Railroad Continues to Make Significant Train Service Restorations Following Tropical Storm Isaias
Metro-North Resumes Operating on Regular Weekday Schedules
See Photos of Metro-North Tree Clearance Work
MTA Metro-North Railroad today announced that starting at 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, Metro-North will operate on weekday schedules for the first time since Tropical Storm Isaias, including on the New Haven Line’s New Canaan Branch, and on the mid-Harlem Line where train service is being restored to three stations – Bedford Hills, Katonah and Golden’s Bridge – and bus service will extend to four stations: Purdys, Croton Falls, Brewster, and Southeast, N.Y.
“It is a significant feat for our heroic workforce to restore so much service so quickly after the storm, but our work is not yet done,” said Catherine Rinaldi, President of Metro-North Railroad. “Our crews will continue to work through their challenging conditions to continue restoring service as quickly as possible for customers.”
Out of the entire MTA network, the Harlem Line has been the hardest hit by the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias, with 75 downed trees on that one line alone. Trees and branches on the line are often ensnared in utility wires that run alongside the tracks. Clearing the trees and rectifying the restoring the utility poles and wiring requires coordinated, concentrated multidisciplinary team efforts. The most concentrated damage in Connecticut was along the 6-mile New Canaan Branch, where crews cleared 15 downed trees, or a downed tree every four tenths of a mile.
Metro-North Railroad has been extending service since Aug. 4, when Tropical Storm Isaias blew 285 trees across Metro-North’s tracks and catenary systems. By Thursday, Aug. 6, service was operating as far as Poughkeepsie, Pleasantville and Stamford. On Friday, Aug. 7, Metro-North extended New Haven Line service to New Haven and Harlem Line service to Mt. Kisco. Danbury Branch train service resumed on Saturday, Aug. 8.
Metro-North continues to work to restore Harlem Line service between Southeast and Wassaic.