Metro-North Expands Bus Service
With service on the Port Jervis line remaining suspended for the near future due to damage from Hurricane Irene, the MTA began running expanded bus service for customers. Here are the details:
Beginning Thursday, Port Jervis Line customers can board MTA buses at Port Jervis or Middletown to take them over the Hudson Line to the Beacon Station for the trip to Grand Central Terminal.
Bus service from the Harriman Station to Ramsey/Route 17 where customers can transfer to NJTransit train service will continue. So customers will have a choice of getting to Hoboken or Penn Station, NY or Grand Central Terminal.
Train service on the Port Jervis Line has been suspended indefinitely because of the catastrophic damage to the track and signal systems caused by Hurricane Irene.
The 110 parking spaces at Port Jervis and 750 spaces in Middletown will help alleviate crowding at Harriman, which has 1,000 spaces. On Tuesday, only 300 people parked at Harriman and used the bus service, which is being provided by Leprechaun Bus. But Wednesday, as roads have been cleared, 800 people used the buses from Harriman.
Buses to Beacon, with the exception of one round trip in the afternoon, will originate at Port Jervis Station, stop at Middletown Station, then go directly to Beacon Station on the Hudson Line for train service to Grand Central; outbound is the reverse.
In addition, customers can use their Port Jervis Line commutation ticket on the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry or the Newburgh-Beacon Shuttle Bus.
Port Jervis Line commutation tickets will be honored for travel on the Hudson Line. Customers also can park at Beacon or Cortlandt stations on the Hudson Line.
Valid LAZ permits will be honored at these locations. Parking at these stations will be provided for those customers for the remainder of this week, although a permit does not guarantee a space.
The full extent of the Hurricane Irene’s damage on the Port Jervis Line is still being determined, as much of the line remains inaccessible and under water. Through a combination of observations made on the ground and from a helicopter courtesy of the Westchester County Police, Metro-North work crews have observed significant washouts and fallen trees at numerous locations along the tracks west of Suffern.
Some of the more significant issues that have been identified to date are as follows:
• Three washout locations of 1,000 feet each near Sloatsburg
• A 400-foot section of track south of Sloatsburg is washed out to a depth of 8 feet
• Significant damage to railroad bridges
• Suspected significant damage to the signal system which was under water.
Metro-North will retain an engineering firm to perform a thorough inspection of infrastructure to determine the full extent of necessary repairs and determine required environmental permitting. Major construction work would follow. While no final determination can be made until this investigation is completed, it will take a number of months to rebuild the track, signal and bridge infrastructure that will be required to reinstitute train service.
Busing to Beacon Station from Port Jervis and Middletown: Weekdays Weekends
Busing to/from Harriman and Ramsey Route 17: Weekdays (Weekday buses follow the train schedule.) Weekends
In addition, customers can use their Port Jervis Line commutation ticket on the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry or the Newburgh-Beacon Shuttle Bus.
For more information click here.
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[…] 10 days ago, I posted an entry with plans by the MTA Metro-North Railroad to provide expanded bus service for Port Jervis line customers who lost service due to the catastrophic damage from Hurricane […]