Community leaders and activists for decades have pleaded with the MTA to increase service at Melrose’s Metro North Station at 162nd and Park Avenue which not only would benefit those who work in the Bronx’s downtown and civic center but also the legions of Bronx residents who reverse commute up to Westchester and Connecticut.
Melrose, the first stop in The Bronx on Metro North along with Tremont, only saw trains stop every two hours but now that is to change to hourly beginning this coming Sunday, October 2nd and will continue through October 2017 as a trial and if successful, permanent changes will be made.
The MTA is also dramatically increasing the hours of operation of Metro North by up to 2 1/2 hours with southbound service and 4 hours for northbound service.
Expanded service is critically important to Bronxites as The Bronx is the county with the highest percentage of reverse commuters in the entire nation. Although rush hour service is 2-3x more expensive than MTA Buses and Subway, reverse commuting on Metro North is extraordinarly affordable, often times just 25 to 50 cents more than the price of one ride on the subway.
(for schedule information go directly to MTA’s website)
According to agency’s website:
Harlem Line
In an effort to build ridership and provide Bronx residents with more convenient travel options, the railroad will implement a demonstration project to increase service at the Melrose and Tremont stations from the current two-hour frequency to hourly frequency. This demonstration project will make service at Melrose and Tremont stations consistent with other Bronx stations.
In addition to the increased frequency, the service day will be extended, with earlier inbound service on weekdays and significantly later outbound service on weekdays and weekends.
- Weekday southbound service will expand from: 7:20 a.m. – 10:41 p.m., to: 5:51 a.m. – 12:55 a.m.
- Weekday northbound service will expand from: 5:38 a.m. – 9:25 p.m., to: 5:38 a.m. -1:16 a.m.
- Weekend southbound service will expand from: 6:44 a.m. – 10:44 p.m., to: 6:44 a.m. – 12:44 a.m.
- Weekend northbound service will expand from: 6:25 a.m. – 9:25 p.m., to: 6:25 a.m. – 1:16 a.m.
This demonstration project will continue through October 2017. If ridership and operational impact deem the project a success, the railroad will undertake the necessary steps to make the service permanent.
Elsewhere on the Harlem Line, to improve on-time performance, running time adjustments of between 1-2 minutes will be made to 11 morning rush hour trains and to 10 evening rush hour trains.
The 9:25 p.m. shuttle from Southeast to Wassaic will depart two minutes later to reflect the performance of the connecting train, for a total New York City-Wassaic timetable increase of four minutes.
New Haven Line
To further address congestion in Stamford during evening rush hour travel, the 7:04 p.m. local train from Stamford to Grand Central Terminal will depart 3 minutes later. This change will better streamline New Haven Line operations during the evening rush, improving on-time performance.
Two minutes of travel time will be added to five morning rush hour trains, reflecting actual station dwell times and improving on-time performance. One additional train will have intermediate stop times adjusted, but no overall running time increase.
Bridge timber replacement and catenary work at Devon will be complete. As a result, the temporary Devon Transfer station will be decommissioned, and customers will once again be able to transfer to/from Waterbury Branch trains at Bridgeport.
Hudson Line Service Change on Saturday, October 8 and Sunday, October 9
On the weekend of October 8 and 9, Metro-North will be completing the final phase of its project replacing switches in the vicinity of Yankee Stadium. The work at this critical location on the railroad requires two of the three main line tracks to be taken out of service. As a result, Hudson Line service will be reduced from half-hourly to hourly at most times during that weekend. A limited number of additional trains will be operated during the busiest travel times on both days the project is taking place. In addition, some trains that operate between Grand Central Terminal and Poughkeepsie will operate in two sections – Grand Central/Croton-Harmon and Croton-Harmon/Poughkeepsie – and will require customers to transfer at Croton-Harmon.
For information about Metro-North train schedules, visit our schedules page at http://web.mta.info/mnr/html/planning/schedules/schedules.htm or download the free Metro-North Train Time App for train times. The app is available via the Apple Store for iOS devices or Google Play Store for Android along with MTA eTix™ – Metro-North Railroad’s mobile ticketing app which allows customers to buy Metro-North tickets on their mobile device — anytime, anywhere
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