Gov. Hochul lauds MTA improvements at Metro-North Railroad

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a press conference held yesterday, reviewed Metropolitan Transportation Authority's accomplishments made for Metro-North Railroad riders in 2024 and provided a glimpse of upcoming improvements in the MTA Capital Plan.

“Metro-North is part of the heart of the Hudson Valley,” Hochul said in a press release issued after the event. “We will continue to invest in both its present and future by modernizing infrastructure and promoting safety. A modern railroad will provide an excellent customer experience every trip with modern amenities at stations that are fully accessible, safe and protected from climate change.”

This year, Metro-North logged surging ridership and record on-time performance, MTA officials said. Upcoming projects include making more stations accessible to all riders; a new Park Avenue Viaduct; and the Penn Station access project.

Major capital work underway this year to fortify and improve the Metro-North network includes the following projects:

• MTA Construction & Development is replacing and rehabilitating major segments of the 130-year-old Park Avenue Viaduct, which carries 98% of all Metro-North trains traveling along the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines serving the Harlem-125th Street Station and Grand Central Terminal;
• Work began to replace deteriorating sections of the roof of Metro-North’s deteriorating train shed underneath Park Avenue at 48th and 47th streets in Manhattan. The 2025-29 Capital Plan heavily focuses investment for continued replacement of the Train Shed roof and fortification of Grand Central Terminal for the future; and
 • Work on Metro-North stations was in full force in 2024, with work at the Garrison Station that included the replacement of 3-foot-wide portions of all the platforms, new railing, tactile strips, expansion joints and concrete repairs with new staircases. A future project will install police observational devices that include security cameras.

The MTA also is investing to improve the resiliency of the Metro-North network. More than half of the 74-mile-long Hudson Line is vulnerable to coastal surge risk. The proposed 2025-29 MTA Capital Plan focuses on addressing erosion hot spots, stabilizing upland slopes, and upgrading drainage in the most vulnerable and highest-ridership segments of the line, protecting more than 20 miles of the Hudson Line.

Moreover, Metro-North recently took delivery of the first two of 33 new state-of-the-art locomotives that will replace the existing fleet used for trains serving Poughkeepsie, Southeast, Danbury and Waterbury. Manufactured by Siemens Mobility, the new locomotives are expected to operate in electric mode the entire 102 miles of Metro-North’s third-rail territory.