Full service on Port Jervis line returns

Thanks to an extraordinary rebuilding effort by New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Metro-North employees, full train service will resume on the Port Jervis Line on Monday November 28, one full month earlier and at a substantially lower cost than originally expected. "Metro-North appreciates the patience of its 2,300 Port Jervis Line customers during the past few months," said Metro-North President Howard Permut. "We want them to come back to the railroad so customers who buy a December monthly Port Jervis Line ticket can ride for free for the last three days of November. "It's a small way to say welcome back." Metro-North trains will return to a full schedule of 26 daily trains and 14 trains each weekend day. While through train service will resume, not all track repairs will be completed by November 28. However, given the tremendous progress made by employees and contractors, the original estimate for completion of all Port Jervis Line repairs has been moved forward from fall 2012 to June 2012.  "I'm also happy to report that the cost of repairs, substitute bus service and lost revenue is roughly half of the $60 million that we originally expected," Permut noted. The current estimate is between $30 million and $40 million. Compared to the pre-storm schedule, running times for Port Jervis line trains will slightly longer to accommodate continuing trackwork. Travel time for inbound trains to Hoboken/New York-Penn Station is three minutes longer; while travel time for outbound trains to Port Jervis is up to seven minutes longer. The additional running time is due to speed restrictions in place for three and a half miles of track between Suffern and Harriman and because only one of the two tracks between Suffern and Sloatsburg is being returned to service on November 28th and all trains in both directions have to use one track in that section. These changes as well as speed restrictions will be removed in January, when the remaining trackwork that impacts train schedules should be completed. Metro-North will return to its pre-storm schedule on January 15.