(The Center Square) — Commuters on the Metro-North rail system will get to New York City faster with new “super express” trains that will shorten travel times while helping the state reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday that more than two dozen new 4,200-horsepower Siemens Charger locomotives trains will begin passenger service on Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line this week. The new locomotives will provide even more reliable service while reducing airborne pollutants by 85%, while using 1,000 more horsepower than the current fleet, according to the state transit agency.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the new trains will shorten travel times to the Big Apple and help blunt the impact of climate change by providing more incentives for people to ditch their vehicles for public transit with the city’s congestion pricing toll system now in place.
“We want to make it easier to get into Manhattan with a car, so this is part of that,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in remarks at Grand Central Station Tuesday, flanked by state transportation officials. “People told us they want to take the train but they want it faster and more efficient, and so we’ve delivered on that.”
Hochul said Metro-North is shortening five trips between Poughkeepsie and Grand Central to less than 90 minutes and one trip down to 95 minutes, delivering what she boasted as the “fastest trips ever” between the two cities.
Currently, the average travel time for a non-express trip between Poughkeepsie and Grand Central can be up to 115 minutes, depending on the number of stops, according to the MTA.
The administration said the new run time improvements cut travel times by as much as 7 minutes one way compared to the current super-express train schedules, and by as much as 20 minutes one way compared to non-express trains.
The new locomotives, built in California, can operate on both diesel-electric and third-rail electric power, allowing them to run on all of Metro-North’s non-electrified lines and switch to electric power for electrified routes, including in Grand Central Terminal, the MTA said. The locomotives also include state-of-the-art monitoring and diagnostic systems that allow train crews to spot any possible problems quickly.
Transit officials said the new locomotives are expected to operate in electric mode the entire 102 miles of Metro-North’s third rail territory, which extends to Croton-Harmon, Southeast and Pelham.
“With these on time, on budget, and American made locomotives, we are making a significant, long-term investment in the service we provide,” Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonashek said Tuesday. “These locomotives are key to our transition to a faster and cleaner fleet in the coming years.”
