Commuter Rail

NEW YORK — MTA Metro-North Railroad has approved a $7.9 million contract to overhaul six 3,000-horsepower F40 locomotives in use on its West of Hudson service. The overhaul will include new, larger fuel tanks for more efficient operations. This overhaul program will help improve train operations and provide more reliable service for Port Jervis and Pascack Valley line customers, officials said.

NEW YORK — MTA Metro-North Railroad is streamlining its study of how best to provide direct train service from its New Haven and Hudson lines into Penn Station, New York via the east Bronx and Manhattan’s West Side, officials said. An environmental review began a decade ago with the intent of developing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a “Preferred Alternative” pursuant to the National Environmental Protection Act. Through two screening processes, an initial list of 22 service alternatives was narrowed to four “Build” alternatives; two alternatives for Hudson Line service to Penn Station and two alternatives for New Haven

WASHINGTON — Amtrak Police, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel and law enforcement officers from more than 100 federal, state, local, rail and transit police agencies were deployed at approximately 150 passenger rail stations throughout the Northeast Corridor region in an exercise of expanded counterterrorism and incident response capabilities. The deployment happened Sept. 9. The multi-force security surge across 13 states and Washington, DC, is NOT in response to any particular threat or incident. Rather, today’s deployment is part of Operation ALERTS (Allied Law Enforcement for Rail and Transit Security), a coordinated effort involving activities such as heightened station patrols, increased