MTA Police K9 Training Facility in Stormville (Beacon Line)

The 50 Labrador retrievers and golden shepherds that make up the MTA's K-9 unit are moving upstate -- to a multimillion-dollar, 71-acre training facility.... The total cost of the facility -- where old Metro-North trains will be used as practice -- will be about $7 million, said the MTA, which formed the unit after 9/11.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mta_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... xtMZyqXIVM

The MTA is prepared to pay $1 Million for a training facility for the MTA Police dogs adjacent to the Beacon Line tracks in the Town of East Fishkill. For those of you who are familiar with the area, right off Route 52. The article states that old train cars will be used for practice, which means the rails will in all likely hood be used to some extent.

Discuss!

I think this is a huge waste of money. The MTA might better spend their funds on something that will directly benefit their passengers, this will not.
Noel Weaver

i dont understand why such an expensive facility is needed why not train with the nypd at their facility all the mta cops go through the nypd academy why not the dogs?

Noel,
The MTA PD K-9 Unit plays a primary role in the multi layered security that is necessary to protect the largest mass transit system in the United States. As we see in the papers daily, landmark structures such as Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and all of the outlying infastructure including yards where employees are stationed are the primary target of terrorists. The K-9 Units main job is to protect the passengers and employees who use the system every day. Money well spent in my humble opinion.

The MTA PD also has the largest mass transit explosive detection K-9 Unit in the United States. By the way, the MTA PD trains the bomb dogs for the NYC Transit PD. The need for a dedicated training facility is very great. Hope this helps.

Let's see.

That's about $140,000 per dog. Or, 98,000 per acre. And that's before the MTA's typical cost overruns, and little expensive oppsies that plague their projects.

Wonder who knows who to get this one built.

I'm sure the NYPD has a world class facility already - why does the MTA need their own?

In case anyone at the MTA hasn't noticed yet - money isn't falling out of the sky right now in NY state. This is 8 million that could be used to fix a real problem, not build McMansion doghouses for pampered pooches...

Let's see, New York State has enough money for this but they can't afford to fix up the bridges upstate, something is out of balance here. Police officers hanging around the station
with their dogs, I think it makes more sense to have them out on patrol. Slightly off topic here but on my Trip to Philadelphia I counted 10 police officers and a dog in 30th Street
Station, I wonder how many of them were out in patrol cars along the line at critical junction points etc? I wonder how many more of them were there in plainclothes?
I agree that security is definately needed but I do not think it is being directed enough to critical areas or handled properly.
Again off topic, Saturday, November 6th enroute south on I-91 out of White River Junction I encountered a roadblock by the US Border Patrol looking for illegals. What a waste when
all they need to do is go south to Florida, Texas and elsewhere and they can find them by the hundreds. They will find far more there than in rural Vermont on a Saturday night.
I could probably say more regarding this but I have said enough. They are going to do what they are going to do and my opinion does not mean a thing. Too bad tax money is
being wasted in the process.
Noel Weaver

correct, its not railfans job to second guess profesional decisions, if you or I want to make those decisions, we should put in for the job.
For everything else there is the Political machine or new Media that will blow this out of proportions.
And if not than the facitity was probably concidered nessecary to them too.
It is not our place as to tell MTA or Amtrak where their cops should be, they have their own supervision to supervise that,
WE are railfans, not supervision , and should not forget that.

You are exactly right, Dutch, except for one thing, it is tax dollars that are going for this stuff. Private railroads spend their money as they see fit but the MTA is not a private railroad. The taxpayers of New York are being ripped off by stuff like this while bridges upstate are crumbling and falling apart. On my trips to and from Florida the roads in New York State are in the poorest condition of any state on the trip.

Maybe I no longer work for the railroad but I did for a long time which included some years in the MTA (Metro-North) and I am entitled to speak out and I fully intend to continue to do so as long as I am able to. We do not always have to agree, sometimes we will and sometimes we won't.
Noel Weaver

Noel thats why we have NY legislators, NY lawyers, and a NY IG office.
If you want to call them, be my guest, but your not even a NY taxpayer anymore.

I might not be a New York State taxpayer any more, thank god, but I still pay federal taxes and New York State and the MTA always have their hands out for federal dollars.
You can bet that I would yell out if I were still living and paying taxes in New York State. Thank heavens the can't tax Railroad Retirement in New York State or any other state for
that matter.\
Noel Weaver

Actually MTA only gets federal dollars for capital improvement projects. a project like this would be state funding or homeland security money.

Having had the misfortune to have watched the WTC come down with friends of mine inside, and having an acquintance (amazingly unharmed) who was riding the top deck of a London bus when a backpack bomb went off, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with spending money on the MTA police and their K9 unit; particularly as a daily rider of the NYC Subway through GCT. Law enforcement is one of the few expenditures out of Albany that doesn't bother me. And, let's face it, NYC-- and Grand Central in particular-- is unfortunately much more of a target for terrorists than Philly 30th Street.

To the actual topic- where is Stormville exactly? Is it closer to Brewster or Beacon?

It's part of East Fishkill, closer to Hopewell Junction. So it would be closer to Brewster.

Stormville is 17 miles from Beacon and 20 miles from Brewster. This is from an old NHRR employee timetable. You might be able to knock off one mile on the Brewster end but it is still closer to Beacon although not by very much.
Noel Weaver

Ridgefielder, Stormville is approximately 60 miles north of NYC. If looking on a map follow the Taconic up to route 52, then follow 52 east for a couple miles to route 216. 216 runs through Stormville and Green Haven on its way to Beekman. From what is being described I am guessing the tract of land lays close to the Beacon line crossing on 216 just in from 52.