Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), an authority of New York State. Metro–North runs service between New York City to its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut. Trains terminate in places respective to their branch line; these locals include, in New York State, in Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, and Wassaic; in Connecticut, in New Canaan, Danbury, Waterbury, and New Haven.
The MTA also operates:
the New York City Transit Authority buses and subways;
the Long Island Rail Road;
and the “plum” of the former empire of Robert Moses: the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
There are 120 stations operated by Metro-North. We have pictures and descriptions of many of them; mostly the railroad stations in Connecticut and those railroad stations along the Hudson Division.
Three Metro-North lines provide passenger service on the east side of the Hudson River, all of which terminate at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan: the Hudson Line, Harlem Line and New Haven Line. An additional line, the Beacon Line (sometimes referred to as the Maybrook Line), is owned by Metro-North but is out of service.
The Hudson and Harlem Lines terminate in Poughkeepsie and Wassaic, New York, respectively. The Hudson Line is electrified as far as Croton-Harmon and the Harlem Line is electrified as far as Southeast (Brewster) .
The New Haven Line is operated through a partnership between Metro-North and the State of Connecticut. Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) owns the tracks and stations within Connecticut. MTA owns the tracks and stations within New York State. MTA also performs routine maintenance and provides police services for the entire New Haven Line, its branches and stations.
Goodbye, Solari. Hello ‘Grant’ New Haven Union Station
The New Haven Line has three branches providing connecting service in Connecticut- the New Canaan Branch, Danbury Branch and Waterbury Branch. At New Haven, the Shore Line East connecting service, which is run by ConnDOT, continues east to New London.
Amtrak also operates intercity train service along the New Haven and Hudson Lines. Because the New Haven Line is also part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, high-speed Acela Express trains run on the line from New Rochelle to New Haven Union Station
Freight trains utilize Metro-North , as CSX, P & W, and Housatonic Railroad each have trackage rights on certain sections of the system.
Service on the western side of the Hudson is operated by New Jersey Transit under contract with the MTA. Metro-North also provides service on trains west of the Hudson River that originate from Hoboken Terminal, New Jersey. This service is jointly run by Metro-North and New Jersey Transit, under contract. There are two branches of the west-of-Hudson service, the Port Jervis Line, and the Pascack Valley Line. The Port Jervis Line is accessed from two New Jersey Transit lines, the Main Line and the Bergen County Line.
Before the Metro-North service was put in place, most of the trackage east of the Hudson River and in New York State, was owned by the New York Central Railroad. The New York Central initially operated three commuter lines, two of which ran directly into Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North’s Harlem Line had been initially a combination of trackage from the New York and Harlem Railroad and the old Boston and Albany Railroad, running from Manhattan to Chatham in Columbia County.
The NY Central also operated the four tracked Water Level Route which paralleled the Hudson River heading to Chicago via Albany. The 20th Century Limited used this route. The other major commuter line was the Putnam Division running from a terminal station at 155th Street in The Bronx to Brewster, New York. Passengers would transfer to the IRT 9th Avenue Line to reach destinations in Manhattan.
From 1848 until 1969 the New Haven Line, including the New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury branches, was owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H).
Commuter services west of the Hudson River, which make up today’s Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines, were initially part of the Erie Railroad. The Port Jervis Line, built in the 1850s and 60’s, was originally part of the Erie’s mainline from Jersey City to Buffalo, New York. The Pascack Valley Line was built by the New Jersey and New York Railroad, which became a subsidiary of the Erie. In 1956 the Erie Railroad began a somewhat successful merger with its rival the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and in 1960 they formed the Erie Lackawanna which became responsible for the services.
In 1968, the New York Central and its rival the Pennsylvania Railroad formed Penn Central Transportation with the hope of revitalizing their fortunes. In 1969 the now bankrupt New Haven was also combined into Penn Central by the Interstate Commerce Commission. However, this merger eventually failed, due to large financial costs, government regulations, corporate rivalries, and lack of a formal merger plan. In 1970 Penn Central declared bankruptcy, at the time being the largest corporate bankruptcy ever declared.
Many of the other Northeastern railroads at the time, including the Erie Lackawanna, were following Penn Central into bankruptcy and so the federal government decided to fold these lines into the newly created Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in 1976. Conrail was initially given the responsibility of operating the former commuter services of these fallen railroads including the Erie Lackawanna’s and Penn Central’s. MTA operation and the formation of Metro-North
Conrail was created by the U.S. Department of Transportation as a private for profit freight only carrier. Even with state subsidies, Conrail did not want the responsibility of taking on the operating costs of the money losing commuter lines, an act they officially were relieved from by the passage of the Northeast Rail Act of 1981. Now it was required that state owned agencies both operate and subsidize their commuter services. Over the next few years commuter lines under the control of Conrail were gradually taken over by state agencies such as the newly formed New Jersey Transit in New Jersey, and the established SEPTA in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston. The MTA in conjuncture with the Connecticut Department of Transportation formed the Metro-North Commuter Railroad in 1983.
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A New Hudson Bridge, Revived Beacon Line, HYPERLOOP and More
The Maybrook Line was a line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad which connected with its Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut, and its Maybrook Yard in Maybrook, New York, where it interchanged with other carriers.
