New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced Purdy’s Metro-North Station, already accessible with two elevators, has been made fully accessible with the opening of a new elevator and connecting sidewalk.

The elevator travels between the parking lot and the Purdy’s Road/Route 116 overpass, as well as a sidewalk that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act from the elevator to the existing station entrance.

Taking Steps to Accessibility

The station joins two others on the Harlem Line, Hartsdale, and Scarsdale, to have accessibility upgrades completed in 2024.

Additionally, in the current capital plan, the MTA is moving forward with accessibility upgrades at three Metro-North stations located in the Bronx. Completely new station platforms, amenities, and two new elevators will be installed at Woodlawn and Williams Bridge. The Botanical Garden will be rehabilitated and the station elevators will be upgraded.

“The MTA continues its lightning pace of making stations accessible across the entire network,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “This is the fourth elevator that we’ve put into service along the Harlem Line in only the first two months of this year. With today’s announcement, 85% of Metro-North’s Harlem Line in Westchester County is now fully accessible — just two full-service stations left to go.” 

Purdy’s Station Work

Initial improvements at the Purdy’s station began approximately five years ago when Metro-North Railroad, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYS DOT), and the Town of North Salem agreed to work together to complete upgrades. The Town used grant money to install sidewalks and traffic light controls and the NYS DOT built an overpass to carry customers across Route 116 to the stairs that lead to Purdy’s station.

Purdy’s takes its name from the family of Daniel Pardieus who purchased large tracts of land in the area for farming in the late 18th century. His grandson Isaac Hart Purdy made an agreement with the New York & Harlem Railroad to establish a station and cattle yard, with the railroad arriving in the summer of 1847. The railroad paid a dollar for use of the land, in exchange for the guarantee of trains making “regular stops” at Purdy’s.

The ancient agreement saved train service in the mid-1950s when the New York Central Railroad, a Metro-North predecessor, sought to abandon or reduce service to the stop. Today, 69 trains stop there on weekdays and 50 on weekends.

A second station replacing the original was built between 1890-1910 and a second track was added through Purdy’s to Croton Falls by 1907. The station building was demolished in 1974 as Interstate 684 was built between Goldens Bridge and Brewster.

The work at Purdy’s shows Metro-North’s commitment to its smaller stations as well as the larger ones. Despite it being one of the lighter used stations on the branch it is still an important part of the Harlem Line service package.