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18
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 4 ECEMBER 14-20, 2018 BTR
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. signs the Amtrak petition.
Schneps Community News Group/ Alex Mitchell
Amtrak derails Metro North
progress; MOU still not inked
BY ALEX MITCHELL
“Don’t be a scrooge, Amtrak” said
our Santa-hat wearing Borough President
Ruben Diaz Jr. while collecting
petition signatures at the Mall at Bay
Plaza on Friday, December 7; calling
on the East Coast transit goliath to
get on board with Metro North Railroad’s
planned expansion into the east
Bronx.
During the process of collecting
over 2,000 signatures for a region of
the borough Diaz referred to as a ‘transit
starved’, he went about explaining
the cause of the project’s hold up.
When the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority announced the expansion
of Metro North service to
Penn Station via the Hell Gate Bridge
earlier in 2018, by adding four new
Bronx stations at Co-op City, Morris
Park, Parkchester and Hunts Point
in the process, the agency was eager
to shift the $1.2 billion project from a
study to construction phase.
“It sounds like a large number but
it really isn’t for a project this big,”
Diaz said.
The new rail service would basically
share Amtrak’s current Penn
Station line from New Rochelle, into
Manhattan.
This $1.2 billion, track sharing
plan, has received support from Washington,
DC to Albany as both Senator
Chuck Schumer and Governor Andrew
Cuomo are proverbially ‘on board.’
However, the track is not clear
ahead - because Amtrak is not cooperating.
“We’ve been close to making progress
with them,” Diaz said.
The progress he is referring to is
an MTA preliminary design contract,
which has been on hold due to ongoing
negotiations of a memorandum of understanding
with Amtrak.
The MOU would essentially commit
Amtrak to the project, allowing
the MTA to start construction on the
Amtrak-owned rail lines that will be
shared by the new Metro North service
branch.
Holding up the agreement is a dispute
between the MTA and Amtrak
regarding fi nancial obligations for repair
work required on portions of the
designated track.
“We know Amtrak owns these
tracks, but their requests (for compensation)
have to be within reason.
The MTA has been willing to compromise
but Amtrak is being a bully,”
the borough president said, citing the
Bronxdale Avenue train trestle as one
of the disputed Amtrak properties
that’s in dire need of repair.
Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams
released a statement regarding the
ongoing transit conundrum saying,
“Amtrak has been cooperating with
MTA’s planning efforts regarding the
proposed expansion of Metro-North
train service…Amtrak and MTA executives
have met frequently in recent
months to try to reach agreement on
a number of key issues regarding design,
construction and ultimate train
operation of this project.”
Diaz and several thousand plus
Bronxites would strongly disagree.
“Every time we get close to the end
zone, Amtrak moves the goal post further
away,” the borough president said,
exhibiting frustration.
Just days after his petition drive,
Metro North held a public workshop at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine to
break down what the new stations will
entail.
The Morris Park station, which
will be accessed from Bassett Avenue
and Hutchinson Metro Center will
include an overpass, linking the two
properties.
The trip from Morris Park to Penn
Station will take only 25 minutes.
The Parkchester/Van Nest station
is planned to go near just east of Unionport
Road, at East Tremont Avenue.
Continued on page 88