If one looks at the most popular Pages on our WebSite, over half directly reference the Maybrook Line. Lot’s of folks have an interest in it. The “Maybrook Line” was important to New England before the advent of Penn Central and before the Poughkeepsie Bridge burned. This piece of the railroad carried freight from Maybrook Yard, across the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Hopewell Junction where it joined a line from Beacon. The railroad then went to Brewster, then Danbury, and finally to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven.
WHY and How To Fix The “MAYBROOK LINE”?
Container port/intermodal facility/rail bridge
The construction of a railroad bridge between New Hamburg and Marlboro is likely the least expensive place to build a Hudson River crossing between Manhattan and Albany. The stone for ramps, sand and gravel for concrete and a steel beam assembly and storage area would be right on sight. All materials and equipment could be transported by barge or boat. The bridge itself would have only four or five piers (the most costly part to build) since the Hudson River is about the same width as it is in Poughkeepsie.
The Hudson River component connects Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties to the world economy (finished goods, spare parts, components parts, raw materials, food stuffs) and the railroad and interstate road components connect these NY counties to the rest of North America (US, Mexico, Canada).
With the container port/intermodal facility/rail bridge, the flow in and out of raw materials, spare parts, partially finished goods, foodstuffs and components will allow for new industries and businesses to locate near this facility and add to the tax base of these three NY counties: Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties.
Although the Dutchess County Airport is a tiny regional airport with a 5,000 foot runway, it has some big potential. The airport land extends a mile Northeast of the present runway end at New Hackensack Road and borders on the former New Haven Maybrook Line/Dutchess Rail Trail. As the NY Air National Guard gets crowded out by international air traffic at Stewart International Airport their operation could be moved over to Dutchess Airport without disrupting the lives of the guard members and their families through forced relocation.
Beacon itself is exploding with “developer” activity, and it needs a trolley or light rail for the city only to transform back into a pedestrian oriented city.
Other activities include: Solidization of rail links in Connecticut to handle increased traffic; a possible HYPERLINK for improved service along the Beacon Line and in/out of New York City
Now you are going to ask. What does the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority have to do with the “BEACON LINE”? IT OWNS IT! Must realize that NYCMTA is a “regional” organization. With all that went on with Penn-Central and CONRAIL somebody had to own it!
So what would a “revised” rail line look like?
To begin with, the line from Maybrook to the Hudson River is gone. Railroads that previously entered Maybrook can reach the Hudson River and head up the old West Shore to the proposed bridge at New Hamburg. But the old Poughkeepsie Bridge is no longer in service, as well as the tracks to Hopewell Junction. At Marlboro, trains would take the old New York Central Hudson Division to Beacon, New York. Yes, with both Metro North and Amtrak using the Hudson Line, it may require an additional track.
From Beacon trains would travel the Beacon Line over the Housatonic Railroad to Derby-Shelton, Connecticut. Trains would go to Cedar Hill Yard. Some traffic may go to Long Island. With traffic revitalized, other trains will even go to Waterbury!
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A great, great WebSite about HUDSON VALLEY RAILROADS
No, it is not ours! It is very comprehensive and professional.
http://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/library/pdfs/Railroads.pdf
It is written by professionals, not railfans. Lots of really neat stories about the old railroads. Lots of great links too!
All about the Walkway Over The Hudson (old bridge from Maybrook to Beacon)
All about Metro-North Railroad
From their biblioraphy:
“New York Central Railroad and New York State Railroads.” GOURMET MOIST / Kingly Heirs. Web. 13 Oct. 2010. . This website talks about the different railroads that eventually merged to form the New York Central Railroad. It also discusses where the railroads runs to and from.”
Since 2010, it has become a part of our WebSite:
https://penneyandkc.wordpress.com/new-york-state-railroads-and-ny-central-railroad/
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First Woman Named Metro-North President
February 21, 2018
Catherine Rinaldi has been named the first female president of Metro-North Railroad.
Rinaldi, has served as acting president of Metro-North since July 2017, and previously was Metro-North’s executive vice president, beginning in 2015.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21 she was officially named president.
She replaces Joe Giulietti who resigned last July after three years leading the railroad. Giulietti became Metro-North’s president in 2014, following railroad troubles that included a Bridgeport derailment in 2013.
Under his watch, the railroad set ridership records in 2016, as the New Haven Line was used by 40.4 million people — a 20,000-rider increase over the previous year, according to the MTA.
Rinaldi served as General Counsel for the MTA between 2003 and 2007 before taking on that role at the Long Island Rail Road, through 2011. In that year, she became Chief of Staff for the MTA, a position she held until 2015.
“Everyone who has had the good fortune of working with Cathy knows she inspires confidence in those around her through a mixture of leadership by example, evenhandedness and commitment to core principles,” said MTA Managing Director Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim. “She never loses sight of concern for customer experience.”
Metro-North Railroad is the second-busiest commuter railroad in the country, providing 86.5 million rides a year between Grand Central Terminal and 123 stations in nine counties in New York and Connecticut. Rinaldi becomes the first woman to serve as president.
“I’m honored and humbled to be offered this position and deeply appreciative of the confidence that Joe and Ronnie have placed in me,” Rinaldi said.
Rinaldi graduated summa cum laude from Yale and earned her law degree from the University of Virginia. She was born in Brooklyn, raised in Huntington, Long Island, and now resides in Westchester County with her husband and son.
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Penney Vanderbilt and KC Jones: All About Railroads 
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