Harlem Line

Harlem Line
Train No. 645 leaves the White Plains station, northbound to Southeast.
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	Metropolitan Transportation Authority[1]
Locale	New York City, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties
Termini	Grand Central Crestwood (short-turn) North White Plains (short-turn) Southeast Wassaic
Stations	38
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metro-North Railroad
Operator(s)	Metro-North Railroad
Daily ridership	45,350 (2022)
Ridership	18,320,140 (annual ridership, 2023)[2]
Technical
Track length	82 mi (132 km)
Number of tracks	1–4
Character	Commuter rail
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail, 750 V DC (south of Southeast)
Route map Show interactive map Legend 82.0 mi 132 km NYC Harlem Branch 82.0 mi 132 km Chatham  Ghent Philmont Martindale Craryville Hillsdale Copake Falls Boston Corners Mount Riga Millerton Coleman's Sharon Amenia Wassaic Yard 82.0 mi 132 km Wassaic 80.0 mi 128.7 km Tenmile River Zone 10 Zone 9 76.5 mi 123.1 km Dover Plains Dover Furnace closed 69.0 mi 111 km Harlem Valley–Wingdale Zone 9 Zone 8 65.9 mi 106.1 km Appalachian Trail 63.7 mi 102.5 km Pawling 60.2 mi 96.9 km Patterson Towner's (closed) Beacon Line to Danbury Dykeman's (closed) start of electrification Zone 8 Zone 7 53.2 mi 85.6 km Southeast Brewster Yard Putnam Junction 51.9 mi 83.5 km Brewster 47.7 mi 76.8 km Croton Falls 46.0 mi 74 km Purdy's Zone 7 Zone 6 43.7 mi 70.3 km Goldens Bridge New York City & Northern Railroad Tilly Foster (closed) Carmel (closed) Crafts (closed) Mahopac (closed) Lake Mahopac (closed) Putnam Division Lincolndale (closed) Mahopac Branch 41.2 mi 66.3 km Katonah 39.2 mi 63.1 km Bedford Hills 36.5 mi 58.7 km Mount Kisco Zone 6 Zone 5 32.4 mi 52.1 km Chappaqua 30.5 mi 49.1 km Pleasantville Thornwood (closed) 28.2 mi 45.4 km Hawthorne 27.2 mi 43.8 km Mount Pleasant Kensico Cemetery (closed) 25.5 mi 41 km Valhalla Zone 5 Zone 4 North White Plains Yard 23.8 mi 38.3 km North White Plains 22.3 mi 35.9 km White Plains 20.6 mi 33.2 km Hartsdale 19.0 mi 30.6 km Scarsdale Zone 4 Zone 3 16.7 mi 26.9 km Crestwood 16.0 mi 25.7 km Tuckahoe 15.3 mi 24.6 km Bronxville 14.3 mi 23 km Fleetwood 13.1 mi 21.1 km Mount Vernon West Zone 3 Zone 2 12.6 mi 20.3 km Wakefield New Haven 11.8 mi 19 km Woodlawn 10.5 mi 16.9 km Williams Bridge 9.5 mi 15.3 km Botanical Garden 8.9 mi 14.3 km Fordham 183rd Street (closed) 7.9 mi 12.7 km Tremont Claremont Park (closed) Morrisania (closed) Port Morris connection 6.1 mi 9.8 km Melrose Hudson 6.0 mi 9.7 km Yankees–East 153rd Street (special events) Mott Haven Junction 138th Street (closed) Oak Point Link Harlem River Lift Bridge Zone 2 Zone 1 4.2 mi 6.8 km Harlem–125th Street ​​ 0.0 mi 0 km Park Avenue Tunnel 0.0 mi 0 km 110th Street Park Avenue Tunnel 86th Street 72nd Street 59th Street 0.0 mi 0 km Grand Central Terminal ​​​​​ This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

The Harlem Line is an 82-mile (132 km) commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower 53 miles (85 km) from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast, in Putnam County, is electrified with a third rail and has at least two tracks. The section north of Southeast is a non-electrified single-track line served by diesel locomotives. Before the renaming of the line in 1983, it eventually became the Harlem Division of the New York Central Railroad. The diesel trains usually run as a shuttle on the northern end of the line, except for rush-hour express trains in the peak direction (two to Grand Central in the morning, two from Grand Central in the evening).

With 38 stations, the Harlem Line has the most of any Metro-North main line. Its northern terminal, Wassaic, is the northernmost station in the system. It is the only Metro-North line used exclusively by that carrier (no use by Amtrak, though CSX services freight customers as far north as Mount Vernon) and the only one that uses the entirety of existing track. It is colored blue on Metro-North timetables and system maps, and stations on the line have blue trim. The blue color-coding appears to have started with timetables issued by predecessor New York Central for the then-Harlem Division as far back as 1965.^[3]

The Harlem Line was originally chartered in 1831 as the New York and Harlem Railroad (NY&H) and was leased to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company in 1871. The line became part of the Metro-North Railroad in 1983. While the line has traditionally served to bring commuters from Westchester County to jobs in the city, since the 2000s it has begun to see more "reverse commuting" from the Bronx into Westchester and points north. The northern reaches of the line are also close enough to Western Massachusetts that residents in parts of that region are also able to commute to jobs in New York City.^{[4]: 1 [5][6]}