
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
The Penn Access project to
bring four Metro-North train
stations to the East and South
Bronx has sprung into action,
with an estimated completion in
fi ve years.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer brokered a deal
between MTA and Amtrak, a
breakthrough that paved the
way for a design-build contract
for the project for Halmar International,
LLC/RailWorks, J.V.
“It’s a huge victory for the
Bronx, which has been too long
neglected when it comes to transit
issues,” Schumer told the
Bronx Times in an exclusive interview
last week.
To facilitate the project moving
forward, Amtrak will now
commit $500 million to the
Metro-North project and the
MTA will also commit up to $432
million to Amtrak’s initiative to
rehabilitate the East River tunnels,
which were damaged by
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Amtrak
owns the East River tunnels
— which MTA’s Long Island
Rail Road uses — as well as the
stretch of tracks Metro-North
plans to use for Penn Access.
The federal bipartisan infrastructure
bill, signed into law
last month, opened up the opportunity,
as both projects can tap
into the $30 billion federal funds
allocated for Northeast rails.
“This has long been sought
after,” Schumer said. “I worked
to broker a compromise. Both
Amtrak and MTA were pointing
fi ngers at each other, you do it,
you do it.”
Penn Access will transform
Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line from
two to four tracks in the East
Bronx and Westchester. The Hell
Gate Line will connect the New
Haven line in New Rochelle to
new Metro-North stations in Co-
Op City, Morris Park, Parkchester/
Van Nest and Hunts Point,
ending up at Penn Station.
The New Haven line currently
goes to Grand Central after
connecting Connecticut and
Westchester.
Schumer and the MTA both
told the Bronx Times that there
isn’t a fare structure in place
yet for the future Hell Gate line
trains.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 2 EC. 24-30, 2021 BTR
“We’re going to keep an eye
on it and make sure it’s reasonable,”
Schumer said, pointing
to poor and working-class New
Yorkers who will utilize the
transit option for their regular
commutes.
To Penn Station, average
travel times would be 16 minutes
from Hunts Point, 20 minutes
from Parkchester and 25-28
minutes from Morris Park and
Co-Op City stations, according
to MTA spokesmen Aaron Donovan
and Dave Steckel.
The trains are projected to
run as frequently as every 20
minutes during peak times, according
to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s
offi ce.
Planning around the four
stations began in 2018, but the
MTA was looking into connecting
East NYC to Penn Station
prior to 2014.
“This is welcoming news
and a tremendous step forward
for the residents of the Bronx,”
said outgoing Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr., of the
project moving forward. “For
about a decade, I have been beating
the drum on direct access to
Penn Station from the Bronx,
and now, this game-changing
project is even closer to becoming
a reality.”
U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman,
who represents parts of the
Bronx and Westchester, said
the project had been an “empty
promise to our state and my district
for too long.”
Penn Access was delayed as
MTA and Amtrak worked to allocate
the resources needed,
like the workforce size and time
allocated to track outages, according
to MTA’s Steckel. This
was one of many transit projects
that received a slow review during
the previous federal administration,
he said.
The Penn Access project is
expected to cost $2.87 billion.
U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez and Ritchie Torres,
Bowman, Diaz and Schumer all
wrote a letter to the MTA urging
the authority to apply for the
80% maximum federal share for
the project.
Penn Access is expected
to be done in an estimated 63
months, according to Hochul’s
offi ce, which, at over fi ve years,
lines up with Schumer’s prediction
of a 2027 completion.
There are almost 250,000 residents
and more than 100,000
jobs within a half-mile of the
four future Bronx stations, according
to Hochul’s offi ce.
Metro-North line headed to
East, South Bronx in 2027
A project connecting the East and South Bronx to Penn Station is moving
forward following an agreement between the MTA and Amtrak.
Photo courtesy Getty Images