Full Amtrak service from NYC to Albany resumes in March, Metro-North expansion scrapped
Credit: Phil Richards on Flickr
Full Amtrak service between New York City and Albany will resume in March, ending plans for a more affordable Metro-North expansion. In response to reduced service between the city and Albany due to ongoing repair work on the East River Tunnel, Gov. Kathy Hochul last October announced plans to run Metro-North service between Grand Central and Albany starting this spring. But with the full restoration of Empire service, Amtrak has walked back plans for added Metro-North service.
In May 2025, Amtrak suspended three daily Empire Service trips, which travel from Moynihan Train Hall in the city with stops in the Hudson Valley and Capital Region. The reduced service allowed for work on the East River Tunnels, damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
Hochul asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to work with Amtrak to run Metro-North service between Albany and Grand Central, starting with one daily round-trip in the Spring of 2026.
As Streetsblog Empire State reported, plans for the Metro-North expansion were announced alongside a $99 price cap on Amtrak between Penn Station and Albany-Rensselaer station, with stops in Rhinecliff and Hudson.
On Tuesday, the governor announced Amtrak will restore all three trips by March, returning the Empire Line to full service.
Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams told Gothamist: “By taking advantage of schedule changes in place to support major infrastructure projects on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak has identified the equipment necessary to fully restore the Empire Service schedule that was in place before the East River Tunnel rehabilitation project began, and is moving to fully restore service in early March.”
The East River Tunnel Project remains on schedule and within budget, with completion expected in 2027, according to Abrams.
“I have been clear that our commuters cannot suffer disproportionately for regional construction projects and am glad Amtrak has heeded my call and committed to running full service for the duration of the project and beyond,” Hochul said in a statement.
“We will soon be able to offer more Empire Service capacity than existed even before the tunnel work began last spring and run full service far earlier than anticipated, which are big wins for riders.”
While Amtrak told the state and MTA it “will no longer sanction” the temporary Metro-North service to Albany, the governor said she is “fully committed to short and long-term proposals to bring better transit – including expanded Metro-North service if the demand exists – beyond Poughkeepsie and into the rest of the Hudson Valley and Capital Region.”
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