Plans Across Region to Expand Rail Access

Projects in New York and New Jersey are pushing railroad service to the forefront of transportation options for sports fans.

Rail Station Eyed for Yankee Stadium

Longstanding plans to build a commuter rail station at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx are picking up steam now that construction is set to start on a new 53,000-seat baseball park for the team at the site.

The Yankee Stadium Multimodal Transportation Center would entail the construction of a new station on the Hudson Line of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Metro North Railroad. The project would involve adding two island passenger platforms for ten-car trains, building an overhead mezzanine, the widening and relocation of tracks, and installation of elevators to the platforms.

The project would also entail building a new overpass to span the tracks that would link the mezzanine to: the new stadium; the Bronx Terminal Market Gateway Center, a new retail development scheduled to break ground this month; and the Harlem River waterfront, which has ferry service to Manhattan. The MTA would fund the project through its capital plan, and has already earmarked $5 million for design.

Following New York City Council approval of the new Yankee Stadium plans this spring, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Gov. George Pataki both pledged their support for the station. The project must now get approval from the state's Capital Program Review Board.

Meadowlands Rail Plans Approved

A multi-agency group developing a new $150 million rail station at the Meadowlands sports complex in East Rutherford, N.J., approved designs for the new facility this spring.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, New Jersey Transit, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation accepted the designs but did not specify when construction will start. The station is set to open in 2008.

The project entails a new 2.3-mi. railroad alignment and roadway improvements that would serve the complex's Giants Stadium, Meadowlands Racetrack, and Continental Airlines Arena. The station will link to several New Jersey Transit rail lines and is designed to accommodate future growth.

The station would come online at roughly the same time as work on other major developments on the site, including a new $1 billion football stadium for the Jets and Giants to replace the existing stadium and the multibillion-dollar Xanadu entertainment, commercial, and retail complex, which broke ground last year.

DMR Architects of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., and Edwards and Kelcey of Morristown, N.J., are leading the rail station design effort.

New York Railroads Get Funding

New York State is allocating $40 million over the next two years for infrastructure improvements to 19 rail lines in the state as part of a program to modernize the rail network and increase capacity. The New York State Department of Transportation launched its five-year, $100 million Rail Freight and Passenger Rail Assistance Program this winter.

Improvements during the first two years of the plan range from a $300,000 grade crossing rehabilitation on the Buffalo Southern Railroad in Erie County to a $5.2 million signal system upgrade on Metro North Railroad between Poughkeepsie and New York. The plan would also allocate $8.6 million to subsidize Amtrak's Adirondack passenger service between Rensselaer and Montreal, Quebec, while also funding track and bridge improvements and construction of intermodal facilities.

Railroad operators can apply to fund projects with the remaining $60 million in the last three years of the program.

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