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 AUGUST 1, 2007

THE OFFICES OF SWRPA

STAMFORD GOVERNMENT CENTER

STAMFORD, CT

 

 

Present were:  Jim Cameron, Chairman, Sue Prosi, Joe McGee, Terri Cronin, Chris DeSanctis, Jeff Maron and Bob Jelley, members of the Council; Senator William Nickerson; Senator Andrew McDonald; Gene Colonese, Al Martin, and Peter Richter, CDOT; Joe Kanell, Scott Ornstein, Ed Lydecker, MNRR; John Doyle, Bombardier; C.J. Hughes, NY Times; Mark Ginocchio, Stamford Advocate; Seth Morton, Roger Cirella, and Mike Coburn, Members of the Public.

 

The meeting began at 7:00 pm.  The minutes of the June 20, 2007 meeting were approved, subject to correction of some typographical errors.

 

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

 

Jim Cameron brought the Council up to date on the Metro North communications problems since the meeting of June 20.  He said that although President Cannito said at the June meeting there were no communications problems, two days after the June 20 meeting there were communications problems with the derailment of a Waterbury branch train.  There were no email announcements of the problem.  In a later telephone conversation, Donna Evans, who is in charge of the email notifications, said that the Railroad did not make email announcements about branch line problems, because too few riders were affected.  However, at the urging of Mr. Cameron, she agreed that there should be branch line announcements.  Subsequently, there were problems on the Danbury line when a tree came down on the tracks and the email alerts were late, because Ms. Evans was on a subway and could not send out the announcement.  Mr. Cameron concluded that he had made some progress on communications, but it was a subject we needed to keep on top of. 

 

Mr. Cameron also urged Council members and others to notify him of a failure to use seat checks or a failure to collect fares. 

 

Mr. Cameron announced that Council member, Ed Zimmerman, has moved out of the State.  He said he would pursue getting a resignation letter, so that a new member could be appointed.  [His resignation letter has now been received.] 

 

FARE SURCHARGE

 

Senator McDonald gave the history of the 2005 legislation that resulted in the purchase of M-8 cars.  He said that from the discussion of funding, it was always clear that the Legislature expected that most of the money for new rail cars would come from bonds, but that there had to be some participation in paying for the cars by commuters.  He said that that was necessary in order to pass the transportation package in 2005.  He went on to say that the $1.00 surcharge was always recognized as not distributing fairly, the portion of rail car costs to be borne by commuters, but that it was always expected that the $1.00 surcharge would be changed before going into effect on January 1, 2008. 

 

In this term of the Legislature, the Governor asked Senators McDonald and Nickerson to come up with an alternative.  They came up with the proposal to increase fares 1% each year beginning in 2010, with the increase to be applied in 25¢ increments.  That amount is expected to pay the interest on bonding the $140 million but not the principal. 

 

Senator Nickerson then reported that neither the bond package nor the transportation package had been passed in the regular session or the special session of the 2007 Legislature.  However, he said that he thought there was general agreement on the McDonald/Nickerson proposal, and that he expected passage in September.  Senator McDonald said that the 1% per year surcharge could be less if ridership goes up and produces more money than expected.

 

Mr. Cameron asked why the Legislature thought it appropriate to have commuters pay a portion of the capital costs of new rail cars.  Senator McDonald said that they could not get the votes to pass the transportation package in 2005 if it had not included a requirement of $140 million to be paid by commuters.  He went on to say that the bonds are 20 year bonds, so that the 1% per year increase will continue until the bonds are paid up. 

 

Bob Jelley asked if the McDonald/Nickerson proposal meant that fares would go up 1% in 2010, an additional 1% in 2011, etc., and the Senators agreed that that was the plan.

 

There was general discussion about the question of what would happen if the Legislature failed to change the $1.00 surcharge in this Legislative session. Senator Nickerson said that there was general agreement between the Governor and the Legislature that the $1.00 surcharge would never be implemented.

 

Sue Prosi asked whether other capital transportation projects were going to require payment of part of the capital costs by commuters.  Senator Nickerson said no.  He said that the 2005 Legislature had turned a major corner in putting money into public transportation, and that he did not expect the same problem of having commuters pay part of the capital costs would continue into the future.  Bob Jelley mentioned that the problem we now have is that fewer than half of the House and Senate districts are affected by rail and went on to say that if the New Haven/Hartford/Springfield commuter service gets started, more than half of the legislative districts will be affected by rail.  He said that that would make a difference in legislative attitudes toward public transportation. 

 

STAMFORD GARAGE

 

Al Martin announced that he was working with the developer of the Metro Green Development, which is in the same block as the present “old” and “new” Stamford parking garage, to build a new parking garage for Stamford.  He said that the legislation to provide money for a new garage is part of the bond and transportation packages that have yet to be passed by the Legislature.  He said that the Metro Green Developer was developing a time line for building a new garage.  Senator McDonald said that the idea of having a new garage built by a developer is a very effective relationship.  Mr. Martin agreed.  There were a number of questions about the time to build a new garage to replace the existing old garage.  In response to a question from Mr. Jelley, Mr. Martin said that the new garage will be a third garage that was planned by the developer for his Metro Green development but it will be larger garage to accommodate both rail passengers and tenants of the Metro Green Development.  Mr. Martin emphasized the old garage will not close until the third garage being built by the developer, is open.  Ms. Prosi asked if maintenance work will continue to be done on the old garage.  Mr. Martin assured her that it would.  [There was no discussion of what will replace the “old” garage when it is torn down.] 

