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 16, 2008

THE OFFICES OF SWRPA

STAMFORD GOVERNMENT CENTER

STAMFORD, CT

 

 

Present were:   Jim Cameron, Chairman; Rodney Chabot, Bob Jelley, Stan Trybulski and Jeff Steele, members of the Council; Gene Colonese and Al Martin, CDOT; Jeff Watson, Tom Tendy, and Joe Kanell, Metro North Railroad; Kerry Wills, The Advocate; Jared Newman, The Hour; Susan Schneiderman, Drew Todd and Roger Cirella, members of the public.

 

The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

 

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

 

Jim Cameron noted that Mark Ginocchio of The Stamford Advocate had been promoted to covering business news, and would no longer be covering Council meetings.  He said that Mr. Ginocchio had been an excellent reporter dealing with Metro North and the Council. 

 

Mr. Cameron reported that he had received 509 responses to the on-line poll about running morning peak trains on the ingoing side with bridge plates as opposed to running the trains on the return side without bridge plates.  He said that 63% of the respondents favored keeping the trains on the ingoing side against 37% who preferred having the trains on the return side (with the hope of better on-time performance.)  He said that Al Martin had told him in early January of the decision to stick with the bridge plates.  Tom Tendy said that there were no significant delays with the use of bridge plates.  Rodney Chabot asked when the work on the bridges from Norwalk to Stamford, which is delaying the catenary replacement, would be completed, and Gene Colonese said that he expected the bridge work to be completed in March. 

 

DECEMBER OPERATIONS

 

Mr. Colonese said that ridership was up once again in December.  He said that on-time performance was at a record high of 97.1%.  He went on to say that Shore Line East on-time performance was lowered because of having to wait for delayed Acela trains.  Mr. Cameron congratulated the Railroad about on-time performance.  In answer to a question about new diesel locomotives that have been ordered, Mr. Colonese said that they would be arriving shortly and then would have to be tested. 

 

ANNUAL REPORT

 

Mr. Cameron noted that the Council’s Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature had been sent out on time.  Mr. Martin said that he thought the Annual Report was very balanced and he was pleased with it.

 

MAIN LINE ISSUES

 

There was discussion about the number of bar cars in service and which trains bar cars were assigned to.  Mr. Tendy explained that there are 10 bar cars but only 6 in service at the moment.  He said that the average recently had been 7 in service and that he was hoping that there would be 9 in service by the end of the year.  He said that bar cars were assigned to trains based on the revenue that they brought in.  He explained that if, because of delays, a bar car did not return to GCT in time to be on a train that it was primarily assigned to, it would instead move to its secondary assignment and the primary assigned train would be without a bar car.  There was some discussion of the importance of having bar cars be on the same train each day, because people depended on them.  There was a question as to whether there could be bar carts that went from car to car, and Mr. Tendy said there was no room on crowded trains for bar carts. 

 

Mr. Cameron spoke of a letter he had received from a commuter complaining about being put off a train at Cos Cob because the train was going to skip Greenwich station.  He said that it had happened before.  Mr. Tendy said that that had happened to that particular train four times in 2007.  He said that dispatchers take trains off local tracks and put them on express tracks when there is congestion on the local track.  He spoke of adjusting schedules at the end of January to avoid the congestion problem.  There was further talk of the need for more service between intermediate stations. 

 

There was discussion of a recent suicide in Norwalk and a second incident of a passenger riding on top of a car from GCT.  Joe Kanell spoke of issues of emotional disturbance.  In the first case referred to, the man who committed suicide had been fired from his job that day. 

 

Mr. Martin announced that the Governor was committed to rebuilding the Southport station, which burned.  In answer to a question, Mr. Colonese said that it was still to be determined whether the existing station could be repaired or whether it would have to be razed and completely rebuilt.  If it has to be rebuilt, it will have to be ADA compliant. 

 

Mr. Cameron asked about the $6 million for repairing main line stations.  Mr. Colonese said that the Department was still sorting out the projects, with a view to using the $6 million for larger projects and maintenance money for smaller projects. 

 

Mr. Colonese and Bob Jelley discussed the additional New Haven parking at the coliseum site and the fact that it appears that it is in operation 24 hours per day, although the Governor’s announcement stated that it would close at 4:00 pm on Sundays. 

 

Mr. Jelley raised the question of off-peak express service between GCT and the Fairfield to New Haven end of the New Haven line.  He said that some years ago, Harry Harris had spoken of plans of breaking the New Haven line into three sections, as opposed to the present two sections (New Haven to Stamford and Stamford to GCT).  Mr. Colonese said that the DOT was looking into that question. 

 

STAMFORD GARAGE

 

Mr. Martin stated that the Department was still working with the garage developer for the construction of the new Stamford garage.  He said that talks were going well.  He said that the Department was constantly checking the old garage for safety issues.  Mr. Cameron reiterated the Council’s offer to help with the planning of a new garage.  Mr. Jelley spoke of problems with garage design in New Haven over the years, and said that it appeared to him that user friendliness was frequently not taken into consideration in garage design.  Mr. Martin said that the Department would take advantage of the Council’s offer to help. 

 

BRANCH LINES

 

In answer to a question from Mr. Jelley, Mr. Colonese said that the Department has the operating dollars to operate the Phase I and II expansion of Shore Line East service.  He said that there was also money to design two-sided stations for Branford, Madison, Clinton and Westbrook but not money to build those stations. 

 

Roger Cirella brought up the question of the cancellation of  the morning train on the Waterbury line on January 3.  He said that there were no public address announcements at the Ansonia station or emails about the problem.  Mr. Tendy said that Ansonia station was on a leased telephone line, as opposed to a Metro North telephone line, and therefore a failure of the line was not repaired as quickly as it should have been.  He said that there never is any email alert about the cancellation of one train.  Mr. Cirella said that there should be an email alert when there is not a following train for two hours. 

 

It was reported that part of the roof was missing from the Beacon Falls station. 

 

Mr. Colonese announced that all 33 Virginia cars had been rehabilitated and were back in New Haven. 

 

Mr. Chabot asked what was being done about opening the Danbury and Bethel stations, and Mr. Colonese said that he would look into it.   Mr. Chabot also said that there was still no phone at the Talmadge Hill station. 

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

Jeff Steele asked if there was a way of turning off the blowers in cars when the heat doesn’t work.  Mr. Kanell said that there was. 

 

Susan Schneiderman, a Bridgeport to GCT commuter, said that there was a long gap between the 7:16 am and the 7:52 am trains to GCT.  She said that the former 7:31 am had been eliminated.  She also pointed out the difficulty of getting to the station garage on the ramps, which are not open.  She also raised the question of getting one’s car after the garage closes and Mr. Colonese said that there is a phone number for calling the operator of Pro Park. 

 

Mr. Chabot complained that conductors frequently do not wear their uniform jackets.  Mr. Kanell said that conductors should wear their jackets.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm. 

 

The next meeting will be held on March 19, 2008 at the Boys’ Club, Greenwich. 

 

Bob Jelley

Secretary

Phone:  (203) 498-4306

e-mail :  rjelley@wiggin.com