Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing rail improvements she says would speed up Hudson Valley commutes into the city by as much as 30 minutes round trip on Metro-North’s Hudson line, getting travelers from the line’s farthest reaches into the city in under 90 minutes.
The plan calls for a bundle of rail infrastructure improvements between New York City and Poughkeepsie — one of the handful of commuter rail stops in Dutchess County — as part of her policy agenda for her annual State of the State address planned for next week.
Among them: a second track at the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, signal and track enhancements at the Croton-Harmon station in Westchester County and increasing capacity at the Poughkeepsie Yard. Hochul’s office claims that, if implemented, these efforts would speed up commutes, without physically speeding up trains, by adding track and train capacity.
Hochul’s office did not immediately share a price tag for the proposed investments, or where the funds would be drawn. The governor pitched the effort as “laying the groundwork to deliver faster and more reliable rail service for suburban and rural commuters,” in a Sunday statement.
The proposed upgrades uncoincidentally came the same day as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s congestion pricing launch on most motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street, a move that’s especially unpopular with suburban travelers from counties surrounding the city and the outer boroughs.
Hochul is looking to hedge political backlash she expects to face from state lawmakers with the toll’s launch heading into a budget season where she’ll be fighting for billions of dollars more for the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan, which would continue to invest in modernizing the region’s mass transit.
State lawmakers who oppose congestion pricing have for months called for more robust improvements to suburban commuter rail in the wake of congestion pricing
“We want to get people out of their cars and onto mass transit, but the impact in the Orange County region, where there isn’t a one-seat ride, is more than in other areas and I’m very concerned both for individual commuters and businesses,” said Republican State Sen. Rob Rolison, a former mayor of Poughkeepsie, who represents Dutchess and Orange counties.
“There’s a lot to this and the legislature needs to play a more comprehensive role,” added Rolison.
As part of the MTA’s proposed capital budget transit officials plan to explore other Metro-North service enhancements, including adding a third track to the railroad’s Harlem line and connecting Hudson Line service to Penn Station in Manhattan, which would give Orange County commuters that long-coveted one-seat ride into the city.
Ridership on the Hudson Line in particular — where Hochul’s proposal focuses — tallied more than 12 million travelers in 2023, a 21% uptick from the roughly 10 million rides the year before.
