(The following appeared at MidHudsonNews.com on May 12.)
NEW YORK — While the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced last week that it would consolidate the management of its three bus companies, there are no plans in the immediate future to do the same for its two commuter rail lines – Metro-North serving the Hudson Valley, and the Long Island Railroad.
MTA President Elliot Sander told MidHudsonNews.com the two rail lines are working together wherever possible, but that’s where it ends.
“I’m still not convinced that we need to do a complete consolidation, but what is important is that whether it is how we run locomotives, how we deal with planning, that we are really using best practice between the two railroads and there’s a lot that each railroad can learn from each other and we are working very hard to do that and they are doing that in an unprecedented way,” he said.
Metro-North Railroad, which begins in Poughkeepsie, runs to New York’s Grand Central Station with several stops along the route.