Metro-North OKs New Station at Yankee Stadium

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Metro-North OKs plans for station at Yankee Stadium

By CAREN HALBFINGER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: May 22, 2007)

Though their team is mired in an early-season slump, Yankees fans got something to cheer about yesterday.

The Metro-North Railroad committee approved a plan under which construction would begin next month on a new $91 million train station at Yankee Stadium, and it should be ready for fans and commuters in June 2009.

By then, the Bronx Bombers will be playing at a new billion-dollar stadium across East 161st Street from the existing stadium.

To get to the 55,000-seat ballpark, fans will be able to board a special Yankee Stadium shuttle at Grand Central Terminal, with a stop at 125th Street to pick up riders from the Bronx, Westchester, Putnam and Connecticut. For the post-game ride home, the new Yankee Stadium station will be built to accommodate up to 12,000 riders, all trying to leave the stadium about the same time. Longer platforms will permit 10-car trains, and the railroad plans to run trains for northbound fans on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines, as well as continuous shuttles to 125th Street and Grand Central.

The four-track station will be about a 10-minute walk from the new stadium, which will be reached via an overpass, with elevators and stairs to a path to be built alongside parking lots and the park that will take the current stadium's place.

"There will be a lot less traffic out there with 10,000 to 12,000 people riding,'' said Peter Cannito, Metro-North president. "We'll be pushing very aggressively to open by game day if at all possible, but the opening date is June 2009.''

Metro-North expects 6,000 to 10,000 riders for home games, but the railroad also anticipates that the new stop will attract workers who live in the Bronx and commute to Westchester, said Robert MacLagger, director of operations planning.

Ari Rasekh, 24, of New Rochelle said he'd be interested in taking the train to a Yankees game.

"I'd use it," said Rasekh, a consultant from New Rochelle who commutes to Manhattan from the Scarsdale station. "That's the best way to get there.''

Here's how it will work: In the Bronx, at Woodlawn, the Harlem and New Haven lines will merge and travel for seven miles south before they are joined by the Hudson Line at Mott Haven. At that junction, less than one-third of a mile southeast of the Yankee Stadium stop, there is a little-used track that allows trains from the Harlem and Hudson lines to switch over. That track is called a wye. A wye is shaped like the letter Y, but with a curved connector between the two outstretched arms of the Y. The railroad uses this track to reroute rescue trains, inspect tracks and redirect trains to its shops when they need repairs.

To carve out enough space for all the needed tracks, the railroad had to assemble easements for 15 real estate parcels from two private owners, as well as the city and state agencies. All but two were for token amounts: Metro-North will pay Related Cos. of Manhattan $1.2 million for a sliver of land ranging from 5 to 20 feet wide, needed so tracks can be spread to allow for two island platforms, and New York City will pay GAL, an elevator manufacturer, $5 million for the air rights for an easement over their property for the new, larger pedestrian overpass.

The fares and schedules have not yet been worked out.

The Metro-North Railroad committee yesterday approved the terms of the station plans, which must also be voted on by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board tomorrow. The plans call for the MTA to contribute $51.16 million and New York City to contribute $38.9 million toward the project. The Yankees have not been asked to contribute.

The MTA will pay for the station, ticketing facilities, signs and public address systems and half the cost of the mezzanine. The city will pay for the overpass and half the mezzanine.

Yankees fans also will find 55 percent more parking than they have near the current stadium. Kate Slevin, the associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, is among people who object to public subsidies for the parking garages, believing the money would be better spent on the station. The city's Industrial Development Agency plans to issue $190 million in triple tax-exempt bonds to the nonprofit Bronx Community Initiatives Development Co., a nonprofit conduit that is involved to give the garages tax-exempt financing. The state will contribute $70 million to the $281 million cost of building three garages and replacing parkland atop one of them.

"We think the Metro-North station eliminates the need for additional garages, especially since it would serve the fans most likely to drive to the games,'' said Dan Steinberg, a research analyst for Good Jobs New York, a project of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a government watchdog. "So let's take that $70 million we pledged for the garages and use it to support mass transit.''

[Guest]

1.2 million for a hunk of land 5 - 20 feet wide?! Wish i was that guy! Seems as though Metro-North and the MTA have allot of pretty high-profile projects going on that will definitely make commuter life a bit easier.

[Guest]

1.2 million for a hunk of land 5 - 20 feet wide?! Wish i was that guy! Seems as though Metro-North and the MTA have allot of pretty high-profile projects going on that will definitely make commuter life a bit easier.

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they should acquire a pitching staff first

[Guest Photounit]

1.2 million for a hunk of land 5 - 20 feet wide?! Wish i was that guy! Seems as though Metro-North and the MTA have allot of pretty high-profile projects going on that will definitely make commuter life a bit easier.

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If you read this:

"To carve out enough space for all the needed tracks, the railroad had to assemble easements for 15 real estate parcels from two private owners, as well as the city and state agencies. All but two were for token amounts"

I take it that "token amounts" means someone else got shafted.....

This new stop is a good thing .... It's too bad it wasn't done before they started construction on the new stadium.....

[JBE 328]

I was surprised that there wasn't a stop for the stadium. Or at least not a real stop.

[Dr. Zuki 1]

Not only will the stadium riders benefit, but so will the entire surrounding area.

Watch for the Yuppie pioneers to slowly embrace this area.

You might laugh, but they are already moving into a few buildings along the nearby Grand Concourse. In particular, Executive Towers, it's the big white brick co-op with the Caesar's Palace type statues outside.

The MTA previously would not commit to building the station without knowing if the Yanks would stay in the Bronx. There is a piece in today's NY Post about a new retail mall being built nearby just off the Deagan. The Bronx Terminal Market and House of Detention have both been demolished for this project.

Dr. Zuki

Lawrence Hospital

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Bout f****ing time. Can't wait to see me and the boys on the train and you know who you are...lol.

[Guest]

Huge! Glad they finally approved this move.

I'll never drive to a game once the station is built.

[Oswegowind 17]

Finally...now you can drink and be driven!!!! They should bring back beer in the bleachers and make them train only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone is talking about the 1.5 million...what about the 5 million for a walkway above a premise??? They should have donated it to the city...less people parking in their driveway cause they took the train...unless they leased their parking facility to the stadium on game nights and think they will lose money!