University Heights station (also known as the University Heights–West 207th Street station) is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

stop on the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connectic ...

's Hudson Line, serving the University Heights neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It is from

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, and travel time to Grand Central is approximately 19 minutes. The station located between the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

and the

Major Deegan Expressway Interstate 87 (I-87) is a north–south Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of New York. It is most of the main highway between New York City and Montreal. The highway begins at exit 47 off I-278 in the New York ...

. Access to the platform is via a staircase from the pedestrian

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. '' The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

on the south side of University Heights Bridge. It is also near the Roberto Clemente State Park.

History

The station has operated since the days of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad as well as the

New York and Putnam Railroad The New York and Putnam Railroad, nicknamed the Old Put, was a railroad line that operated between the Bronx and Brewster in New York State. It was in close proximity to the Hudson River Railroad and New York and Harlem Railroad. All three ca ...

late in the 19th century, though not in its present form. It was originally located north of the former 180th Street (now Osbourne Place), while a nearby Fordham Heights station was located at West Fordham Road. At some point before the 1920s, the two stations were merged, although demolition of the Fordham Heights Station was being planned as early as 1906. North of Fordham Road, the former NY&P branched off to the northeast on its way to Brewster. Throughout much of the 20th Century, University Heights station contained a station house over the tracks along the south side of West Fordham Road. As with many NYCRR stations in the Bronx, the station became a

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

station upon the merger between NYC and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

in 1968. Penn Central continued commuter service and began tearing the station house down in 1975, before until it was taken over by

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do bus ...

in 1976, which turned the station over to

in 1983.

Station layout

The station has one 4-car-long high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...

accessible by stairway or

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ...

from West Fordham Road.

References

External links

*
Fordham Road entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{MNRR stations navbox Metro-North Railroad stations in New York City Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in the Bronx University Heights, Bronx