Service on Metro-North’s Hudson Line will run on a “near-normal” schedule Monday, after crews cleared debris from tracks in Westchester that was deposited by a mudslide over the weekend, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday.
Heavy rain triggered the mudslide around 9:45 a.m. Saturday, covering four tracks used by Metro-North and Amtrak in mud, rock, and pieces of cement wall from a nearby property and suspending regular service. The damage was initially expected to imperil many New Yorkers’ Monday morning commutes.
“In the face of dangerous weather and a looming deadline, our MTA team worked around-the-clock to restore the safe, reliable service New Yorkers count on,” Hochul said in a statement Sunday evening. “Hundreds of thousands of commuters will be able to use Metro-North to commute to work Monday morning because of this extraordinary effort.”
“Before heading out the door, New Yorkers should check the MTA website for up-to-date service information to ensure their commute is as seamless as possible,” she added.
Crews cleared debris from two of the tracks but were still cleaning up the remaining two and repairing a damaged third rail. The latter work will likely continue for “days,” according to the governor’s office.
Metro-North is slightly adjusting train schedules Monday morning and afternoon, including by canceling four of the 158 trains it normally operates daily on the Hudson Line, to avoid congestion-related delays. During peak hours, northbound trains will run express between Tarrytown and Croton-Harmon — the part of the line where the mudslide occurred.
Amtrak service between New York City and Albany, which was also suspended over the weekend, will be “substantially restored” Monday, Amtrak said in a service alert Sunday evening. It noted that commuters should expect delays of up to 45 minutes as service resumes.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, service on Metro-North’s Hudson Line was suspended in both directions between the Tarrytown and Croton-Harmon stations, with no trains servicing the Philipse Manor, Scarborough, and Ossining stations, per the MTA. Limited bus service was being provided to fill the gap, and trains were running hourly on other parts of the line, though the MTA said delays of up to 20 minutes were possible due to trains waiting for the buses.
The mudslide happened Briarcliff Manor, near the Scarborough station, about an hour north of New York City. Workers cleaned up 350 cubic yards of soil and debris and 250 cubic yards of rock and cement walls from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, Hochul’s office said.
For the remaining work, “crews are breaking apart the rock walls to reincorporate segments to help stabilize the slope where the mudslide occurred… and are repositioning other segments to the shore side of the Hudson Line, transforming it into ‘rip-rap’ that stabilizes the coastline alongside the rail,” a press release from the governor’s office explained.
Much of New York has experienced above-average rain over the past two months, with seven back-to-back weekends of rain in the New York City area. Current forecasts show next weekend may not bring any rain to the area.
This story has been updated with new information.
