5 minutes earlier and have 5 minutes added to their schedules to more accurately reflect train times.
Holiday Services and Special Timetables
The 2019/2020 Fall/Winter Holiday Programs are unchanged from 2018, with the exception of the replacement of "Shoppers Special" services with additional cars on adjacent trains where warranted.
Metro-North will publish and operate a special four-day schedule for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend (Thursday, Nov. 28, through Sunday, Dec. 1) that is tailored to the travel needs of customers.
Many Ways to Stay Connected:
Information about the planned schedule change noted in this press release, and all planned service changes, is available through Metro-North Railroad's real-time service information sources.
MYmta app& MTA.info – Customers who use the new, comprehensive MYmta app will see real-time travel information for Metro-North and connecting services all in one place, with push notifications when service is not operating normally. As a caution, trains that start out their trips on time may experience delays en route. The Metro-North Train Time app also remains available for customers to access Metro-North train information. The rail tab of the "Service Status" box at new.MTA.info is always the definitive source for the latest status for each line, updated every minute.
Email and text message service updates – Customers are urged to sign up to receive the alerts by visiting MyMTAAlerts.com. To avoid unwanted messages, a user can tailor the messages to the specific branch, and the specific times of day.
@MetroNorth on Twitter – Twitter users can follow @MetroNorth to receive updates of a similar nature to the email and text alerts, shortened to fit Twitter's format.
The above communications channels can be accessed while at home or on the go. For customers who are located at stations, Metro-North will post the latest service updates on digital signs at station platforms and will make audio announcements over public address systems, and on-board announcements made by train crews.
For those who prefer the telephone, information is available from the Metro-North's Customer Service Center by calling 511, the New York State Travel Information Line, and saying: "Metro-North Railroad." For customers calling from Connecticut, the number is: 877-690-5114. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can use their preferred service provider for the free 711 relay to reach Metro-North at 511.
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