A train engine is parked at the Amtrak repair yard on Monday last year. Lawmakers want Hochul and the company to allow Metro-North expand service beyond Poughkeepsie.
Will Waldron/Times Union
ALBANY – Three months after Gov. Kathy Hochul scrapped an expansion of Metro-North Railroad to Albany, a group of state senators are pressing her to revive it, saying the effort would provide a potential cheaper and more reliable alternative than what Amtrak provides.
At a news conference on Monday, Democrats representing parts of the Capital Region, Hudson Valley and New York City said they want Hochul and Amtrak to restart talks to expand Metro-North’s service beyond Poughkeepsie to the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak Station. The lawmakers emphasized the goal is to complement and not replace existing Amtrak services.
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But when questioned about how the Legislature plans to bring Amtrak, which has said it will not sanction the use of its rail line, back to the negotiating table, lawmakers said the first step is to get the dealmakers together.
“We’d like to first see if we can have conversations and actually come up with a plan and a deal to be able to do this without the need of legislative pressure,” said state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, who represents parts of the Hudson Valley and Catskills.
State Sen. Leroy Comrie, chair of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, was more pointed.
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“It was something that was being proposed and was on the table to be done,” Comrie said. “It was only removed for reasons that don’t really make sense. … We don’t need to get into bullying anybody.”
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State Sen. Pat Fahy at a news conference on Monday, calling on Hochul to continue discussions to expand Metro-North beyond Poughkeepsie.
Timothy Fanning/Times Union
Hochul announced in October that service would begin with one daily round-trip between Albany and Grand Central Terminal on the Hudson Line, which ends at the Poughkeepsie station. The expansion was meant to fill a gap in the New York City and Albany service left by the cancellation or consolidation of three weekday Amtrak trips in 2023 to accommodate long-delayed work on the East River Tunnels to repair damage done by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Metro-North service was supposed to start this spring but was shelved in January after Amtrak, which controls the rail lines north of Poughkeepsie, said it would not sanction the Albany run.
Instead, Amtrak planned to restore all suspended Amtrak Empire Service trains.
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The Times Union asked the governor’s office whether Hochul has any intention of returning to the negotiating table with Amtrak.
A spokesman pointed to statements Hochul made in January, where she praised Amtrak’s decision to restore Empire Service as a win for riders.
She noted that the restoration meant that Metro-North would no longer run temporary service to Albany, though she remained open to expanding it in the future.
“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,” the governor had said.
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A spokesman for Amtrak said the company is one of several stakeholders involved in the potential Metro-North service to Albany plan, along with the state Department of Transportation and CSX.
During Amtrak’s initial research, it became apparent there were several significant challenges with bringing this plan to life, and it became redundant once the company was able to restore full Empire Service to and from the region, the spokesman said.
By taking advantage of schedule changes in place to support major infrastructure projects on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak was able to identify the equipment necessary to fully restore the Empire Service schedule that was in place before the East River Tunnel rehabilitation project began, and fully restored service in early March, the spokesman said. The project is on schedule and within budget with completion expected next year.
Prior to the creation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Metro-North, the New York Central Railroad carried passengers on the Hudson Line between Grand Central and Albany. Since the 1970s, Amtrak has been the only passenger train to run between New York City and Albany — the company’s fifth-busiest route in the country.
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The $1.6 billion East River tunnels reconstruction project, which involves two of the four tunnels connecting rail service to Manhattan, is slated to take three years to complete. Amtrak has faced criticism for the impacts of service reductions on upstate and Hudson Valley commuters.
To ease the crunch, Amtrak restored one daily round trip between Albany and Penn Station and implemented a $99 price cap on the coach flex-fare seats.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announcing a now-scrapped daily Metro-North train service from Albany-Rensselaer to Grand Central in October.
Will Waldron/Times Union
During the news conference on Monday at the Capitol, lawmakers said an expansion of Metro-North service to Albany provides a more affordable and frequent alternative to Amtrak. They said that extending the line to include stops in Rhinecliff and Hudson would boost regional tourism, support the workforce, and reduce reliance on congested highways.
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Lawmakers also said fares would be cheaper.
Metro-North tickets are often substantially cheaper than Amtrak. A peak Metro-North ticket to Poughkeepsie is roughly $29.75, whereas Amtrak’s lowest fares are often around $39.50 and can climb to more than $70 for one-way trips when availability is low.
State Sen. Pat Fahy, who represents all of Montgomery County and portions of Albany and Schenectady counties, said that the push to expand service is about giving riders more affordable and flexible options, especially after strong public backlash when Amtrak proposed service cuts in 2024.
Fahy said the overwhelming response revealed significant demand for more trains, particularly options that include direct access to Grand Central Terminal in addition to Penn Station.
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But such an expansion could also come at a cost. The state levies a tax on employers and self-employed individuals in the 12-county area covered by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, and it’s possible that regions in upstate would have to pay into it.
Fahy said the tax would be “something that would have to be explored,” but noted that all counties served by the MTA pay into the tax, including Orange County.