Metro-North Port Jervis Line is restored

MTA Metro-North Railroad said Monday it had restored “full train service” on its Port Jervis Line, severed by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene last August. “We have returned to a full schedule of 26 daily trains and 14 trains each weekend day, as indicated in the new November 28 timetable,” Metro-North said on its website.

Only one track is in service between Suffern, N.Y. (just north of the New Jersey border) and Harriman, where a series of track washouts crippled the line. The second track is expected to be restored by January. Until then, scheduled running times have been lengthened by an average of three minutes for eastbound trains to Hoboken, N.J.; westbound train trips have added seven minutes, on average, to their running times.

“Customers who have been crossing the river to use the Hudson Line also can use their November Hudson Line monthly from any Port Jervis Line station for the last three days of the November,” Metro-North said. “And customers who purchased a November monthly from Ramsey-Route 17 will be able to use it from any Port Jervis Line station. Customers who buy a December monthly Port Jervis Line ticket can ride for free for the last three days of November.”

Repair work is estimated to have cost $40 million. Roughly 2,600 customers per weekday use the line, which operates in tandem with New Jersey Transit’s Main/Bergen Line services.