TRANSIT

Cuomo wants a Metro-North station at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets

Matt Coyne
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants you to be able to take the train to Woodbury Common.

An entrance to Woodbury Commons in Harriman on Thursday, December 7, 2017.

At a speech at Marist College Thursday, the governor touted initiatives in his 2019 budget for the mid-Hudson Valley. One of those was an addendum on his already-announced traffic upgrades around the 250-plus store shopping complex in Central Valley: A Metro-North station.

"Whenever my daughters ask me to take them there, I come up with any excuse not to have to sit through that traffic," Cuomo said. "We are putting a Metro-North station at Woodbury Common. That way, you don't have to drive, you can take the train."

NOT JUST SHOPPING: Woodbury Common a foodie destination

IN WESTCHESTER: New stores open at local malls

Port Jervis Line tracks are already nearby, running between the complex and the Thruway. A Metro-North station there would sit between the Harriman and Salisbury Mills-Cornwall stations.

The railroad said it was "pursing a review of the potential" for a public-private partnership to make the station happen.

Cuomo said 13 million people a year make the trip to Woodbury Common. Without a rail option, all the traffic snarls Orange County roads.

In December, he announced $150 million in traffic upgrades, including redesigning roads and traffic patterns plus cashless tolling at the nearby Harriman toll plaza, to keep everything moving more smoothly.

A train station would add another option for shoppers. The Port Jervis line terminates at Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey and stops at Secaucus Junction, allowing access from the city via PATH trains or NJ Transit.

Port Jervis trains make stops in Suffern and Sloatsburg.

Twitter: @coynereports