MTA Metro-North, LIRR change schedules for infrastructure work

MTA Metro-North Railroad's new April 11 timetable will make temporary, minor schedule changes on all three lines to allow for track maintenance projects. On the Upper Hudson Line, schedule adjustments will allow for installation of concrete ties until June 2010. Poughkeepsie, New Hamburg and Beacon customers in all time periods will be affected by schedule changes requiring trains to depart earlier or later, and in some cases, to travel up to seven minutes slower or 10 minutes faster.

This spring, Metro-North
will begin work on drainage improvements on the Harlem Line between Melrose and
Fordham. To allow for this work, all weekend Harlem Line trains will travel two
to four minutes slower because some tracks will be out of service. Due to bridge
repairs between Goldens Bridge and Brewster, two late night trains will be
temporarily adjusted.

Also due to the drainage
improvements on the Harlem Line, all weekend New Haven Line trains, which share
tracks with the Harlem Line in the Bronx, will operate two to four minutes
slower.

Buses will replace train
service for Long Island Rail Road customers traveling between Long Beach and
Valley Stream the weekend of March 27-28 as work continues on the construction
of two new railroad bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel.

The $24.5 million
project, which is funded through the MTA Capital Budget and federal grants,
will also require train outages on two other weekends – May 1-2 and May 15-16. The
Railroad’s goal is to complete the installation of both bridges before Memorial
Day.

Both the Powell Creek
Bridge (located between the LIRR’s East Rockaway and Oceanside stations) and
the Hog Island Channel Bridge (located between Oceanside and Island Park) were
built in the 1920s, and have served the LIRR well for nearly 90 years. These
two bridges are being replaced as part of the Railroad’s ongoing efforts to
modernize its infrastructure and ensure safe and reliable service for customers
and neighbors for decades to come.

The existing Powell Creek
and Hog Island Bridges are open-deck wooden and steel structures supported by
wooden piles through which water is visible below. These structures will be
removed and replaced with pre-cast concrete structures, supported by reinforced
concrete-filled, steel pipe piles, which will provide safer, closed-deck
concrete roadbeds.

The project will also
alleviate a recurring flooding condition at Powell Creek Bridge, which has at
times led to delays and temporary service suspensions, by raising the elevation
of the bridge by approximately one foot. Bridge walkways will also be installed
at both locations to make it safer for LIRR employees.