Beacon (Hudson Line) Station

In November 2002, officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a public workshop to review three designs for a new train station in Beacon. Tonight, the MTA will show its plans to the public again -- only this time, three designs have been pared to one.
MTA officials will present a plan with elements of two of the previous three designs. The changes are needed, they say, to address an increasing number of riders.

''This is the result of a long planning process involving people who really care about the future of Beacon,'' Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

The long-term plan does not have funding but community support could draw grants and private funds, Anders said.

The station is one of several improvements planned or in the works for the Beacon stop. The MTA will soon seek bids for a $10.5 million proposal to expand the parking lot and make other changes to improve traffic flow.

Fixes are many

Under the plan, 365 new parking spaces will be added to the Beacon train station and the existing 1,000 spaces will be rehabilitated. The station will also get a new entrance from Beekman Street and an access road from Beekman Street leading to Route 9D.

Other changes include new lighting, signs, paving and landscaping. The canopy on the southbound train platform will be repaired, the bus stop will be renovated and a bus waiting area will be built.

The earliest the improvements might be completed is early 2006, Anders said.

Mayor Clara Lou Gould said residents should come out tonight and voice their opinions on the train station proposal. She also said there should be plans to connect the station to businesses on Main Street.

Councilman Lee Kyriacou, D-at large, called the long-term plan ambitious and hopes it will encourage commercial and recreational projects near the station. Kyriacou, a research analyst, often commutes to Manhattan.

Kyriacou would also like to eliminate commuter traffic on residential streets near the train station. He encouraged Beacon residents to attend the meeting.

Final approvals for the Newburgh-Beacon ferry are under way, Anders said.

A 250-car parking lot in Newburgh is under construction and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing the permit applications for setting up barges to shuttle passengers onto the ferry. The proposals will be sent to the National Marines Fisheries Service and New York state Department of State.

''The best-case scenario is mid-October for permits. We're optimistic,'' said Anders, who hopes to have the ferry running by the end of the year.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/toda" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 04s3.shtml

From the follow-up report, it sounds like the presentation went very well. Nice turnout on a miserable night.

Parking expansion in two phases, bus drop off points, enhanced access to the river front, etc.

In some respects, it sounds like the discussions in Montclair NJ before the MidTown Direct went thru. Many of the same issues:

--Long waiting list for parking already. Make it available to residents first
--Need to increase links to business / shopping area
--May need to be done in stages
--Hearing lots of ideas



http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/toda ... 04s7.shtml

From the follow-up report, it sounds like the presentation went very well. Nice turnout on a miserable night.

Parking expansion in two phases, bus drop off points, enhanced access to the river front, etc.

In some respects, it sounds like the discussions in Montclair NJ before the MidTown Direct went thru. Many of the same issues:

--Long waiting list for parking already. Make it available to residents first
--Need to increase links to business / shopping area
--May need to be done in stages
--Hearing lots of ideas



http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/toda ... 04s7.shtml

Can the station handle three trains stopping at once? It seems to me that on the 9D side, there was a short platform on the controlled siding. And,

another question:

Were there plans to install a third main track south towards Cold Spring? Thought I heard that a few years back.

Bids are being sought from contractors for the estimated $9.5 million expansion of Metro-North Railroad's station in Beacon.
The project, coupled with the pending revival of commuter ferry service from Newburgh, will result in a 50 percent increase in parking for the station.
The station, which had 440 spaces 10 years ago, now has 999 for an average daily ridership of 1,800 – a number roughly equal to the ridership for the entire Port Jervis line in Orange County. The waiting list for a parking permit, $270 a year for noncity residents and $225 for residents, now tops 550 people.
Metro-North estimates that about half the commuters who use the Beacon station live on the other side of the Hudson River.
Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for Metro-North, said the project's contractor will be required to perform the work off-peak and overnight to minimize rush-hour disruptions. A contractor should be selected before the year is out; construction will be completed in 2006.
The new 365 parking spaces will be added on adjacent property that Metro-North acquired for $1.75 million two years ago. At the same time, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police office trailers will be removed and their quarters relocated to a three-story building on the new property.
The rest of the parking lot will be rehabilitated and virtually every other aspect of the station will be repaired or renovated to integrate the new spaces and the City of Beacon's new ferry dock: the entrance from Beekman Street, roads and sidewalks within the lot, shuttle bus stop and waiting area, platform canopies, bicycle racks, track underpass, lighting, signs, ticket machines and landscaping.
Anders said the ferry dock and 250-car lot in Newburgh is getting such finishing touches as lighting, fencing and landscaping now. The railroad remains optimistic that permits will be forthcoming soon from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place loading barges in the river adjacent to both the docks – in Beacon and Newburgh.
"We're thinking the ferry is going to be up and running before the end of October,'' said Anders.
The ferry will meet seven rush-hour trains in the morning and seven in the evening. Shuttle bus service between the park-and-ride on Route 17K in Newburgh and the train station will continue to be another option for commuters who chose to use the Hudson line.
The shuttle bus, including parking, costs $10 a month when purchased in tandem with a Metro-North ticket. The ferry will cost the same.
Metro-North has long-term plans – including a multi-storied parking garage – on the drawing board to transform the Beacon station into a Hudson River tourist gateway to link the city's revitalized downtown, the nearby Dia:Beacon museum and pending residential and commercial development on the waterfront.
Scenic Hudson, the environmental watchdog group, is playing a leading role in crafting an environmentally sensitive plan for houses, stores, restaurants and perhaps a hotel.
But the railroad estimates the parking garage, terraced into the hillside above the river and festooned with rooftop gardens to ensure an attractive vista from the river, could probably add only another 400 or so spaces.


