Some changes to Metro-North’s Harlem Line schedules are now in effect as crews work on upgrades at a local train station.

The MTA says that it went down to hourly service between Crestwood and North White Plains on the weekends through the fall. It says that the service change is due to necessary infrastructure repairs.

Renovations at the White Plains train station will include new signs, platforms, lighting, bathrooms and more as well as track work in other areas. Metro-North riders who commute out of the White Plains train station say it's in serious need of upgrades. "I think when people come from the city to look at moving here, they see this train station and think, ‘I'm not moving to this town,’" says Katherine Breese, of White Plains.

While the work is being done, Harlem Line trains will now stop at White Plains, Hartsdale and Scarsdale only every hour on Saturdays and Sundays, instead of every half-hour. The project will also limit the number of off-peak trains that run Monday through Friday. Peak weekday service is not impacted.

To compensate, MTA officials say express trains will stop at Hartsdale, Scarsdale or Crestwood during the week, but those express trains won't be making any extra stops over the weekend.
Many who travel into the city on Saturdays and Sundays say the changes will be a problem for them.

"I think people are frustrated," said Karen Kelly, a Hartsdale commuter. "I'm in the office and there are a lot of other people on the train with me. But today I drove because the schedule is just so unworkable."

Metro-North officials say the normal half-hour service on the weekends will resume in the fall.