MTA Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi today announced that effective Sunday, April 14, Metro-North is opening New Haven Line trains for travel between Fordham and Manhattan.

 

The change means railroad customers will be able to access an additional 96 weekday trains for travel between Fordham and Manhattan that previously had been off-limits, more than doubling existing service of 93 daily Harlem Line trains.

 

On Saturdays, 67 New Haven Line trains will now be available for such travel, bolstering the existing 83 Harlem Line trains. On Sundays, the railroad is adding access to 65 New Haven Line trains to the existing 63 Harlem Line trains.

 

During off-peak times, when waits can be longest, the changes mean service between Fordham and Manhattan will operate roughly four times an hour instead of twice an hour. 

 

Previously, New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham only to enable travel between Fordham and points north, in Westchester County and Connecticut. Customers at Fordham seeking to travel south to Grand Central or Harlem-125^th Street, as well as customers at those two stations seeking to travel to Fordham, were directed to Harlem Line trains. Southbound New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham to discharge passengers only, and northbound New Haven Line trains stopped at Fordham only to receive passengers.

 

The move comes after Metro-North completed a $15.1 million renewal of the Fordham station, which included doubling the width of the northbound platform, building a new entrance at Webster Av. and E. 193rd St., rehabilitating the historic station building, adding permanent artwork, larger stairways, and new entrances to Fordham Plaza, which was simultaneously rebuilt and reconfigured by the NYC Department of Transportation.

 

In the east Bronx, the MTA is planning to build four New Haven Line stations in the East Bronx along the rail line to Penn Station. On the line that serves Fordham, Metro-North recently doubled off-peak and weekend service to Melrose and Tremont, which began as a pilot program in October 2016 and was formalized a year later.

 

“The rule about boarding at Fordham had a long history, but that’s no reason for us to continue to uphold it,” said Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi, who authorized the rules change after discussing the matter with Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti. “In fact, it was long past time for this antiquated and customer-unfriendly rule to be eliminated. I thank the leadership of the MTA and the Connecticut Department of Transportation for supporting this change.”

 

Commissioner Giulietti said: “I applaud Metro-North for managing to change this archaic rule in the spirit of better serving our customers. This will make a critical difference for commuters on the Harlem and New Haven Lines.”

 

As a result of this policy change, revenue from the sale of train tickets between Fordham and Manhattan, which previously had gone entirely to Metro-North, will now be split between Metro-North and the State of Connecticut.