Metro-North, Amtrak boosting train service to Albany after service reductions

Metro-North and Amtrak will join forces to partially restore weekday rail service between New York and Albany this spring, after work on the East River Tunnel forced a reduction in the number of trips between the two cities.

Governor Hochul announced Monday that Amtrak will reinstate one round trip from Penn Station to the state capital beginning December 1: train 235, departing from Penn for Albany at 3:15 p.m., and train 238, departing from the capital for Gotham at 12:10 p.m.

Additionally, starting this spring, Metro-North Railroad will run a northbound train from Grand Central Terminal to Albany once each morning, with a return trip scheduled for the afternoon.

This trip will mark the first time Metro-North has provided service to Albany since the railroad’s inception. The MNR’s predecessor, the New York Central Railroad, provided service to the capital from New York until 1967.

Logistical complications resulting from Amtrak’s closure of one of the four tubes of the East River Tunnel — which connects Penn Station to points east — caused the federal railroad to cancel three weekday round trips between New York and Albany in May.

“The restoration of Amtrak service and the launch of Metro-North service to Albany is a huge win for riders,” Hochul said in a statement.

“Even though Amtrak’s East River Tunnel repairs are necessary, travelers from Albany to New York have had to endure sold-out trains and higher fares over the past five months.

Amtrak plans to fully reopen the East River Tunnel by the end of 2027.