Metro-North Railroad is adding 28 trains to its fall weekend schedule to accommodate riders venturing into the Lower Hudson Valley to watch the leaves change.
The railroad’s popular "Leaf Peeper" trains return on Saturday, Oct. 3 and continue through Nov. 8.
In the morning, five more Hudson Line trains leave Grand Central Terminal bound for Beacon and Poughkeepsie. And 11 express trains head to Croton-Harmon, with stops at Harlem-125th Street, Tarrytown and Ossining.
In the afternoon, three extra trains depart Poughkeepsie and Beacon for Grand Central. And nine more express trains run between Croton-Harmon and Grand Central with stops at Harlem, Tarrytown and Ossining.
October has traditionally been one of the busiest months for a commuter rail
struggling to regain weekday riders lost to remote and hybrid work schedules since the pandemic. Last year’s strong October totals convinced the railroad to increase service by around 25% this fall, Metro-North President Justin Vonashek told the USA TODAY Network.
“They're riding the trains up to Cold Spring and Beacon and looking out at all the fall foliage the area has to offer as well as the events that are going on in Tarrytown and the Sleepy Hollow area,” Vonashek said.
The railroad’s weekday ridership remains around 16% below pre-pandemic levels tallied in 2019, monthly figures show. But weekend ridership continues to outpace 2019 levels.
“The midweek commute is still a hybrid, ” Vonashek said. “We still see people working from home on Mondays and especially on Fridays. I think on the weekends people are really utilizing our service to be able to enjoy, whether they’re coming into the city or going into the Hudson Valley.”
October a bright spot for Metro-North ridership
Despite overall ridership dips, the railroad racked up some of its highest post-pandemic totals this summer. The top post-pandemic ridership totals came on ten days in June, contributing to a monthly total of 6.9 million, around 93% of 2019 levels.
But in August, total ridership was down to 6.1 million, around 83% of what it was in August 2019.
Still, Vonashek said he’s encouraged by the June and July tallies and steady, year-over-year growth. “I think it will definitely come back in the future,” Vonashek said. “We’re very bullish on ridership coming back for the weekday.”
Between 2020 and 2025, Metro-North lost nearly two years of ridership revenue, a reduction of 200 million rides, a USA Today Network analysis in February 2025 found. In 2025, the railroad tallied 71.4 million rides, up from 67.4 million in 2024 but below 2019’s 86.6 million.
The nation’s second largest commuter rail behind the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North carries around 200,000 passengers on 700 trains each day.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA TODAY Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Metro-North adds leaf peeping Hudson Valley trains this fall. See when
