Valhalla station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Mount Pleasant, New York.

Valhalla
Northbound view of Valhalla station from the southbound side of the platform.
General information
Location2 Cleveland Street, Valhalla, New York
Coordinates41°04′24″N 73°46′22″W / 41.0732°N 73.7729°W / 41.0732; -73.7729
Line(s)Harlem Line
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsBee-Line: 6
Construction
Parking191 spaces
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone5
History
Opened1890
Electrified1984
700V (DC) third rail
Passengers
2018467[1] (Metro-North)
Rank75 of 109[1]
Services
Preceding station Metro-North Railroad Following station
North White Plains Harlem Line
limited service
Mount Pleasant
toward Southeast
Harlem Line Hawthorne
toward Southeast
Former services
Preceding station Metro-North Railroad Following station
North White Plains Harlem Line Kensico Cemetery
(closed 1984)
toward Wassaic
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
North White Plains
toward New York
Harlem Division Kensico Cemetery
toward Chatham
Location
Map

History

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The former New York Central Railroad station house, now the Valhalla Crossing Station Restaurant.

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.[2][3]

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.[4] By 1990, service had been restored to fourteen trains a day on weekends, the equivalent of that at other similar stations.

2015 accident

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

Station layout

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The station has one six-car-long high-level island platform serving trains in both directions.[7]: 11 

References

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  1. ^ a b METRO-NORTH 2018 WEEKDAY STATION BOARDINGS. Market Analysis/Fare Policy Group:OPERATIONS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS DEPARTMENT:Metro-North Railroad. April 2019. p. 6.
  2. ^ "NY Existing Stations-Westchester". Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  3. ^ The Valhalla Crossing Restaurant
  4. ^ Harlem Line timetables effective 30 October 1977 and 17 September 1979
  5. ^ Santora, Marc; Flegenheimer, Matt (February 4, 2015). "Investigation Underway in Metro-North Train Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  6. ^ Trott, Bill; Heavey, Susan (February 4, 2015). "Cuomo says death toll in commuter train accident revised to six". Reuters. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  7. ^ "Metro-North Railroad Track & Structures Department Track Charts Maintenance Program Interlocking Diagrams & Yard Diagrams 2015" (PDF). Metro-North Railroad. 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
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