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 MARCH 22, 2006 MEETING
SACIA OFFICES
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
Present were: Rodney Chabot, Chairman, Jim Cameron, Vice Chairman, Bob Jelley, Jeff Steele, Steve Di Salvo, Carl Leaman, Ed Zimmerman, Jeff Maron, Terri Cronin and Joe McGee, members; Ed Lydecker, Jeff Watson, Howard Smith, Joe Kanell, and George Walker, Metro North; Jim McKenna, MTA Police; Gene Colonese and Peter Richter, Connecticut DOT; Sue Prossi, SWERPA; Patrick Linsey, The Hour newspaper.
The meeting started at 7 pm.
Minutes of the February 15, 2006 meeting were approved as corrected.
New member Terri Cronin was welcomed by Chairman Chabot and introduced to the Council.
FEBRUARY OPERATIONS
The report of February operations was discussed. Mr. Chabot raised the issue of the poor performance of the locomotives leased from Amtrak and asked why payments should be made to Amtrak during periods when the locomotives were unable to operate. Gene Colonese said that he would look into that question. It was noted, in connection with failures of M-2s, M-4s and M-6s, that the new M-7s on the Harlem and Hudson divisions get 250,000 miles between failures.
M-8 SPECIFICATIONS
Mr. Colonese read the DOT’s answers to questions posed by the Council about the M-8 specifications. There was discussion about availability of minority set-asides for Connecticut companies and the absence of any requirement that any of the manufacturing work on the new M-8s be done in Connecticut. DOT representatives provided no satisfactory response to these issues, other than the fact that the contract for construction of the M-8s would be a New York contract.
It became clear that the new M-8s are entirely incompatible with the existing M-2s, M-4s and
M-6s and that M-8s cannot be part of a train made up of M-2s, M-4s and/or M-6s.
There was further discussion of whether or not the M-8s would be able to operate through Penn Station and into New Jersey. The issue is the different A.C. voltages and cycles between Boston and New Jersey, and the probable need for an additional transformer on the cars to enable them to operate everywhere. Bob Jelley and Joe McGee suggested that the issue is a trade-off between being able to operate into New Jersey or being able to operate beyond New Haven to Boston. Mr. Colonese agreed. Mr. McGee noted that the Hell Gate route from New Rochelle over the Hell Gate Bridge to the Long Island Railroad in Queens would permit three new stations proposed in the Bronx, including Co-op City.
MAIN LINE ISSUES
Jim Cameron reported on the smoke condition on train #1540 on January 26, 2006 in the tunnel from Grand Central Terminal to 125th Street. George Walker, head of operations for Metro North Railroad, reported what had happened. He said that smoke from one of the motors on the 5th car of the train was noted after the train had passed 59th Street. 59th Street is the only place in the tunnel which can be used to evacuate passengers. Once a train passes 59th Street, the only way to evacuate passengers is to get the train out of the tunnel to 125th Street. Mr. Walker also noted that the conductor turned off the electricity on the whole train, and once that happened, smoke was no longer being produced.
The problem was that passengers were pushing the ceiling signal button used by conductors to tell the motorman when to proceed. Motormen are instructed to stop whenever they hear an ambiguous signal. Therefore, some minutes were lost in getting out of the tunnel because passengers were pushing the signal button. Bob Jelley asked why ambiguous signals required the motorman to stop, and Mr. Walker said that was the rule. There was general agreement that communications will be easier in the new M-8 cars.
BRANCH LINE ISSUES
With respect to Shore Line East, Mr. Colonese announced that contract discussions with Amtrak were continuing and progress was being made. Peter Richter announced that the public address systems and lighted signs at the Shore Line East stations were all working. Bob Jelley reported that they were not working properly at the Guilford station. Mr. Jelley also asked about the newspaper reports that the legislature was considering legislation requiring weekend and reverse commuting service on Shore Line East. Mr. Richter said that the DOT was monitoring what the legislature comes up with.
With respect to the New Canaan branch, Mr. Chabot said that there are lights out at the New Canaan station.
STAMFORD STATION
Mr. McGee reported on the pigeon problem at Stamford station.
Mr. Cameron said that the dry cleaner in the group of stores under Stamford station was closing. He said that the dry cleaner complained that because there were no signs in the station indicating the location of stores, passengers never found their way to the stores. Mr. Jelley stated that signage in general is bad at the Stamford station. [It turns out that there is a sign on the overpass from the new garage to the tracks which lists the stores under the station.]
Jeff Maron noted that taxis continue to block the road between the station and the garage in the afternoon and evening.
Mr. Richter noted that the DOT is working on improvements for the Stamford station
MILFORD STATION
Steve DiSalvo reported that continuing construction at the Milford station is blocking traffic getting into the parking lots.
PROGRESS REPORT ON USED LOCOMOTIVES, ETC.
Mr. Richter reported that the Department is working on fixing the used locomotives leased from Amtrak He also reported that the Virginia cars will be rehabilitated under a new contract with Kawasaki in Yonkers. They will be done six at a time. DOT now says that they will be able to get the cars to Yonkers in third-rail territory. He also reported that Virginia will need the held-back cab cars until December.
With respect to the New Haven repair shops, Mr. Richter reported that good progress was being made and the shop will be open in fall, 2006.
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
Mr. Walker reported that Metro North has new contracts with six unions but is still negotiating with the other twelve unions.
STAMFORD PARKING GARAGE
It was reported that an update on fixing the old garage is due from DOT in April. Jeff Maron offered to talk with the DOT’s design people. He noted that stop signs on the garage floor of the new garage have entirely worn away.
Jim McKenna of the MTA Police reported that the MTA police had caught a man who had been stealing from a number of cars in the Stamford garage.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Richter reported that proposed legislation to create a center platform at Bridgeport station so that the Acela can stop there did not appear to be progressing in the legislature. It was further reported that there are three major transportation bills in the legislature, one from the Governor, one from the House and one from the Senate.
Mr. Jelley raised the question of having Shore Line East trains returning to Old Saybrook in the morning and returning to New Haven in the afternoon and the evening stop at Guilford station in order to provide some reverse commute service.
Carl Leaman read from a newspaper article speaking of the proposal by New Jersey Transit to build a second two-track tunnel from New Jersey under the Hudson River to Penn Station and to have it continue on to Grand Central Terminal. He expressed concern that everyone seemed to want to go to Grand Central Terminal. Mr. Jelley agreed and said that the problem was that Penn Station was no longer in a part of New York City where most of the jobs are. [A subsequent newspaper article reported that 70% of the office jobs in Manhattan are within walking distance of Grand Central Terminal.]
The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
The next meeting is on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. at Union Station, New Haven, CT.
Bob Jelley
Secretary
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