METRO NORTH NEW HAVEN RAIL COMMUTER COUNCIL
(Established in 1985 under Connecticut Public Act 85-239, now Sections 13b-212b and
13b -212c of the Connecticut General Statutes)
MINUTES OF JANUARY 19, 2011
SWRPA
STAMFORD, CT
Present were:� Jim Cameron, Chairman, Bob Jelley, Rodney Chabot, Terri Cronin, Roger Cirella, Mitch Fuchs, Drew Todd, Laura Cordes, John Hartwell and Jeff Maron, members of the Council; Gene Colonese and Jim Redecker, DOT; John Longobardi, Tom Sully, Randall Fleischer and Susan Doering, MNR; Martin Cassidy, Stamford Advocate; John Austin and Richard Stowe, members of the public.
The meeting began at 7:00 pm.�
The November and December minutes were approved.
Jim Cameron introduced Laura Cordes, our new member from New London.�
M-8 DELAY
Jim Redecker said that the 4,000-mile tests had not begun yet.� There is no date for introduction of the M-8s into service.� Rodney Chabot asked if any testing had been done on any of the M-8s during the post-Christmas blizzard, and Mr. Redecker said that no testing was done during the blizzard.� He went on to say that the conflicts between the computer system on the cars and the computer system operating track switches had not been completely solved.� He also said that no testing of the M-8s had been done under the 25,000 volt catenary between New Haven and Boston and no testing had been specifically done of passing M-8s to see if passing trains might have conflicting systems.�
WINTER OPERATIONS
John Longobardi said that the three major snow storms so far this winter, plus the extremely cold temperatures, had resulted in 114 cars presently out of service.� He said that maintenance and repairs were being done 24 hours a day.� He also said the electric heaters on switches on the tracks had a limited ability to keep switches operating.� Mr. Cameron asked if the M-2s, M-4s and M-6s were being pulled out of service during storms and being replaced with diesels from the branch lines.� Mr. Longobardi said that that was being done in order to prevent damage to the M-2s, M-4s and M-6s.�
Mr. Chabot asked whether consist compliance was way down and Mr. Longobardi said that it was.�
Roger Cirella said that Waterbury service was very bad when they cut train service and substituted busing.�
Mr. Cameron said that it was his view that Metro North was doing a very good job during very bad conditions.�
Terri Cronin complained that there were too many repetitive email service alerts during the blizzard.� Jeff Maron said that the service alerts on Friday, January 14 did not come soon enough.� In answer to a question, Sue Doering said that somewhere between 12,000 and 17,000 people get New Haven line service alerts, and it takes some time for the server to send them all out.� There was some discussion of whether or not there were better ways of more quickly sending service alerts to multiple recipients.�
Bob Jelley said that now that Metro North was doing better on service alerts, perhaps some arrangement should be made for Metro North to send Shore Line East service alerts.� Gene Colonese said that the DOT was working on doing something about communicating service problems on Shore Line East.� He said that reporting service problems was not part of the job of Ride Works.� John Hartwell asked if service alerts, like those on Metro North were being planned for Shore Line East and Mr. Colonese said no.� Mr. Redecker said that Amtrak has no system of gathering information on delays, so there is no information on which to base service alerts.�
In response to a question by Drew Todd, Mr. Longobardi had said they have had no problem in getting parts for disabled cars� They had doubled the number of repair slots in New Haven.��
BAR CARS
Mr. Cronin asked why bartenders leave trains at Stamford, rather than continuing on to New Haven.� Tom Sully of MNR said that bar cars do not generate enough revenue beyond Stamford to justify operation of bar cars between Stamford and New Haven.�
Mr. Cameron asked about having bar cars provide coffee and buns in the morning.� Mr. Sully said that such service was not cost effective.� Randall Fleischer, also of MNR, said that in his view the bar cars provide good service.� He said they were working hard on improving service and increasing the number of products sold.
Mr. Sully said that they sometimes faced a shortage of bartenders.� He added that in 2011 there were more bartenders on staff than in the previous year.� He went on to say that 50% of sales were for beer and wine, 37% for soft drinks and snacks and the remaining 13% was liquor.�
Mitch Fuchs said he disapproved of bar cars.� Mr. Jelley said that in his view bar cars served an important social service.�
Richard Stowe asked whether they were studying a health food initiative for bar cars.� Mr. Fleischer said that they were always looking into new products to sell.�
WIFI
Mr. Fleischer said that they were making a two-pronged attack on the introduction of WIFI.� They have issued a request for proposals with responses due in mid February.� They have equipped a bar car, an M-7 and a bombardier car with WIFI to test it.� At the same time, LIRR is doing a technical trial with Cablevision.� He pointed out that the needed infrastructure along the right away for WIFI is very expensive.� The LIRR test uses poles and utilities to provide WIFI; MNR will test a cellular solution with no infrastructure required.� Mr. Fleischer said that most WIFI programs on railroads haven�t worked very well.� One needs adequate infrastructure to have capacity for everyone to use it at the same time.
Mr. Jelley said that he continued to disapprove of any thought that a WIFI provider might give free service to its customers but charge non-customers.� Mr. Fleischer said he understood the issue and would have to see what the proposal provided.� Mr. Maron said that he thought it was fine for a provider to give free service to its customers.�
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Stowe raised the question of having a train getting to New Canaan earlier in the morning than the existing first train.�
The Council voted to approve the 2010 annual report.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 pm.
The next meeting will be held on February 16, 2011 at SWRPA.
Bob Jelley
Secretary
Phone:� (203) 498-4306
E-mail:� rjelley@wiggin.com