Rhinecliff-Kingston (Amtrak station)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rhinecliff-Kingston Amtrak station, commonly and formerly known as simply Rhinecliff, serves the residents of northern Dutchess County, New York (in the town of Rhinebeck and the nearby area of Kingston, New York across the Hudson River. The station features one low-level island platform that services two tracks. However, there is an unused second platform that services the lower parking lot. All platforms are connected with an overpass.

Rhinecliff station is somewhat popular with owners of weekend homes in the area as well as some commuters who prefer Amtrak's service to that of Metro-North's out of Poughkeepsie. The combination of these two categories of riders made Rhinecliff the forty-sixth-busiest Amtrak station in 2004 with 86,466 boardings that year.^[1] At times, it has been discussed to extend Metro-North service to Rhinecliff, however past community opposition and track ownership issues have stalled action on such plans.

Though the station's name implies an easy connection to Kingston and vicinity, only taxicabs serve the station from Kingston.

[edit] Amtrak Service

All trains heading southbound from Rhinecliff-Kingston terminate at Penn Station in New York City, while all northbound trains stop at Hudson and Albany-Rensselaer before diverting.

Adirondack to Montreal
Empire Service to Poughkeepsie, Westchester County (Croton-on-Hudson/Yonkers) and New York or Schenectady, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls
Ethan Allen Express to Rutland or New York
Maple Leaf to Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Toronto or New York

Preceding station	Amtrak Lines		Following station
Poughkeepsie, New York		{{{route}}}	Hudson, New York
Poughkeepsie, New York		Empire Service (New York-Niagara Falls)	Hudson, New York
Poughkeepsie, New York		Ethan Allen Express (New York-Rutland, VT)	Hudson, New York
Hudson, New York		Maple Leaf (Toronto-New York)	Poughkeepsie, New York