Regional Roundup
MTA Completes Multi-Year Metro North Croton Harmon Yard Maintenance Project
CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY—Major upgrades to MTA Metro-North Railroad’s vital maintenance and operations hub at Croton-on-Hudson, NY, which employs 1,200 people, was announced earlier this month.
With the opening of this new 400,000 square foot facility, known as the “Harmon Shop,” Metro-North will be able to maintain train reliability and meet the maintenance needs of its operations for decades to come.
The project, which includes state and federal funding, modernizes the railroad’s heart of operations. When Metro-North inherited the site from its predecessor railroads in 1983, it was immediately recognized as inadequate to meet the needs of crews who would maintain the railroad’s fleets of rail cars and locomotives. The MTA identified capital funds to make upgrades in the late 1990s, and work has been underway since 2001 to make these necessary upgrades.
The final phase of the project included the construction of a brand-new facility that includes repair and support shops. The state-of-the-art facility allows Metro-North to perform its Reliability Centered Maintenance program and account for unscheduled repairs on their entire electric fleet. The facility has been equipped with a dozen car-hoists, four pedestal tracks, and multiple door level and roof level platforms to assist in the preventive maintenance. The second floor is designed to streamline the parts distribution between the new electric shop and adjacent support shops and the Consist Maintenance Shop by integrating a service corridor connecting all three buildings.
For more than 100 years the Harmon Yard has played a vital role in the railroad’s daily operations. The project was completed in more than 23 years in five phases:
Phase 1: Crews built service tracks, a new employee overpass, and provided wayside power to the yard to significantly reduce the idling engines in the yard, reducing noise to the surrounding neighbors and producing less fossil fuel emissions.
Phase 2: Crews built Communication & Maintenance of Way buildings and made modifications to the Material Distribution Center.
Phase 3: Crews built a new Coach Shop and new Locomotive Shop as well as a new Wheel True Facility with a Tandem Underfloor Wheel Lathe designed to maintain Metro-North’s fleet of M-7 self-propelled electric railcars and future fleets.
Phase 4: Provided for priority repairs on a multi-purpose building to house shops, primarily on the western section of the building that will remain operational during construction, as well as the construction of a new Wheel Storage Canopy in the north yard.
Phase 5: Provided the complete replacement of the multi-purpose building in two stages. The first stage provided the construction of a new double-ended Consist Shop with two tracks each 10 cars long. The second stage included construction of the EMU Running Repair and Support shops.
Construction Begins on Two Road Projects
ALBANY—New York State officials announced on May 10 that work had begun on two infrastructure projects in the lower Hudson Valley that will promote multi-modal transportation opportunities and enhance resiliency along key corridors.
An $11-million complete street corridor project is underway to improve a 1.36 mile section of Route 45 (Main Street) from State Route 59 to West Eckerson Road in the Village of Spring Valley, Town of Ramapo in Rockland County. Additionally, a $6.5-million resurfacing project has begun to enhance roadway conditions along a 5.9-mile section of State Route 35 between State Route 22 and Mead Street in the Town of Lewisboro in Westchester County. These projects will boost safety and mobility for roadway users while supporting statewide sustainability efforts and furthering the long-term durability of our infrastructure.
Enhancements along State Route 45 include new left-turn lanes, updated traffic signals, new crosswalks, sidewalk curb ramps, accessible pedestrian signal equipment, drainage and the implementation of new lane configurations. Bicyclists will be accommodated in the travel lanes with shared lane markings. Traffic calming measures, such as curb bump outs, narrowing of over-width lanes and a raised median will help lower speeds and be more compatible with bicyclists.
The addition of benches and bike racks as well as the replacement of two bus shelters will accommodate multi-modal users along the corridor. Existing landscapes will be protected or re-established with similar species to enhance the aesthetic streetscape of the village. Major work is slated for completion early 2026.
The State Route 35 resurfacing project will consist of milling the existing pavement and resurfacing the roadway with a warm-mix asphalt overlay to extend service life and improve quality. Traffic signals will be upgraded, and drainage improvements will be included in the project.
This project will replace the existing pavement with a fiber-reinforced asphalt overlay that’s longer-lasting, more durable and will minimize cracking. Grooved inlaid striping with reflective epoxy paint will also be added to increase the visibility of pavement markings during storms. The project has been designed to minimize impacts to the travelling public with all work being conducted during nighttime hours. Project completion is anticipated in the fall of 2024.
NYSDOT reported recently that Morano Brothers Corp. of Croton-on-Hudson, NY was the apparent low bidder on the Route 45 improvement project at $10,995,000.00 and was also the apparent low bidder on the State Route 35 project in Lewisboro with a bid of $6,501,412.50.