Manhattan has the High Line.

Poughkeepsie has The Walkway Over the Hudson.

The City of Beacon has the Beacon Line.

The Beacon Line Project is a long term advocacy group centered on finding ways to use this relic of Beacon's industrial past. Whether light rail, trolley, hiking, biking, alone or in combination, the Beacon Line Project aims to draw attention to the line and potential plans for its use and to keep the drum beat alive until one vision or another is realized.

Click on the tabs below, each one a link to an outline of an idea for the Beacon Line's potential use. Which vision should dominate?

Contact us at the Beacon Line Project to submit your own ideas or to contribute in other ways to the worthy cause. The only vision that is not acceptable is the current status quo: that a potent transportation alternative, owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority no less, should run right through our city, and simply lie fallow.

Light Rail Transit Plan Spur Alternatives Biking/ Scenic Walk Plan Rail-with-Trail Alternative Who We Are

It is absurd to build a transit line in a city as small as Beacon.
But what if the line is just sitting there already?
Then it is absurd not to use it.

Southern Dutchess is growing. Routes 9D and 52 are frequently clogged. Beacon Main Street parking and traffic is maxed out. No one wants to see the Beacon waterfront turn into a Croton Harmon-style parking lot for Southern Dutchess, and 9D turned into a four lane spur of i84. But more and more people will be clamoring to get to New York City as more and more move to the area. This is true no matter what happens with Beacon's proposed T.O.D.

And yet there exists, a relic of our industrial heritage, a train line, perfectly positioned to solve our transportation problems and to turbocharge Beacon and Fishkill's residential, business, and tourist growth. Not an archeological train line. Not an abandoned rotting one. A line, in fact, owned and maintained by the M.T.A. Yes, the M.T.A.: not a freight operator, but our regional transit agency. Really? Kevin has inspected the line.

We can't control growth outside Beacon, so we must revive the Beacon Line if we want a livable city, even if the T.O.D. doesn't happen. At least with the T.O.D., we have some leverage to bundle the issue when we sit down with the M.T.A. and broach this subject with them and attempt to cajole them into reviving the line.

But how?

picture source: Kingly Heirs
The M.T.A. is broke. Even with fare increases and an onerous payroll tax, they have serious problems with revenues and their operating budget. Suggesting to them an extension of service, at this time, to the M.T.A. brass, is simply a nonstarter, a joke, even though the M.T.A. eventually does want extension of service on the Beacon Line, similar in size and projected ridership levels as The New Canaan Branch. Consider the M.T.A.'s own words when they purchased the line in 1995 (note that the Maybrook Line is another name for the Beacon Line):
The purchase of the new line, called the Maybrook, is Metro-North's first acquisition since the railroad was established in 1983. While there are no immediate plans to develop the property, Donald N. Nelson, president of Metro-North, said that it would eventually become an important part of Metro-North's service.

"This is a rare opportunity to preserve for the public the possibility of east-west train travel in New York's outer suburbs," Mr. Nelson said. "This right of way was established more than a century ago and, if lost, would be impossible to re-create."

Mr. Nelson said it was not certain how soon the railroad could develop the new passenger service, though it might be within 10 years. But he said that had Metro-North not bought the Maybrook Line now, it would have almost certainly been sold off in small parts, a pattern seen with aging freight lines nationwide. "We are hedging against the future, knowing that if we had not secured this line, it would have ended up totally gone as a rail corridor for this region," Mr. Nelson said.

Kevin has an answer for the M.T.A.: turn a line they currently maintain and don't see any revenue from, into a revenue generator, by outsourcing operations:
As far as 'just' getting MNCRR to run revenue passenger trains on the BD line I don't think that will happen. However the total take over is kind of what I had thought SHOULD be done. But even if a big pile of ARRA funded cash is offered - the MTA MNRR 'politburo' will most likely say 'nyet.' However as perhaps a more feasible option - if enticed with the agreement that a seperate transit entity were to do most of the work (except for the ROW upgrade, MNCRR could be 'hired' to do this) and provide the ARRA (and other available special FRA RR funding) funded big bucks to fix and ultimately upgrade the track, buy the new DMUs, etc. AND pay them to operate and maybe maintain (or maybe not) said rail vehicles on the rehabilitated and upgraded track - much in the same way the LOOP and the Westchester Bee line buses are operated - the county of Dutchess or Westchester gets the funding for and purchases the vehicles, sets the fares and Liberty Lines manages, maintains, and operates the Bee Line buses - the county pays them a flat fee to do this. And so maybe?