http://www.recordonline.com/cgi-bin/pri ... tstory.cgi

I personally think that the ferry service between Beacon and Newburgh should run daily. There are just so many people who live on the west shore near Newburgh or even visit who drive across the river to Beacon. I also know that Salisbury Mills-Cornwall is not too far from Newburgh. It might be cheaper but it takes a bit longer. Plus, the service there is not that frequent. If the service is good even with a slightly expensive price, then it is worth it. Also, the parking lot there is not so big. The ferry would ease traffic off the bridge. I also know about that shuttle bus for the most part. If they can't run that ferry as often, they could run that bus daily. Since there are three tracks, I could see three trains stopping there at once. Acually, during the p.m. rush, I know that there is a Beacon train ending there at 6:32, two minutes later, a nonstop making Beacon as its first stop pulls in at 6:34.

When the Newburgh - Beacon bridge was built, it rendered ferries obsolete. I bet they never thought that 40 years later, there would be ferry service again!


From the NY State Bridge Authority web page:

"The last ferries... maintained ferry service until Sunday, November 3, 1963, one day after the opening of the original Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. Shortly after 5 p.m. that day, the Dutchess and the Orange met at mid-river, signaled a final salute and formally passed the Newburgh-Beacon ferry into history after 220 years. For $2 drivers crossed the Hudson on the ferry for the last time and returned via the new bridge."
http://www.nysba.state.ny.us/bridgepage ... story3.htm

mncommuter wrote:When the Newburgh - Beacon bridge was built, it rendered ferries obsolete. I bet they never thought that 40 years later, there would be ferry service again!

When they were talking about bringing back the ferries, all my mother could do is complain about how much she hated the ferries. She grew up in Beacon and had a bunch of family in Newburgh, so she was on the ferry often. She can remember being stuck on the ferry and some of them many problems that it had. They way she complained you'd think they were going to tear down the bridge and go back to just ferries.

Also, when they first brough up the ferries, my father (long time commuter) asked them about the ice. They said ice wouldn't be a problem that far south in the river. Well how wrong were they? Not only did it stop the Haverstraw Ferry last year, but shut down all of NY Harbor.

On Sept 24th, I went from Syracuse to Beacon via rts 81 and 17 and 84 to catch a train to GCT. Got there about 1245hrs. Had to wait for northbound at 1350hrs to get a parking space from someone who departed that train. Question. Are there any less congested stations on the Hudson line? As I travelled south, I didn't see any.

what is going on at beacon station? i've seen the notice of "improvements to come" on the bulliten board near the elevator,but i really dont understand what's going to happen. personally,the ramp makes a sweet skate...i hope that stays,and why dont they use the third track at beacon,the one closest to the MTAPD trailer?

and one other thing. does anyone know why the tracks make the hollow hissing sound when trains come near? i use that as my cue to get the h*** away from the tracks,but i always wondered the scientific reason.

The improvements are to the parking lot, where new parking is going up. The MTA Police had to relocate to a cottage slightly up the hill.

Gracias Senor. Espero ver estas mejoras en el futuro cercano.

translation:it's about time they fix the parking issues at beacon. i also want to see more rails

The track 3 platform is hardly used due to fact that track is only 30 mph. as its a siding.
so a train entering gets a Medium Cab about a mile from interlocking and gets to platform really slow.

Then what is the point of having the platform? No revenue trains originate there, and the trains that terminate there (851 and 855) use either 1 or 2.

The only time in recent memory I can recall the platform being used was yesterday -- an excursion train run by group travel turned around there... they dumped their trash and headed south. I am sure that if they could have worked out the kinks in the schedule, they couljd have used 1 or 2 as well.