Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company, branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a public authority of the U.S. state of New York. Metro-North serves the New York Metropolitan Area, running service between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut while also providing service within New Jersey. Areas served include Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, White Plains, and Wassaic in New York and Stamford, New Canaan, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven in Connecticut. Service in Connecticut is operated under contract for the Connecticut Department of Transportation; conversely, service on lines west of the Hudson River is operated under contract by NJ Transit. Metro-North also provides local rail service within the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx.
Metro-North is the descendant of commuter rail services dating back as early as 1832. By 1969, they had all been acquired by Penn Central. The MTA acquired the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines by 1972, but Penn Central continued to operate them under contract. Service was transferred to Conrail in 1976, when it absorbed most of Penn Central's railroad functions after Penn Central's bankruptcy. The system took its current form in 1983, when the MTA took over direct operation of Conrail's commuter services in the northern portion of the Tri-State Area and formed Metro-North to run them.
There are 124 stations on Metro-North Railroad's five active lines and three branches, which operate on more than of track, with the passenger railroad system totaling of route. It is the second busiest commuter railroad in North America in terms of annual ridership, behind its sister railroad, the Long Island Rail Road, and ahead of NJ Transit., Metro-North's budgetary burden for expenditures was $1.3 billion, which it supports through the collection of taxes and fees. In, the system had a ridership of, or about per weekday as of.
Additionally, the Newburgh-Beacon, and the Haverstraw-Ossining ferry services connecting to Metro-North is operated by NY Waterway, also under contract with the MTA. Also operated under contract with the MTA is the Hudson Rail Link, which is operated by Consolidated Bus Transit.
Lines
East of the Hudson River
Three lines provide passenger service on the east side of the Hudson River to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan: the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. The Beacon Line is a freight line owned by Metro-North but is not in service.Freight trains operate over Metro-North lines, though the company itself does not operate freight services. The Hudson Line connects with the Oak Point Link and is the main route for freight to and from the Bronx and Long Island. Freight railroads CSX, CP Rail, P&W, and Housatonic Railroad have trackage rights on sections of the system. See Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island.
Harlem Line
The Harlem Line runs from Grand Central to, in Amenia, New York.The Harlem Line has 38 stations - the most out of any mainline on the system. On the electrified portion of the line, local trains usually run between Grand Central and. Express trains usually skip the stops between Grand Central and, before running local between White Plains and.
North of Southeast, the Harlem Line is single-tracked and uses diesel-powered trains. Service here is mostly shuttle or “scoot” operation between Southeast and Wassaic and is sometimes referred to as the "Wassaic Branch". At present there are only two scheduled peak trains providing through service between Wassaic and Grand Central in each direction.
Hudson Line
The Hudson Line runs alongside the Hudson River from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie, New York.The Hudson Line is split into two distinct segments at, with electrified service running south of the station and diesel service running north of it. Additionally MNRR has introduced new dual-mode diesel/electric service on the full length of the Hudson line. Usually, electric trains run local between Grand Central and Croton-Harmon. Diesel trains run express between Grand Central and Croton-Harmon, before running local between Croton-Harmon and.
New Haven Line
The New Haven Line runs between Grand Central and New Haven, Connecticut. Since most of its trackage is shared with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, the New Haven Line is the only fully electrified mainline on the Metro-North network.The New Haven Line is split into an "inner zone" and an "outer zone" at - similar to White Plains on the Harlem Line and Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line. Usually, "inner zone" trains run local, serving all stops between Grand Central and Stamford. "Outer zone" trains run express between Grand Central and Stamford, before running local between Stamford and. There is also limited peak-hour service to.
The New Haven Line also has three branch lines: the New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury Branches. The New Canaan Branch, like the New Haven mainline, is fully electrified; the Danbury and Waterbury Branches use diesel-powered trains.
