A commuter rail station at Yankee Stadium will soon become a reality, now that MTA Metro-North Railroad and the City of New York have come to agreement on how the new station will be paid for, operated and maintained.

The new station will enhance public transportation to the area and greatly reduce neighborhood traffic around the stadium on game days. It is estimated that between 6,000 and 10,000 people will use the station for Yankee home games, which will also provide service to the area on non-game days. The new station will be open for Yankee fans and reverse commuters by the second quarter of 2009.

The station will have two 10-car-length island platforms.  Four staircases and two elevators will connect the platforms to a 10,000-square-foot covered mezzanine, making the station fully ADA-compliant.  From the mezzanine, a 450-foot-long, 25-foot wide overpass will lead to the stadium and the new parks being constructed on the waterfront.  The overpass will be located north of 153rd Street.

Although the new station is located on Metro-North’s Hudson Line south of the Morris Heights station, the intent is to provide service on game days from all three Metro-North services.  In addition to scheduled service on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines, there will be special shuttles from GCT and 125th Street.   Regular weekday and weekend train service from the new station to Grand Central and to points north will also be provided. The new Metro-North service will complement existing MTA New York City Transit subway service on the B, D and #4 lines.

The agreement with New York City that defines the cost-sharing and building operation and maintenance responsibilities.  It calls for the MTA to contribute $52 million and the city to contribute $39 million toward the $91 million project. The MTA is paying for the station, ticketing facilities, customer information system and half the cost of the mezzanine.  The city is paying for the overpass and half of mezzanine.  MNR will operate and maintain the station and mezzanine.