If you’re like most people, the new Metro-North New Haven Line ‘Direct’ service to the Giants games is kind of logistical head-scratcher.
The first question you ask yourself is ‘how the hell does a Metro-North train get to Penn Station, when the tracks only go to Grand Central?’
The second question is ‘If Metro-North trains *can* go to Penn Station, then why can’t they send some trains there *regularly* and save me 2 subway transfers to the lower west side to work every day?’
The marketing for this service doesn’t do a whole lot to unravel this mystery.
So I did a little digging. If anyone notes any mistakes, let me know and I’ll fix it.
First off, there *is* a switch in New Rochelle where trains can divert to the Hell’s Gate bridge and into Penn Station. There are trains that take this route every day – Amtrack trains.
But there’s a catch – Metro-North’s railcars cannot use that switch – Jim Cameron of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council tells me it may be a voltage issue, as the route does indeed have catenary lines.
The new M8 cars *will* be able to use this route, and regular New Haven Line service to Penn Station is under study. The problematic issues are ones which don’t apply to infrequent Giants game service – Penn Station capacity and environmental impact.
In the meanwhile, the workaround to this railcar compatibility issues is to use compatible NJ Transit railcars for the service, which will deadhead up to New Haven and then pick up riders along the way to bring them to the games.
At Penn Station, the MNR crew is swapped for a NJ Transit crew for the continuation to Secaucus Junction.
This is where the ‘direct’ service is not so ‘direct’ – at Secaucus Junction, riders then transfer to the Meadowlands Rail Service for a brief 10 minute express to the complex.
It’s important, and a bit confusing to keep in mind – that there are TWO Metro-North services to the game – ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’. ‘Indirect’ consists of going to Grand Central and taking the subway to Penn for NJ Transit service to the game.
The ‘Direct’ service is only available from the following New Haven Line Stations, and tickets may be purchased directly from the Metro-North Ticket Machines:
New Haven
Bridgeport
Fairfield
Westport
South Norwalk
Stamford
Greenwich
Rye
Larchmont
For the official scoop, refer to the Metro-North’s ‘Train To The Game™’ page
Once again, MTA seems to be attempting to trademark a simple and useful phrase so that if any other transit agency wants to offer a train service to a sporting event, MTA can (try to) make money off of their service, or at least complicate their being able to communicate their service to riders.
Clap.
6 responses so far ↓
1 kyle // Sep 19, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Metro-north has plenty of diesel trains that can easily go to penn station (so there is no voltage issue there) – all of the amtrak trains are diesel. I think the bigger issue is the space at Penn station platforms. Especially considering the new tunnel being built under the Hudson, capacity is the big issue. But direct connectivity between metro north and NJ/LIRR trains would do wonders for transit in the whole metro area.
2 Jim // Sep 19, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Trademark law needs to be amended – it should be illegal to trademark common words and phrases
3 Fred // Sep 23, 2009 at 10:33 am
MNRR equipment CAN NOT run on LIRR tracks because of their third rail shoes and vice versa. MNRR reads from the bottom of the third rail while LIRR trains read from the top – a la NYC subways. MNRR equipment would be fine over the hells gate bridge but once they connect with LIRR trackage at Sunnyside and in Penn Station they would have their Third Rail Shoes ripped off and damage the third rail itself. NJ transit does not use third rails and therefore its equipment does not have to worry about whether it is a top mounted or bottom mounted third rail.
4 Fred // Sep 23, 2009 at 10:38 am
Oh and because Diesel locomotives were outlawed in the park avenue tunnel years ago all MNRR locomtives have third rail shoes which would be damaged if they ever ran into penn station. Amtrak Locomotives which run on the Hudson line (numbered in the 700′s) are specially built so that they dont rip the third rails off from Croton Harmon to Spuyten Duyvil.
5 Walter // Sep 28, 2009 at 8:02 pm
One can assume the M8s will have specially designed third-rail shoes to travel to Penn, right? This has been thought of? Retractable shoes, perhaps?
The M8s will be able to use Amtrak’s catenary to Penn station (and beyond). A bonus no one has really mentioned is that the M8s can now also travel to, say, New London or Providence. These M8s could really revolutionize Metro-North if used correctly.
6 CL // Oct 5, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Oh and because Diesel locomotives were outlawed in the park avenue tunnel years ago all MNRR locomtives have third rail shoes which would be damaged if they ever ran into penn station. Amtrak Locomotives which run on the Hudson line (numbered in the 700’s) are specially built so that they dont rip the third rails off from Croton Harmon to Spuyten Duyvil.
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