The Metro-North Port Jervis line is a 95 mile long railroad line (longer than Amtrak’s Hartford Line, and Hiawatha Service) that is operated under contract by New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. Trains operate from Hoboken Terminal their first 30 miles via New Jersey Transit’s Main Line or Bergen County Line to Suffern, NY where trains continue along a largely rural landscape on a single-tracked line with passing sidings to Port Jervis, New York. Port Jervis is nestled in the corner of New York State, walking distance from both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The line includes Metro-North’s longest tunnel, the Otisville Tunnel and the Moodna Viaduct, the highest railroad viaduct east of the Mississippi River at 3,200 feet and is 193 feet from the river floor below.

Train service on the line is operated primarily using Metro-North owned push-pull diesel equipment that is operated in pooled service with the New Jersey Transit Main & Bergen County Line. The Metro-North owned equipment consists of Alstom Comet V coaches and various older GP40 and F40 locomotive (to be replaced by Siemens SC-44 Charger units on order).

Train service operates 12 to 14 times per weekday, with about half the service during peak direction rush hours, with midday and evening service provided in both directions. The first Port Jervis-bound train doesn’t arrive until 10:51am, and there is a gap of Hoboken- bound trains from Port Jervis between 1:35pm (an additional train starts at Middletown at 3:19pm) and a final Inbound train at 9:22pm, due to the single-tracked nature of the branch. On weekends there are 7 round-trip trains per day, with service evenly distributed offering day trips in both directions. Trains generally operate express (most stop at Ramsey-Route 17 and many at Ridgewood) through New Jersey, with a few off-peak trains making all local stops on either the Main or Bergen County Lines. Travel time from Hoboken to Port Jervis is as fast as 2 hours and 10 minutes on a super express Inbound train (operates non-stop after Harriman) and as slow as 2 hours and 38 minutes on a train operating via all local stops in New Jersey.