Amtrak will be restoring a full schedule of service between New York Penn Station and Albany in early March — a decision that also puts the kibosh on an MTA plan to run Metro-North trains from Grand Central to the state capital, the Daily News has learned
The federal passenger railroad’s service between Gotham and Albany has been limited since last spring, when logistical complications stemming from Amtrak’s closure of one of the four tubes of the East River Tunnel — which connects Penn Station to points east — cut three weekday round trips between the two cities.
To address the service cuts, Gov. Hochul last fall announced an effort to add one Amtrak train back to the Empire Line, with plans to supplement it in the spring with a Metro-North train bound for Albany out of Grand Central — the first Metro-North connection between GCT and the capital since 1967.
But Hochul told the Daily News on Tuesday that Amtrak had committed to restoring all three missing round trips by March, returning the Empire Line to full service.
“I’m proud to announce that Amtrak will be restoring all suspended or combined Empire Service trains between New York Penn Station and Albany-Rensselaer,” Hochul said in a statement Tuesday.
“I have been clear that our commuters cannot suffer disproportionately for regional construction projects,” she said, “and am glad Amtrak has heeded my call and committed to running full service for the duration of the project and beyond.”
Meanwhile, the planned Metro-North run between Grand Central and the capital is now off the table.
“With the full restoration of Empire service, Amtrak has notified New York State and the MTA that it will no longer sanction temporary Metro-North service to Albany,” Hochul said.
“I remain fully committed to short- and long-term proposals to bring better transit — including expanded Metro-North service if the demand exists — beyond Poughkeepsie and into the rest of the Hudson Valley and Capital Region.”
Empire service runs along the Metro-North Hudson Line between the city and Poughkeepsie. The tracks north of Poughkeepsie through Albany to Niagara Falls are owned by freight railroad CSX, which grants Amtrak the right to operate service. The tracks were originally built by the New York Central Railroad.
An Amtrak spokesman declined to comment Tuesday when asked how the railroad was able to restore service while work on the East River Tunnel continued, as well as why Metro-North trains would no longer run to Albany as previously planned.
