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Question for Upstate NY-NYC commuters: If the Metro-North Railroad added more trains departing from NYC on weeknights between 2:00 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. to Orange and Dutchess Counties, would you take them?
I wrote to the MTA yesterday and they replied that, "...there is currently insufficient demand for service after 2:00 AM to justify the operating costs of running trains."
Thank you so much. I'm very interested in your opinions.
as far as demand from NYC going into Orange/Dutches I would highly doubt it. The distance just getting up there wouldn't justify extra trains. Say if a commuter leaves Grand Central on the last outbound train sometime around 1:30 or 2 am, they'll most likely reach Dutchess/Orange close to 4 am.
There are some other things you have to consider like freight trains. Some of the lines share their tracks with freight at night and I think (although i'm not sure) that the freights have the priority during the overnight hours. If you ever stand on the broadway bridge at night sometimes you can see long, freights that just seem endless traveling up north.
There are also some other things like how in the northern reaches of these lines the tracks aren't electrified and the trains start to run on diesel fuel. That's one reason why the headway's between train times are ridiculous some points north (or even on that one diesel line that goes to Danbury in Ct). I don't know, but I guess that the costs of using diesel fuel can be very prohibitive and the travel time.
I would say thats true, then at the same time thats a lie also. I think on certain parts of the harlem line south of White Plains (especially between Fordham and WP) I would say that there's a demand. I would also say there's somewhat of a demand on the lower part of the hudson line. If the MTA was to grant more service on the lower portion of the lines, I would say they'd probably cut some morning rush hour service to compensate in costs.
I think the same could be said for the red/ct line also but I'm not to familiar with commuter activity on that line.
Most areas served by MetroNorth are bedroom communities, so I would imagine that there would not be much demand between those hours. Now, perhaps a late, late train on a Friday or Saturday night might not be a bad thing, although the 1:53am on the Harlem Line is so slow that walking could be faster. Well, maybe not that slow, but it finally reaches Katonah at 3:15am, and then at the terminus for that train, Southeast, at 3:35-3:40am to get to Southeast. To Wassaic, that would be traveling nearly until dawn, well maybe not that long, but it would seem like it. And, since one has to switch to the diesel trains above Southeast, it would take significant ridership to warrant keeping open the second leg of the Harlem Line.
I would think that if any part of the line were to get later service, it would be the lower legs, but after about 2:30-3:00am, there might not be too many customers, since people would either stay over in the city all night and come back on an early morning train, or would stay at a hotel in the city. On a weekend, though, it might not be bad, considering that it's the same 1:53am train as during the week. It is an interesting thought, though, but I doubt it would make fiscal sense right now to experiment without enough ridership demand.
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