Stamford Advocate articles on RR station

Stamford Advocate: September 21, 1999

Lyons, Jepsen called to get train station dispute on track

By Thomas J. McFeeley

Staff Writer

An officer in a Connecticut train commuter council yesterday called on two local legislative leaders to intervene in a dispute over who will operate the Stamford Transportation Center.

James Cameron, vice chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Shoreline East Rail Commuter Council, said state House Speaker Moira Lyons and state Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen, both Stamford Democrats, should mediate the dispute.

The state Department of Transportation, in March, told Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy it intended to take over the Stamford train station. DOT officials have said that should they control the station, they would almost immediately make repairs and improve maintenance.

Months of negotiations have yielded no deals. Last week, DOT officials said they planned to inform Malloy this month that they would take the station under the state's powers of eminent domain.

Cameron said Lyons and Jepsen should try to avoid that scenario.

"Somebody needs to get involved, and I hope George and Moira have been following the situation," he said. "Let's get them involved in the decision since it seems the city and the DOT have reached what looks like an impasse."

Cameron's suggestion puts Lyons and Jepsen - both personal and political allies of Malloy - in a potentially difficult spot. Jepsen said their relationship with Malloy would not preclude them from being objective, but added he was not convinced their involvement in the conflict would be proper.

"From what I've seen so far, mediation would be of limited usefulness," Jepsen said. "If DOT is not completely set to declare eminent domain, or if it turns out that the city has a solid legal case to fight it, then there is an appropriate role for Moira and myself. But I don't see that right now."

Jepsen added the DOT's legal position to take over the station is "solid," but that he would be willing to hear the city's legal arguments. City officials last week said they were prepared to challenge a state takeover in the courts.

Malloy yesterday said he thought the participation of Lyons and Jepsen would be appropriate.

"I certainly would not ask them to get involved, but now that Mr. Cameron has raised the question, I don't think it would be inappropriate for George and Moira to play a role," Malloy said. "I don't think it's really a role they would exactly covet, but they know the issues and how important this station is to Stamford and its people."

Malloy added he did not believe Lyons or Jepsen have taken a position on the issue.

Jepsen and Lyons earlier this year were active in blocking a DOT-proposed Metro-North fare hike. They secured $8 million during the state budget negotiations to offset revenue that would have been raised with a fare hike.

Harry Harris, the DOT bureau chief, said he would welcome any resolution to the problems at the station.

"There are substantial problems with the operation of that station and if anyone can help us resolve those problems, we're more than willing to talk about it," he said. "Our final commitment is to our Metro-North and Amtrak customers. . . . If Moira Lyons called our office, we would, obviously, take the call."

Attempts to reach Lyons yesterday were unsuccessful.

The commuter council has repeatedly backed a DOT takeover of the station, citing complaints about dirty conditions, broken escalators and a lack of safety.

The Stamford station is the second-busiest Metro-North station; Grand Central Terminal in New York City is the busiest. According to 1996 Metro-North figures, the most recent available, the station has a daily weekday volume of about 15,000 customers.

Stamford Advocate: 28 April 1999

Commuters say train station is off-track

By Susan Elan / Staff Writer

New Yorker Terri Court says next time she comes to Stamford on business, she'll drive.

"The station is disgusting," said Court as she and colleague David White waited for a Manhattan-bound train at the Stamford Transportation Center yesterday afternoon. "Even some subway stops are cleaner than this."

The city's Office of Operations oversees the Stewart B. McKinney Intermodal Transportation Center in Stamford. Last month, the state Department of Transportation said it wants to reclaim management of the train station and parking garage, which are located on state-owned property leased by the city until 2015.

City officials say the state's interest in taking over management of the station and garage coincides with recent profitability at the facility, which has cost Stamford taxpayers more than $7.3 million to run since fiscal 1980-81.

The Stamford Transportation Center, Metro-North Railroad's busiest station after Grand Central Terminal in New York City, showed a profit of $131,638 in fiscal 1995-96. In 1996-97, it earned $131,833. In 1997-98, earnings dropped to $79,310.

The biggest source of revenue has been the garage, according to Director of Administration Thomas Hamilton.

Mayor Dannel Malloy has rejected a state request to turn over the facility May 1 but said he is willing to negotiate new terms with the DOT.

An agreement with the state, signed in the early 1980s under the administration of former Mayor Louis Clapes, leased the Stamford Railroad Station and adjacent property totaling 8.6 acres to the city at no cost until June 2015.

Harry Harris, bureau chief of the DOT's Bureau of Public Transportation, did not return calls for comment.

Some commuters applaud the state initiative, saying they hope it will lead to cleaner conditions and better travel information.

Chronically broken escalators, nonfunctioning monitors, indecipherable public address systems, vagrancy, litter and the stench of urine in stairwells are among the complaints the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council has lodged with Malloy's office, said Jim Cameron, vice chairman of the advocacy group formed by the state Legislature to represent the interest of riders.

Many of the maintenance problems stem from a multimillion construction project that includes new platforms to accommodate high speed trains and a pedestrian walkway that will connect the transportation center to North State Street, said Patricia Broom, the city's director of operations.

A 1,200-space parking garage to supplement the 900-space garage is also planned and is expected to generate substantial revenue.

But Cameron and some travelers at the transportation center yesterday dismissed the idea that construction lies at the root of the problem.

"The Stamford station has had recurring issues we've been dealing with for years," Cameron said. "It has not gotten better."

Construction at Grand Central did not take the toll it has in Stamford, Court said. "Grand Central Station is in transition, but it's not dirty. I expected Stamford, Connecticut, to be really nice. I was dumbfounded."

Andrew Zambito of Baltimore, who travels to Stamford for business, said signs at the transportation center directing travelers to tracks are confusing.

"The escalator wasn't working, so I was frantically running upstairs to try to figure out where I was supposed to be," Zambito said.

The situation isn't much better for regular riders.

Ella Bartone of Fairfield, who commutes to work in Stamford, said trains are frequently switched to other tracks with little warning.

"We'll be standing here and the train pulls in on the opposite track," Bartone said. "We all get up and run across the way. We get there and find out it's not our train at all, so we have to run back over."

A garbled public address system and nonfunctioning train information monitors contribute to commuter frustration, Cameron said.

The monitors are the DOT's responsibility, while Metro-North handles the public address system and track changes, according to railroad spokesman Dan Brucker.

Metro-North has "not had any significant complaints" about its p.a. announcements, said.Brucker said the placement of major rail switches within proximity to the Stamford station make it necessary to change tracks suddenly if there is a police action, a disabled train or construction.

"At other stations we have time to make an announcement," Brucker said. "In Stamford, the only way around it would be to have the train come in on the normal track, and then make a reverse move and go back and make the switch. It would eat up a lot of time."

The city plans to step up cleanliness and maintenance at the transportation center, Broom said.

"It's not what it ought to be," she said. "The escalator has been a design problem since day one because it is not covered from the elements."

The city's Citizens Service Center Supervisor Frank Fedeli said commuters should address complaints about the transportation center to his office at 977-4140.

"Our job is to fix it," Fedeli said. "But we have to know about it so we can see that it gets fixed."