Metro-North Railroad
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Metro-North (officially MTA Metro-North Railroad) is a suburban commuter railroad running service from New York City to the northern suburbs in New York State and Connecticut. Trains run as far as Amenia, New York, Poughkeepsie, New York, and New Haven, Connecticut. Metro North also provides local service within The Bronx, and from the Bronx into midtown Manhattan.
It is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which also operates the MTA New York City Transit buses and subway trains, and the Long Island Rail Road. The MTA has styled Metro-North as MTA Metro-North Railroad, and has current plans to merge it with MTA Long Island Rail Road to form MTA Rail.[1] (http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/about.htm)
There are three Metro-North lines: the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven. The New Haven line also has three branches providing connecting service to New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury. Amtrak also runs service along the New Haven and Hudson lines; on both lines, it splits onto its own trackage to New York Penn Station.
Metro-North trains run on the east side of the Hudson River and terminate at Grand Central Terminal.
Metro-North also runs trains west of the Hudson River from Hoboken, New Jersey, in partnership with New Jersey Transit. Those trains go to Port Jervis and Spring Valley.
Some services are operated by diesel, but all services running directly into Manhattan are electric powered. Many of Metro-North's trains are capable of both diesel and electric operation. On the Hudson line, trains are powered by electrified third rail south from the vicinity of Croton-Harmon, and diesel north of there. The Harlem line is third rail south of Southeast station and diesel north of there. The New Haven line is special in that trains are electrically powered through either DC from a third rail or AC from an overhead catenary wire. The mainline from approximately Pelham, New York east to New Haven, as well as the entire New Canaan branch, are powered by catenary. The Danbury branch was formerly electrified but in 1961 became a diesel-only line. Locomotives on the Waterbury branch are powered by diesel.
The third rails on all three of the eastern Metro North lines are unusual in that power is collected from below the third rail, as opposed to above, which is the case in the vast majority of third rail systems. This allows the third rail to be completely insulated on top.
The Metro-North mascot is Metro Man. A robotic cyborg in the shape of a train, he educates children about railway safety.
See also: List of Metro-North Railroad stations
External links
- MTA Metro-North official site (http://www.mnr.org/mnr)