NEW YORK’s Metro-North Commuter Railroad has announced plans to relieve a major bottleneck its 123 km Harlem line, which has seen ridership increase by an average of 2·6% annually since 1984. Whereas the Hudson and New Haven lines each have three or four tracks throughout, the mid-Harlem section has only two. MNCR proposes to add a third track by upgrading an existing siding for 5·8 km between Mount Vernon West and Fleetwood and building a 4 km new track between Fleetwood and Crestwood. This will allow greater flexibility at peak hours and an improved service pattern.
Meanwhile, a new 4273m2 passenger concourse is to be built at New York’s Pennsylvania Station exclusively for New Jersey Transit commuters. It is designed to handle a projected 50% increase in passenger traffic; weekday ridership using the station is expected to grow from 70000 to 102000 by 2002. The $105m project is part of NJT’s Initiatives Programme, which will see eight extra peak hour trains from the Northeast Corridor, bringing the total to 25 per hour. NJT will lease the space from Amtrak for 99 years, and hopes to start preparatory work this month. Construction of the new concourse, with ticket office and waiting room, will start next summer.
- Test running began on Boston’s Old Colony commuter rail line on June 24; revenue service is scheduled to start on the Middleborough and Plymouth branches in September. Construction of the third leg to Greenbush is now under way. o
