White Plains Station

Last week, local Westchester NY news station reported that the city of White Plains wanted an upgrade or rebuild of the current RR station. This is the very same government that literally tore down the beautiful yet unmaintained (the city of White Plains bought the station from Conrail I believe) station under the cover of darkness. Now they want MN to help pay for a rebuild of their 2 track (so unfortunate, 2 not 3 tracks). There has been no further reports on the news. Anyone have any more info?

Metro North owns the station. This is just a political desire. It's not the "City of White Plains" that wants the upgrade but lawmakers on mainly the state level although the locals will go for the ride. They want the MTA to include this in their 5 year capital plan.

Adding another track would be a plus but it's two tracks down to CP117 (north of Crestwood) so it would only be advantageous if you extended a third track from CP123 (south of NWP) to CP117. Unfortunately much of the ROW does not allow room for a third track.

Part of the Harlem Line ROW is elevated thru White Plains,when the M-1's went into service,with the install of high level
platform,there went the space for the 3rd and 4th main tracks that exisited in the past,
heading south,there was barely enough ROW space for the 2 main tracks and the power distrubtion pole line
for the orignal 3rd rail installation.
Scarsdale,and Hartsdale are built up to the ROW fence line,NO more land avaible.

The oriiginal ROW was designede for 4 tracks all the way to NWP. The the station that was torn down in 1983 had 4 trackways. There was never a SB express track laid, just a SB local track. There was a NB express track and until the 1940s -50s there was a NB local track. If you go south of White Plains you will notice besides the two operating tracks an additional retaining wall over the Bronx River for two additional tracks. There is and was room at Hartsdale for 4 tracks and room on one side all the way to Scarsdale on the east side of the ROW for additional trackage. Old photos of the Scarsdale station show that the NB platform which was always made of wood, prior to the high level platforms was pushed over next to the SB platform (the SB platform was made of concrete), wih lots of room for 2 extra tracks. Below Scarsdale, MN sold or leased a portion of the ROW to the towns of either Scarsdale or Eastchester, which if they got back would leave lots of room for additional tracks.

UpperHarlemLine4ever wrote:The oriiginal ROW was designede for 4 tracks all the way to NWP. The the station that was torn down in 1983 had 4 trackways. There was never a SB express track laid, just a SB local track. There was a NB express track and until the 1940s -50s there was a NB local track. If you go south of White Plains you will notice besides the two operating tracks an additional retaining wall over the Bronx River for two additional tracks. There is and was room at Hartsdale for 4 tracks and room on one side all the way to Scarsdale on the east side of the ROW for additional trackage. Old photos of the Scarsdale station show that the NB platform which was always made of wood, prior to the high level platforms was pushed over next to the SB platform (the SB platform was made of concrete), wih lots of room for 2 extra tracks. Below Scarsdale, MN sold or leased a portion of the ROW to the towns of either Scarsdale or Eastchester, which if they got back would leave lots of room for additional tracks.

Wow, for the longest time I was wondering why Hartsdale had all that extra space between the NB and SB tracks... didn't know all that.

I'm not sure what the space is today but before any high platforms wre installed, i.e., 1960's, my memory of the stations is:

1. White Plains - basically what is described here. there were once two NB tracks.
2. Hartsdale - space between the two tracks for two more
3. Scarsdale - the two tracks are right together, and the NB platform was right next to the NB track. Expansion space, if any, was on the east side of the ROW.
4. Crestwood - actually had 4 tracks (2 center sidings)
5. Tuckahoe & Bronxville - space between the two tracks.
6. Fleetwood - somewhat like Scarsdale.

The entire ROW from North White south was clearly 4 tracks wide everywhere you looked. At least I think so.

If there becomes a thought of adding an additional track the problem lies between the iron bridge north of Scarsdale and Scarsdale station. There is zero room for an additional track. The same goes for White Plains.

With that said, any additional track through Hartsdale would create nothing more that a long siding.