This could be done for the Southern Dutchess section of the BD line - Beacon-Fishkill transit or South County Transit District or whatever they would be named, would get the big bucks funding to do all immediate repairs on the track, make some simple stations, set the fare, work out the scheduling, etc. Of course a good chunk of the money would go to the MTA MNCRR for use of their track and to operate the trains.

One would THINK this would be an offer they could not refuse - the financialy troubled MTA would be, get this... actually making money from this line - a steady pre agreed upon yearly fee.

Can this really work?

picture source: Kingly Heirs
Yes, the big curve on the Beacon Line will make the train slow, but if you reduce the number of hops and the time driving and the stress of parking, people will take the train from Fishkill. And in fact, considering the hassle of getting into and out of Beacon to park and walk to the train, it will even be faster than driving.

We can even reduce the parking at Beacon Station, and increase it at stops on the Beacon Line. Especially by putting a new Park-and-Ride on the West side of 9D, parallel with Dutchess Stadium (and replace the barely used current Park-and-Ride at Dutchess stadium that relies on buses). There is an old unused industrial property situated at the terminus of the third track that you see looking North on the Hudson Line from the Beacon Station. The existence of this third track means you can run our proposed local Beacon Line transit without interfering with MetroNorth, Amtrak, or C.S.X. (except where the line crosses the two main Hudson Line tracks to get to Beacon Station, of course):

On the other end of the line, eventually, the Beacon Line can go to Hopewell Junction or even Beekman. But right now, crossing Route 9 would be a problem. Still, a revived Beacon Line would put a real dent in the number of people driving on Route 9D, Route 52, and parking at Beacon. This is the same concept as the ferry from Newburgh. The Beacon Line is a "land ferry": reduction in congestion by repurposing a piece of Beacon's transport history.

Bottom line:
  1. Get Fishkill on board.
  2. Get Dutchess County on board.
  3. Have the M.T.A. commit to a timeline and feasibility studies.
  4. Get some exploratory funding.
  5. Get New York State and the Feds on board (Maurice Hinchey likes the idea).
  6. Get ARRA funding.
  7. Get a train!
The naysayers are predictable. "It's too expensive right now, it's not viable, blah blah blah." They ignore the explosive growth in tourism, business, residential real estate, and light industry that this line would generate for Beacon and Fishkill, that would more than offset the costs. The M.T.A. purchased the line. For what? Either they should use it, or get out of the way. The M.T.A. can turn the Beacon Line into Apple Orchards or a Pet Cemetery or a Skateboarding Park, whatever they want to, they own it. They just have to use the property for something. The M.T.A., ostensibly a Public Service Corporation which exists solely to serve our transit needs, cannot sit on the Beacon Line, prevent anyone else from using it, and do nothing with it themselves. That is completely unacceptable. We must have movement on the Beacon Line, literal and figurative.

To revive the Beacon Line will be bigger than Dia in terms of infusing economic growth into our gem of a city. But we can't do anything without the M.T.A. So it must be part of the T.O.D. as leverage.

Otherwise, maybe we can guerrilla D.I.Y. (I'm joking).
Final Note:
In 2002, 2004, and other years, the M.T.A. ran a diesel engine powered excursion trip on the line: The Beacon Line Rail Fan Trip (note that the Maybrook Line is another name for the Beacon Line):

They can run freight trains on the line: The line is 100% solid and sound. There is degradation in Brewster on this line, with some of the bridges there. DutchRailnut on railroad.net is informative on the physical status of the line.

But Brewster has nothing to do with this plan. All they would need to do is put in some signals at road crossings. At Fishkill, they could turn the cement plan at Route 9 into a parking lot. Since that is an extensive effort, there are other places in Fishkill where the train can stop (see Kevin's report above). No need for a platform, at first: people can use stairs like they do on the Danbury Line, the Long Branch Line, etc.