Paterson proposes rail improvements

A plan to add a track and an additional crossing at the Harlem River could make it easier for Metro-North trains, like the one above at the Spuyten Duyvil rock cut, to share the rails with Amtrak and freight trains. Photo by Karsten Moran

High speed rail through Riverdale?

By N. Clark Judd

Stand at the right spot along Palisade Avenue any given afternoon — the ozone hues of a New York sunset casting an orange tint over the Harlem River — and you might see the 5:18 train from Grand Central, wending its way north along the Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line.

Gov. David Paterson would like this landscape to change dramatically in the next 20 years as part of a broad plan for the state’s railway infrastructure he introduced last week. The $11 billion plan is the state’s first long-term vision for its rail network in over two decades. It’s intended in part to make the state eligible to bid for a share of an $8 billion pot of federal money to be spent on high-speed rail projects throughout the country.

The plan calls for a third track to be installed between the Spuyten Duyvil and Marble Hill Metro-North stations at a cost of nearly $27 million, expanding on the two-track line that passes through a cut in the stone cliffs of Marble Hill.

It also outlines a second track across the Harlem River at Spuyten Duyvil, which connects Amtrak rails with Metro- North’s Hudson Line. That part of the proposal is expected to cost $63 million.

DOT officials would not say when, exactly, these projects will be hashed out and funded. But they characterized the plan as an important first step, and indicated that the work at Spuyten Duyvil would be a significant part of the state’s railway upgrade.

Spuyten Duyvil is one of a small handful of significant rail junctions leading into New York City, said Jennifer Post, a state DOT spokeswoman.

More freight

The widened sling bridge will allow for more regular Amtrak service, and the third set of rails in Marble Hill will allow for more freight traffic, she said.

The third line running west from Marble Hill is expected to ease congestion on rail lines, making it easier for commuter and long-distance trains to share the rail corridor with freight trains.

Another element of the statewide plan would improve conditions along the existing tracks to allow trains to travel at 110 miles per hour on their way to Albany. That part of the plan would cost an estimated $566 million and would presumably include the Amtrak line that passes below Riverdale Park.

Reaction in Riverdale appears to be generally positive.

“The more you can do for mass transit the better off you are,” said Charles Moerdler, chairman of Board 8’s traffic and transportation committee.

Access to west side

“It’ll be convenient for people, from Riverdale as well as Westchester, for people to be able to go into the West Side,” said Mr. Koppell.

Additional capacity at the Spuyten Duyvil junction could allow Metro-North to make use of Amtrak’s rail lines along Manhattan’s West Side — and service through that part of Manhattan is also one of the rail plan’s long-term objectives.

Though Mr. Koppell had not yet read the rail plan, there were parts of the Spuyten Duyvil initiatives as described to him by a reporter that disturbed him.

Currently, there’s no room for a third track in the existing rock cut at Marble Hill.

“They’re going to have to cut down that cliff. It’s kind of a nice landmark, actually,” Mr. Koppell said.

This is part of the March 19, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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