They would have to add an additional bridge for the additional track(s) and clear out all the soil piled up under the Bronx River Parkway bridge. If this is removed there's lots of room for an additional track or tracks at Scarsdale. Where are you talking about at White Plains?

Scarsdale: the parkway bridge doesn't have anything to do with the problem. Just south of the station on the west are the stores all along Garth Rd, and Popham. On the east side or the tracks is an embankment at the station with East Parkway directly above that turns into Scarsdale Ave south of Popham Rd.

White Plains: on the east side of the ROW are numerous businesses stretching from north of the station to well south. On the west side is Bronx St. Not to mention the structures that would have to be built to bring a third track above Hamilton Ave and Main St.

After taking into account all the "improvements" that would have to be done it would need to be determined where the millions of dollars would come from. There are more important needs at the moment.

Don't get me wrong, it would be a huge convenience to have the additional track, unfortunately it's not going to happen, at least in our lifetime.

I grew up in White Plains in the 1950s and 60s and then spent another twenty years working there. I don't expect this expansion to happen anytime soon but there is room. To the west, Bronx Street is a dead-end street that has not been open to traffic in years. South of Bronx Street is the old White Plains Bus Terminal, only used nowadays by Rockland Transit buses laying over. Immediately south of the station area there is space between Tracks 1 and 2 and more space to the west. See photos.

Going through there today Tommy is right, there is room for the most part. Probably a lot of red tape to acquire the land to build up the road bed. Regardless it's academic as there is not the room in Scarsdale.

The property below the Scarsdale station on the west side was given or leased to the towns of Scarsdale or Eastchester for the parking lot across from the apartment buildings on the west side. I believe it was a lease with the proviso that it be returned to the railroad if needed. I may be wrong. This went from the south end of the station to the ball field just nortrh of the Popham Rd bridge. Kow the railroad won't go for it but if they're going to spring for a new Whte Plains station wouldn't it be great to make it a 3 track station.

If anything,the station building would be rebuilt on the current footprint,just move the ticket office and
the ticket machine/ATM into a construction trailer/container,do the same for the current newstand
operator,then gut the building to the walls and rebuild,or demo the building and start from scratch,as long as there is proctected
access to the stairs and elevator(s) to get to the platform.
Since the current building dates back to WP's urban renewal era,is it falling apart? or just plain rundown?

Worth thinking about - if the old station was torn down in 1983, you've not only got a new city administration but an entire new generation of city leaders. 1983 was a dark year for commuter trains. They were a necessary evil and although local agencies were beginning to buy new equipment, the future was anything but bright. Ridership was at an all-time low (or near it) and the prospect of growth or expansion was laughable. The well-funded systems were re-trenching and cutting back on infrastructure to reduce maintenance costs rather than thinking about growing.

Given gas prices and population explosion of the last ten years, it's a different story now, but you have to think with a 1983 perspective to see why they removed such historical infrastructure.

Tearing down the old station had very little to do with the future of rail suburban passenger service. The platforms had already been moved about two blocks north in the early 1970s when high level platforms were installed with the advent of the M1A MU cars. By 1980 or 1981 the station had closed and the ticket agency was moved to a large trailer located near the high level platforms.

The old station was torn down in 1983ish (I think it was actually a couple years earlier than that) because the city wanted to clear the site for an urban renewal development project. The City of White Plains already owned the building through the city's Urban Renewal Agency. (I worked for Airway Taxi Inc. back then and our dispatch office was located in the station. The Urban Renewal Agency was our landlord and when we paid our rent the check was made out to them.) The city had a deal ready with a developer who was going to build a hotel (with a conference center on the ground floor I think). A community group wanted the station to get protected status as a historic landmark. White Plains wanted a hotel! The project fell through, a victim of the recession in the early 1980s, but eventually the site was developed.

Here's a postcard view of the old (circa 1913) station, the one that was torn down, when it was brand new. It changed very little over the years.