West of the Hudson
Metro-North provides service west of the Hudson River on trains from Hoboken Terminal, New Jersey, jointly run with NJ Transit under contract. There are two branches: the Port Jervis Line and the Pascack Valley Line. The Port Jervis Line is accessed from two NJ Transit lines, the Main Line and the Bergen County Line.The Port Jervis Line terminates in Port Jervis, New York, and the Pascack Valley line in Spring Valley, New York. Trackage on the Port Jervis Line north of the Suffern Yard is leased from the Norfolk Southern Railway by the MTA. NJ Transit owns all of the Pascack Valley Line, including the portion in New York.
Most stops for the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines are in New Jersey, so NJ Transit provides most of the rolling stock and all the staff; Metro-North supplies some equipment. Metro-North equipment has been used on other NJ Transit lines on the Hoboken division.
All stations west of the Hudson River in New York are owned and operated by Metro-North, except, which is owned and operated by NJ Transit.
Connecting ferry service
In partnership with NY Waterway, Metro-North also provides ferry service across the Hudson River to Ossining station via the Haverstraw–Ossining Ferry, operated under contract by NY Waterway. The Newburgh-Beacon Ferry also formerly provided connecting service at Beacon station; it was temporarily replaced by bus service in January 2025, a move that was made permanent the following July.History
Predecessors
Most of the trackage east of the Hudson River and in New York State was under the control of the New York Central Railroad. The NYC initially operated three commuter lines, two of which ran into Grand Central Depot. Metro-North's Harlem Line was initially a combination of trackage from the New York and Harlem Railroad and the Boston and Albany Railroad, running from Manhattan to Chatham, New York in Columbia County. At Chatham, passengers could transfer to long-distance trains on the Boston and Albany to Albany, Boston, Vermont, and Canada. On April 1, 1873, the New York and Harlem Railroad was leased by Cornelius Vanderbilt, who added the railroad to his complex empire of railroads, which were run by the NYC. Grand Central Depot, built in 1871, served as the southern terminus of NYC's Harlem and Hudson Divisions; it would be replaced by Grand Central Station in 1900, and by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. The Boston and Albany came under the ownership of NYC in 1914.NYC's four-track Water Level Route paralleled the Hudson River, Erie Canal, and Great Lakes on a route from New York to Chicago via Albany. It was fast and popular due to the lack of any significant grades. The section between Grand Central and Peekskill, New York, the northernmost station in Westchester County, became known as the NYC's Hudson Division, with frequent commuter service in and out of Manhattan. Stations to the north of Peekskill, such as Poughkeepsie, were considered to be long-distance services. The other major commuter line was the Putnam Division running from 155th Street in upper Manhattan to Brewster, New York. Passengers would transfer to the IRT Ninth Avenue Line for midtown and lower Manhattan.
From the mid-19th century until 1969, the New Haven Line, including the New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury branches, was owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. These branches were started in the 1830s with horse-drawn cars, later replaced by steam engines, on a route that connected Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Additional lines started in the mid-19th century included the New York and New Haven Railroad and the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, which provided routes to Hartford, Springfield, Massachusetts, and eventually Boston. The two roads merged in 1872 to become the NYNH&H, growing into the largest passenger and commuter carrier in New England. In the early 20th century, the NYNH&H came under the control of J.P. Morgan. Morgan's bankroll allowed the NYNH&H to modernize by upgrading steam power with both electric and diesel power. The NYNH&H saw much profitability throughout the 1910s and 1920s until the Great Depression of the 1930s forced it into bankruptcy.
Commuter services west of the Hudson River, today's Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines, were initially part of the Erie Railroad. The Port Jervis Line, built in the 1850s and 1860s, was originally part of the Erie's mainline from Jersey City to Buffalo, New York. The Pascack Valley Line was built by the New Jersey and New York Railroad, which became a subsidiary of the Erie. Trains that service Port Jervis formerly continued to Binghamton and Buffalo, New York, while Pascack Valley service continued to Haverstraw, New York. In 1956, the Erie Railroad began coordinated service with rival Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and in 1960 they formed the Erie Lackawanna. Trains were rerouted to the Lackawanna's Hoboken Terminal in 1956–1958.