 

STATION REPAIRS

 

In response to the “Fix my Station” campaign.  Mr. Cameron asked why station repairs had not been started, as promised earlier by the Governor.  Peter Richter said that the bond issue has not passed, and that contains the money for station improvements.  Mr. Richter also said that once the money is available, it will be necessary to talk with the towns in which these stations are located about the repairs and improvements.  Mr. Cameron asked why those talks had not happened earlier even in the absence of money and Gene Colonese said that the Department is “working on it.” 

 

NEW M-8 CARS

 

Mr. Colonese said that the design of the M-8 cars by the manufacturer was on schedule.  Joe McGee asked if Wi-fi capability will be built into the new cars and Mr. Colonese said it would be.  They are still doing preliminary work on a Wi-fi system.  Mr. Nickerson asked when actual construction would start, and Mr. Colonese answered that there would be prototypes in 2008 and initial deliveries in the third or fourth quarter of 2009.  In answer to another question, Mr. Colonese sad that 300 cars had been ordered, and under the contract, the State can order up to 380 at the same price.  He said that the plan was to increase the fleet of cars on the New Haven line to 440:  100 more than at present.  He said that no existing cars would be retired until 100 new cars are on site, so the fleet will increase to 440 with the first deliveries.  In answer to a question, he said that old cars have about 115 seats and new cars will have about 105 seats. 

 

Mr. McGee asked whether the DOT was planning service only for the existing market, or whether it was planning on market growth.  Mr. Colonese said that the Dept. was planning on a 1% annual growth rate.  Mr. McGee thought 1% was too low a figure.  Senator Nickerson opined that new cars will increase the growth rate.  Mr. Colonese said that the M-8 Acceptance Facility will be built next year in New Haven. 

 

Mr. Jelley opined that it seemed unlikely to him that the railroad would have many new M-8s in operation at the beginning of 2010, and he suggested that if the intention was not to impose a surcharge until there was a substantial number of new cars in service, the surcharge should not begin until mid-2010 or the beginning of 2011. 

 

TRAIN CONSISTS

 

Mr. Colonese gave Ms. Prosi a May, 2007 Consist list for peak trains on the New Haven line.  The Council had asked for such a list in the spring. 

 

NEW HAVEN LINE TRAINS TO PENN STATION

 

Mr. Martin announced that the Penn Station access report requested by the Governor had been delivered to her that afternoon.  He said he would give us a copy after the Governor reads it.  [The report was subsequently distributed to members of the council.]

 

John Doyle from Bombardier, who was at the meeting, said that Bombardier thought double- decker cars of the sort ordered by New Jersey Transit would be effective for New Haven Line service to Penn Station.

 

STATION NAMING RIGHTS

 

In answer to a question from Mr. Cameron about the statute passed by the Legislature that directs the DOT to come up with procedures and standards for selling naming rights to transit stations, Mr. Richter said that the statute had been proposed by the DOT and that it was thought useful for stations on the New Britain busway.  He said it was not intended for old railroad stations.  Mr. Cameron said that he was opposed to naming railroad stations after commercial companies.  Jeff Maron said that he was in favor of it if it helped to keep fares down.

 

Mr. Richter said that the DOT was committed to a collaborative process in connection with naming rights.    

 

WATERBURY LINE

 

Roger Cirella, who commutes on the Waterbury line, said that the earliest train to GCT from Waterbury left Waterbury at 6:45 am and arrived at GCT at 9:15 am.  He said that was too late for most people to get to work on time, and as a result, they drove to Bridgeport to catch an earlier train.  He suggested that there ought to be a train which arrives at GCT at 8:15 am and he went on to suggest that there ought to be an earlier late afternoon train out of NYC returning to Waterbury.  Mr. Colonese said that he was looking at this issue for the October time change.  Mr. Colonese also reported that a third car had been added to Waterbury trains to relieve crowding. 

 

TALMADGE HILL TELEPHONE

 

Mr. Martin reported that he had taken care of the Talmadge Hill telephone problem.  He said that in talks with the Town of New Canaan, they had agreed on a price-sharing agreement to pay for a pay phone.

 

JUNE OPERATIONS REPORT

 

Mr. Cameron reported that there was only 80% consist compliance in June, which seemed low.  In connection with the rehab program, it was noted that 8 old bar cars are to be rehabbed.  Mr. McGee expressed concern about the mean distance between failures for cars that had been through the rehab program. 

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

Mr. Jelley announced that Wiggin and Dana, the law firm at which he works, was being considered to represent a land owner adjacent to the Branford station in connection with possible purchase or condemnation of the land by the DOT. 

 

Chris DeSanctis asked about the shelter on the outbound side at Stratford station. 

 

In answer to an answer about diesel locomotives, Mr. Colonese said that the state would be getting six more at the end of the year. 

 

In answer to a question about the derailment on the Waterbury branch in late June, Joe Kanell said the problem was that a switch had been left open so the train turned into a side track. 

 

The Council decided that the meet the Commuter Day will be in Stamford in early September.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm.  The next meeting will be held at SWRPA on September 19, 2007.

 

 

Bob Jelley

Secretary

Phone:  (203) 498-4306

e-mail :  rjelley@wiggin.com