Valhalla (Metro-North station)

Valhalla
Northbound view of Valhalla station from the southbound side of the platform.
Location	2 Cleveland Street Valhalla, NY 10595
Coordinates	41°04′24″N 73°46′22″W / 41.0732°N 73.7729°WCoordinates: 41°04′24″N 73°46′22″W / 41.0732°N 73.7729°W
Line(s)	Harlem Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Bee-Line Bus System: 6
Construction
Parking	191 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	5
History
Opened	1890
Electrified	1984 700V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	73,320  0%
Services
Preceding station   Metro-North Railroad   Following station North White Plains toward Grand Central Harlem Line Mount Pleasant toward Wassaic Kensico Cemetery (closed 1984) toward Wassaic   Former services   New York Central Railroad North White Plains toward New York City Harlem Division Kensico Cemetery toward Chatham

The Valhalla Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of Valhalla, New York, via the Harlem Line. Trains leave or arrive approximately every 20 minutes during peak periods, hourly otherwise, to Mount Kisco, Southeast or Grand Central Terminal. It is 25.5 miles (41.0 km) from Grand Central Terminal and the average travel time to Grand Central is 41 minutes.

The station is popular with commuters from the interior of northern Westchester County given its location at the foot of the Taconic State Parkway.

This station is the northernmost station in the Zone 5 Metro-North fare zone.

History

Rail service in Valhalla can be traced as far back as 1846, with the establishment of the New York and Harlem Railroad, which installed a station named "Davis Brook," but by 1851 the name had been changed to "Kensico." The NY&H became part of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1864 and eventually taken over by the New York Central Railroad. By the late-1880s Kensico and the rail line that ran through it were relocated to make way for the Kensico Reservoir despite protests from the community lasting for the rest of the century, and the community that replaced it was named "Valhalla." The current station house was built in 1890, and at some point was converted into a restaurant.^[1][2]

As with most of the Harlem Line, the merger of New York Central with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 transformed the station into a Penn Central Railroad station. Penn Central's continuous financial despair throughout the 1970s forced them to turn over their commuter service to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which made it part of Metro-North in 1983.

Prior to Metro-North Railroad's electrification of this section of the Harlem Line in 1984, service at the station had been greatly reduced compared to other similar stations. In the late 1970s, weekday service was about half that of most other stations north of North White Plains, and weekend service was limited to a flag stop for six trains.^[3] By 1990, service had been restored to fourteen trains a day on weekends, the equivalent of that at other similar stations.

On February 3, 2015, the Valhalla train crash occurred north of this station, in which a Metro-North train crashed into a Mercedes-Benz SUV^[4] at Commerce Street near the Taconic State Parkway. The crash caused 6 deaths and at least 15 injuries, including 7 serious injuries.^[5]

Platform and track configuration

2	■ Harlem Line	for Grand Central
1	■ Harlem Line	for Wassaic

This station has one six-car-long high-level island platform serving trains in both directions. The Harlem Line has two tracks at this location.

References

1. NY Existing Stations-Westchester
2. The Valhalla Crossing Restaurant
3. Harlem Line timetables effective 30 October 1977 and 17 September 1979
4. Santora, Marc; Flegenheimer, Matt (4 February 2015). "Investigation Underway in Metro-North Train Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
5. Trott, Bill; Heavey, Susan (4 February 2015). "Cuomo says death toll in commuter train accident revised to six". Reuters. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

External links

• Metro-North Railroad - Valhalla
• List of upcoming train departure times and track assignments from MTA
• Taconic State Parkway entrance from Google Maps Street View