MNRR West of Hudson (WoH) Study - Stewart Airport

[Jeff Smith]

http://goingplaces.lohudblogs.com/2006/ ... authority/

A little blurb in the Gannett paper, doesn't say much, but the PA is looking at it. I thought Stewart was run by a private contractor?

I wasn't aware that the PJ line ran that close, but I do remember it does run pretty far up north, and then takes a dog-leg west to the Penna border along I-84.

I think this airport only works for folks whose airport-of-choice is that God-awful airport known as EWR. I could see people going from Rockland / Orange / Dutchess, and maybe Putnam. But is there really a need for a rail link? I really doubt it would serve enough people along that corridor, and that enough people would get out of their cars to do it.

[acs85]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/nyreg ... rport.html

The Port Authority is looking at Stewart prettry strongly now. The private contractor @ Stewart wants to give it up.

[L'mont]

With the supposed increase in the presence of Stewart as a major metropolitan area hub, what will MNRR do to provide service?

This is a great opportunity for MNRR, in conjunction with a shuttle bus, to provide increased services to accomodate air travelers. Clearly it's easily accesable via the Hudson line, but what abouthe other 2?

Could any existing East - West rail lines be used to reach Stewat from the Eastern half of Westchester or Putnum?

This might be pre-mature, but if Stewart meets expectations and services several million customers a year it might justify some additional services.

[mkm4]

Pick a previous thread:
Rail Link to Stewart Airport (federal money may be coming..)
Elliot Spitzer wins—future of Port Jervis Line-Stewart link?
Metro North and expansion
Tappan Zee corridor study?

[Jeff Smith]

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/p ... p?id=11074

MTA Metro-North Railroad plans to launch a study to analyze transit access for its West-of-Hudson territory and Stewart International Airport.

...

The more detailed studies follow Metro-North’s “Transit Access to Stewart International Airport Feasibility Study,” an analysis completed in December 2003 that evaluated a number of transit options for the area, including express bus, light-rail, ferry and commuter-rail service. The most promising alternative was a direct commuter-rail route from the Salisbury Mills station north to the airport, Metro-North said.

Besides the fact that Metro-North as an inanimate railroad can not speak (I'm sure it was a press release or a spokesperson), this is interesting. This is separate from the TZB study, and would involve WOH territory. I could not find another topic (besides the TZB thread) that discusses Stewart service. Sorry if this is a duplicate post.

[pnaw10]

This is separate from the TZB study, and would involve WOH territory.

Oh yes, it's definitely considered separate for now. Either project can most certainly happen, and be beneficial, completely on its own. But they also compliment each other very nicely.

The Stewart connection will definitely get use, even if it's just a simple extension to the PJ Line. Likewise, the TZB connection on its own will benefit Rockland/Orange riders who want a one-seat ride into NYC.

The investments in both projects are maximized if they both become a reality. (And yes, I realize Stewart, being a simpler, smaller project, has the potential to be done years before they even have blueprints for the new TZB. I am not expecting both to happen at the same time.)

I don't think Stewart will become as big and busy as the other 3 PA airports, but having the PA absorb Stewart will give it a boost, and running a rail line there will benefit the airport even more. And if Metro-North can offer a one-seat ride from Grand Central to Stewart, I think there will be even more interest in using the line. It has to be done right though: The fare needs to be cheaper than taking a taxicab (to one of the 3 other airports) and the process needs to be easier than taking the subway or LIRR, then transfering to a bus or AirTrain, and so on.

[trainwayne1]

WNBC in New York is reporting that Metro-North is being asked to consider an extention to Stewart by the NY-NJ Port Authority who will take over the airport soon. The report said that it would be an extention of the Port Jervis Line. Would this be on an existing ROW or something new? The estimated price given in the report was $60 million to "build" the ROW.

[Tom Curtin]

Seems to me it would have to be a newly constructed ROW. There's no existing railroad anywhere near Stewart.

[Mark Schweber]

This article is sketchy on details and very speculatiive, and makes no mention of the fact that the project would require construction of the infamous loop at Secaucus. Also ominous is the mention of NJ Transit "chipping in" for the project (though so long as the train is not an express to/from NYP it could be a link with value to NJ. Still, here it is:

MTA Explores a Rail Link to Orange County in 1 Seat

BY ANNIE KARNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 6, 2007

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is studying a one-seat, 75-minute train ride to Stewart International Airport in Orange County, N.Y., from Pennsylvania Station that could help divert more passengers from the three overcrowded regional airports, stimulate the region's economic growth, and increase real estate values upstate.
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The MTA in July began searching for a consultant to conduct a $4 million, year-long feasibility study for the rail link, and it is eager to get the plan under way, a Metro-North spokeswoman said.

While the MTA moves ahead with the rail link project, some urban planners said the project could be costly and ineffective. "It's going to be a real loser from an operating cost point of view," a senior transportation fellow at the Regional Plan Association, Jeffrey Zupan, said. "It will have to run long distances and relatively frequent service, or people aren't going to use it." He said the real benefit of Stewart International Airport would be if it relieved the city airports of upstate residents who would no longer have to commute into the city to fly.
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Senator Schumer has been outspoken about raising federal funds for a rail link to Stewart International Airport, and the Port Authority, the Federal Transit Administration, the State Department of Transportation, or New Jersey Transit, which would run the trains, might also pitch in, a spokeswoman said.
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"The price tag for this project, which is three miles of track and some upgrades, are small potatoes compared to the Second Avenue subway and East Side Access," a spokeswoman for Metro-North Railroad, Marjorie Anders, said. "It would be a very big return on investment."
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The one-seat ride to Stewart International Airport could be completed only in conjunction with a Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, a railroad tunnel that would connect New York and New Jersey and is slated for completion in 2016. Otherwise, passengers would have to transfer at Secaucus to catch the train. Another option would be to run the trains out of Grand Central Terminal.

New York Sun

[Ken W2KB]

If as the article states, the option for trains out of Grand Central Terminal were to be chosen, how is it proposed to get passenger from the east side of the Hudson to Stewart? Bus shuttle?

[Mark Schweber]

This really is a speculative pie-in-the-sky article, but I assume it is referring to the oft-mentioned option of including rail in any Tappan Zee crossing replacement.

[Passaic River Rat]

FWIW, there are a few threads on this subject in the Metro-North forum:

• Rail Link to Stewart Airport (federal money may be coming)

and

• Elliot Spitzer wins—future of Port Jervis Line-Stewart link?

[orangeline]

It seems kind of silly to construct a link to Stewart Airport for a 75-minute one-way trip from NYC. Why go through the trouble when you can take the train to Newark Int'l? True, Newark has bad delays, but in the time it takes to get to Stewart, go through security and wait for the flight, you could be taking off from Newark. I can't see where any practical savings are made for the air traveller. The only loss I can see is siphoning some passengers and their $$ from an NJ airport to a NY one.

[SecaucusJunction]

75 minutes is a bit long. If I were them, I would attempt to raise speeds on the line and build extra tracks through Northern NJ. I would think a good deal of passengers from Northern NJ or SE NY would want to take the train to the airport.

[jersey_emt]

I agree with the consensus here -- the NYP -> SWF travel time of 75 minutes is far too long to attract city-area travelers. A spur to SWF off the Port Jervis line with shuttle service connecting with Port Jervis Line trains would probably work better. It would help funnel people from northern NJ and southern NY to Stewart instead of JFK/LGA/EWR, and the travel times would be short enough to actually attract people to the service.