Governor Rides Metro-North to Yonkers To Highlight State Budget Plan To Enhance Hudson Valley Rail Service

State Budget Includes Funding To Improve Reliability, Quality and Speed of Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak-NYSDOT Empire Service

Plan Promises To Cut Potential Travel Times by up to 15 Minutes Each Way for Certain Trips

Plan Seeks To Ensure Reliable Commuter Transport Between New York City and Poughkeepsie to Less Than 90 Minutes

B-ROLL of the Governor riding the Metro-North can be found on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page has photos of the event here.

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul rode the Metro-North from Grand Central Terminal to Yonkers to speak with commuters about recent investments in Hudson Valley rail service included in the FY26 Enacted Budget. The State Budget included $25 million to plan, evaluate and design a set of Hudson Valley rail capital improvements between New York City and Poughkeepsie that will increase capacity, reduce delays, cut potential travel times by up to 15 minutes each way for certain trips and shorten “super-express” Metro-North Hudson Line trips to less than 90 minutes.

“Public transit is the lifeblood of New York and our commuters deserve to have access to the best, most reliable modes of transportation to get them where they need to be,” Governor Hochul said. “In this year’s budget, we are making long-overdue investments to keep the system strong and to shave time off daily commutes — investments that will put New York on a path to a stronger, more resilient future.”

The investment will fund projects that will reduce travel times by funding projects like the second track at Spuyten Duyvil, interlocking, signaling and trackwork at Croton Harmon, and capacity improvements at Poughkeepsie Yard. In addition, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will make key climate resilience investments in the most vulnerable areas of the Hudson Line that see the highest ridership.

The plan would also implement the Yonkers Curve signal redesign that, when paired with the scheduled delivery of new locomotives, will cut time off the Metro-North Hudson Line New York City-Poughkeepsie trips to bring them below 90 minutes. The project will be completed in 2026.

To further enhance transit options west of the Hudson River, the State is also committing $1 million to perform a transit analysis of opportunities to expand and maximize the impact of rail service and improve commuter transit to New York City as well as key regional destinations.

As part of an allocation anticipated to be available for regional investments in its 2025-29 capital plan, the MTA will evaluate and design other potential rail improvements, such as adding a third track to the Metro-North Harlem Line or connecting Hudson Line service to Penn Station for a one-seat commute to Manhattan’s West Side. In partnership with NYSDOT, the MTA will also establish a regional rail working group with New Jersey, Connecticut and rail partners, to promote better coordination on interoperability, ticketing, schedules and customer interfaces. This group will also develop plans to make travel by Metro-North or Long Island Railroad to MetLife Stadium as seamless as possible for the 2026 World Cup and explore future opportunities to further integrate regional travel.

The investments made in the FY26 budget build off major regional rail investments delivered during Governor Hochul's term, including the delivery of the LIRR Third Track and the historic opening of Grand Central Madison, which introduced new commuting opportunities on the LIRR, enhanced New York’s regional connectivity, and expanded service by 40 percent.

About the New York State Empire Rail Corridor

In Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2024, New York’s State-supported Amtrak service established all-time records, with ridership in excess of 2 million passengers and revenue in excess of $109 million. Through NYSDOT, New York supports the popular Empire Service which operates from New York City to Albany, Adirondack Service which operates from New York City to Montreal, Maple Leaf Service which operates from New York City to Niagara Falls, as well as Ethan Allen Service which operates from New York City to Burlington, Vermont. In FY 2024, on-time performance in the New York City to Albany corridor was about 90 percent; and the overall combined on-time performance for all New York supported services was approximately 83 percent.

About the Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North’s total March 2025 ridership of 5.8 million increased 19.6 percent from February. Average daily ridership increased 8 percent to 185,633; average weekday ridership increased 5.8 percent to 216,540; and average weekend ridership increased 20.0 percent to 102,564. Metro-North’s total ridership in March increased 8.1 percent compared to March 2024 and represents 81.1 percent of March 2019 ridership.