Union Tpke Posted February 25, 2019 Share #1 Posted February 25, 2019 LONG OVERDUE! MTA Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi has announced that effective Sunday, April 14, Metro-North is opening New Haven Line trains for travel between Fordham and Manhattan. The change means railroad customers will be able to access an additional 96 weekday trains for travel between Fordham and Manhattan that previously had been off-limits, more than doubling existing service of 93 daily Harlem Line trains. On Saturdays, 67 New Haven Line trains will now be available for such travel, bolstering the existing 83 Harlem Line trains. On Sundays, the railroad is adding access to 65 New Haven Line trains to the existing 63 Harlem Line trains. During off-peak times, when waits can be longest, the changes mean service between Fordham and Manhattan will operate roughly four times an hour instead of twice an hour. Previously, New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham only to enable travel between Fordham and points north, in Westchester County and Connecticut. Customers at Fordham seeking to travel south to Grand Central or Harlem-125th Street, as well as customers at those two stations seeking to travel to Fordham, were directed to Harlem Line trains. Southbound New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham to discharge passengers only, and northbound New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham only to receive passengers. The move comes after Metro-North completed a $15.1 million renewal of the Fordham station, which included doubling the width of the northbound platform, building a new entrance at Webster Av. and E. 193rd St., rehabilitating the historic station building, adding permanent artwork, larger stairways, and new entrances to Fordham Plaza, which was simultaneously rebuilt and reconfigured by the NYC Department of Transportation. In the east Bronx, the MTA is planning to build four New Haven Line stations in the East Bronx along the rail line to Penn Station. On the line that serves Fordham, Metro-North recently doubled off-peak and weekend service to Melrose and Tremont, which began as a pilot program in October 2016 and was formalized a year later. “The rule about boarding at Fordham had a long history, but that’s no reason for us to continue to uphold it,” said Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi, who authorized the rules change after discussing the matter with Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti. “In fact, it was long past time for this antiquated and customer-unfriendly rule to be eliminated. I thank the leadership of the MTA and the Connecticut Department of Transportation for supporting this change.” Commissioner Giulietti said: “I applaud Metro-North for managing to change this archaic rule in the spirit of better serving our customers. This will make a critical difference for commuters on the Harlem and New Haven Lines.” As a result of this policy change, revenue from the sale of train tickets between Fordham and Manhattan, which previously had gone entirely to Metro-North, will now be split between Metro-North and the State of Connecticut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Tpke Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share #2 Posted February 25, 2019 They should do this for 125th as well, though it is not as crucial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted February 25, 2019 Share #3 Posted February 25, 2019 Just now, Union Tpke said: They should do this for 125th as well, though it is not as crucial. It's already done unofficially. I see people boarding at 125th on the NH trains all the time. The subways are a mess and it is 10 minutes from 125th to Grand Central versus walking over to Lex for a 30 minute train ride at times. Which do you think most people will opt for when they have a monthly or weekly pass... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulrivera Posted February 25, 2019 Share #4 Posted February 25, 2019 This is wonderful news. Also, I think it helped that the CT transportation commissioner was actually Ms. Rinaldi’s predecessor at Metro-North. If anyone in Connecticut was able to understand the situation, it would be Giulietti. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Tpke Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share #5 Posted February 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: It's already done unofficially. I see people boarding at 125th on the NH trains all the time. The subways are a mess and it is 10 minutes from 125th to Grand Central versus walking over to Lex for a 30 minute train ride at times. Which do you think most people will opt for when they have a monthly or weekly pass... That 10 minutes can be 5-6 minutes with common sense improvements, as detailed by Alon Levy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trickysticks Posted February 27, 2019 Share #6 Posted February 27, 2019 The cranky old man in me wants to complain about having to deal with Fordham Prep kids for 20 minutes, but I don't think my trains will get much more crowded and it'll double options for plenty of people. Long overdue and a great change. By the time trains get to 125th it seems like 90% of conductors are pretty much done with the train and don't even blink at people who get on. Extending the policy there could make sense and capture some more revenue - or those people who hop on will just take the subway now that they'll have to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QM1to6Ave Posted February 28, 2019 Share #7 Posted February 28, 2019 When Rinaldi said “The rule about boarding at Fordham had a long history", was he referring to a dispute about how fares would get split between NY and CT? Or some other ridiculous political grudge match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulrivera Posted February 28, 2019 Share #8 Posted February 28, 2019 14 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said: When Rinaldi said “The rule about boarding at Fordham had a long history", was he referring to a dispute about how fares would get split between NY and CT? Or some other ridiculous political grudge match? The history mentioned dates back to the early 1900’s when today’s Harlem and New Haven lines were two different railroads that were each separately owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Tpke Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share #9 Posted February 28, 2019 5 hours ago, paulrivera said: The history mentioned dates back to the early 1900’s when today’s Harlem and New Haven lines were two different railroads that were each separately owned. It dates to 1841. The original stop in the Bronx was Woodlawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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