Belated one-month time machine:
Thank you your suggestions. For the return trip, we will stay on MetroNorth all the way to GC, as our final destination is midtown Manhattan. It's only on the outbound that we need to connect from Amtrak to MetroNorth because we originate in Newark and terminate in Greenwich, and this seems to be an easier connection than taking NJ Transit to Penn, taking two different subways to GC, and then a MetroNorth train to Greenwich.
Separately, I've noticed that Amtrak is frequently late between NY Penn and Stamford, particularly the Acela trains. 15-30 minute delays are not uncommon. Does anyone know why? They can't really blame freight train interference on that segment. Unless MetroNorth prioritizes its own trains over Amtrak, which would be a shame.
Originally Posted by
physioprof
The contract between Metro North and Amtrak apparently does indeed permit Metro North to prioritize its own trains over Amtrak, which they absolutely do. Once an Amtrak train is even slightly off-schedule & misses its "slot", it immediately gets deprioritized in favor of keeping Metro North trains running on-time.
Separate and part from MetroNorth issues, Amtrak is doing substantial work on the Hell Gate Bridge and related sections of track between NYP and NRO (as part of enabling New Haven Line MetroNorth trains to run into Penn Station in future decades), and that has lead to substantial uncertainty between NYP and NRO. And of course those delays can cascade between NRO and STM. But also, MetroNorth does have 4 tracks, so a delay there is not really like it is when an Amtrak train gets stuck behind a freight train in the middle of the countryside.
Additionally, as of this fall, Metro-North's internal-but-open-to-the-public train tracker shows Amtrak trains as well as MetroNorth trains, and so if you are interested in the current status and position of all the passenger trains along the NRO/NHV corridor , you can check out
https://radar.mta.info/map. Good for hours of fun and enjoyment.