IF a commuter rail option is picked up how many more trains could theoretically be squeezed onto the Hudson Line and into GCT? There can't be much room left for service levels over the new TZ Bridge that match those of even the Harlem Line north of NWP. If NYS is willing to dish out how much more dough in the future for a rail option having, say, 20 or fewer round trips doesn't seem to make adding MNR into the mix worth the while. Unless they plan to route them into Penn Station once ESA is complete and *by the MTA's own claim* there will be slots opened up for MNR service.
At a workshop at Clarkstown Town Hall last night...officials noted that commuter rail across the Hudson would not materialize until about a decade after the new bridge is completed..."We'll equip the bridge with the room and strength to later accommodate mass transit," explained Mike Anderson, who works for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT)."But there is no schedule at this point for implementing commuter rail," he continued.Link
Currently the bridge is not scheduled to get rail -- if it actually happens -- until about 2030. The interesting thing is, the bridge is currently scheduled to be completed in 2019. That's the same year ESA is scheduled to open. So the decade following that -- the 2020s -- could see some real changes to the region's commuter rail network. Such changes are predicted by everyone from the MTA to the Regional Plan Association.
People can speculate if they want but right now I think it is impossible to predict exactly how these changes may occur.