 Poughkeepsie, NY | Adirondack | Yonkers, NY  |
| Ethan Allen Express | ||
| Empire Service | ||
| Maple Leaf | ||
| Lake Shore Limited | New York-Penn, NY |
Croton-Harmon station is located on the edge of Metro-North's Croton-Harmon Maintenance Facility and the train yards that surround it. A large amount of Metro-North Rolling Stock can be viewed from the station platforms. The station is the busiest on the Hudson Line. The station is at the end of electrification and the transfer point for passengers making intermediate trips on the Hudson Line. Electric local trains terminate at the station where passengers connect within 5 minutes to diesel express trains running from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie (these trains normally stop at Ossining and Tarrytown as well). Almost every Hudson Line train stops here except for a few peak Rush Hour super-express trains. It is also an important Amtrak stop with every Amtrak train running up the Hudson stopping. These are the 8 to 9 daily trains on the Empire Service Corridor to Albany with 2 extended to Niagara Falls, along with the daily Ethan Allen Express to Rutland, Vermont, Adirondack to Montreal, Lake Shore Limited to Chicago and Maple Leaf to Toronto. Amtrak tickets (costing more than Metro-North tickets) can be purchased for travel between Croton-Harmon and New York-Penn Station with intermediate travel permitted except on the Lake Shore Limited which is discharge only southbound and receive only (for points beyond Albany only) northbound. A Quik-Trak Machine though is the only ticketing for Amtrak.
For trains the station has 4 through tracks — just north of the station, the number of through tracks decrease to 3 — and three island platforms that can accommodate 10 cars; meaning the middle two tracks (2 and 1) require trains to open their doors on both sides and provides flexibility for possible track assignments for passengers transferring. The eastern two platforms are nearly fully canopied with ugly grey support beams except at their extreme ends. The western platform is wider but only has a canopy structure between the two bridges that provide all platform access.
Two bridges provide all access to the platforms. The southern bridge with glass walls is simple, with a few TVMs tucked inside the overpass. Two staircases lead up to it from each direction on each platform with another two down to the station's exit only on the east side of the tracks. The northern overpass is wider and more of a suspended building. It contains the station's ticket office (open daily 6:10am to 9:10pm) and an employee's only bridge leads out the west side of it across the rail yards into the Croton Shops. Two staircases and an elevator lead down to each platform and the huge parking lot on the east side of the tracks. Minor renovations including the installation of artwork were completed on the overpasses and finished on April 26, 2013.
Despite being the busiest station on the Hudson Line, Croton-Harmon is extremely pedestrian unfriendly with nearly 2,000 parking spaces along the eastern side of the tracks tucked between the tracks, Route 9, and the Croton River estuary that trains cross just south of the yard complex at the station. All access to the parking lots (named Veterans Plaza) are via a slight ramp up to Croton Point Avenue that then crosses the rail yards. Just east a highway interchange for Route 9.
Photos 1-18: 16 October, 2004; 19-26: 5 December, 2004; 27: 18 November, 2013
Cortlandt 