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Yesterday, MTA Metro-North Railroad announced plans to resume full service on the Port Jervis Line Nov. 28 — a month ahead of the previously scheduled timeline.

An “extraordinary, ongoing rebuilding effort” on a 14-mile section of the line — which was heavily damaged by flooding associated with Tropical Storm Irene in August — has sped repairs and expedited the work schedule, said Metro-North President Howard Permut in a prepared statement. The amount of work that still needs to be done by a third-party contractor has been significantly reduced, he added.

In addition, the estimated cost of repairs, substitute bus service and lost revenue now ranges between $30 million and $40 million versus the original $60 million estimate, Metro-North officials said.

Until the railroad resumes its full pre-storm schedule of 26 trains each weekday and 14 trains each weekend day on the line, operations will remain at 17 trains each weekday between Port Jervis and Harriman, N.Y., representing 65 percent of regular service.

Although full service will resume Nov. 28, a lot of work still needs to be done on the line, including stabilizing the river bank along the right of way, building retaining walls and completing other flood mitigation measures, Metro-North officials said.
 
“Given the tremendous progress made to date, the original estimate for completion of all Port Jervis Line repairs has been moved forward from fall 2012 to June 2012,” they said.