RailWorks, Halmar JV Land Metro-North PSNY Access Project
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Artist’s rendering of a MTA Metro-North commuter train crossing Amtrak’s Hell Gate Bridge.
RailWorks Transit LLC, in a joint venture with Halmar International, has been awarded the design-build contract for New York MTA’s Metro-North Penn Station Access Project.
The project would bring MTA Metro-North commuter rail service to Penn Station and Manhattan’s west side, along Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line on the Northeast Corridor (see map below); the final stop for all Metro-North trains is currently Grand Central Terminal. (In 2019, Amtrak’s Board of Directors approved an agreement with New York MTA that paved the way for the new service.)
Also included in the project are four new stations in the East Bronx—at Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-Op City—which would be part of the New Haven Line. At Penn Station, riders from Connecticut, Westchester and the Bronx would be able to connect with MTA Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH), and MTA New York City Transit subway and bus services. According to MTA, the commute from Co-op City to Penn Station would be reduced from 75 to 25 minutes, and the commute from Hunts Point to Penn Station would be cut from 45 to 16 minutes.
Working in partnership with Halmar, RailWorks Corporation’s New York-based transit division, RailWorks Transit LLC, will design and construct additional passenger tracks; traction power substations; overhead contact systems; new interlockings; updated communication systems; and new signal systems within Amtrak’s right of way. The contract also includes construction of the four new Metro-North stations, which will bring increased regional accessibility to the eastern Bronx communities.
The Metro-North Penn Station Access Project, which is slated for completion in 2027, “will expand service options and accessibility for hundreds of thousands of Metro-North commuters,” RailWorks President and CEO Kevin Riddett said. “RailWorks is proud to partner with Halmar International on this crucial project, and we look forward to seeing it fully completed.”
