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 OCTOBER 21, 2009
GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL
NEW YORK, NY
Present were: Jim Cameron, Chairman; Rodney Chabot, Roger Cirella, Jeff Steele, Terri Cronin, Drew Todd, Connor Murphy, John Hartwell and Bob Jelley, members of the Council; Jeff Parker, Gene Colonese and Jim Redecker, CDOT; Howard Permut, George Okvat, Marge Anders, Joe Kanell, John Longobardi, Donna Evans, Nate Filbertson, Mark Mannox, Sherri Herrington, Roy Hess and Robert Lieblong, MNR; Harold Cobin and John Austin, Sr., Members of the Public
The meeting began at 6:00 pm.
The Minutes of the September meeting were approved.
Chairman Jim Cameron announced that Terri Cronin, Jeff Maron and Roger Cirella had been reappointed to the Council.
Mr. Cameron introduced Howard Permut, President of Metro North. Mr. Permut said that he would make an opening statement and then take questions. He commented on the fact that 2009 was the 25th anniversary of the formation of Metro North Railroad. He said that in 2008, MNR had 85 million riders. It appeared that there would be fewer than 85 million riders in 2009 because of the downturn in the economy but ridership would probably be equal to 2007 ridership.
He said that on-time performance in 2009 was about 97.9%. He said that this year the Mean Distance Between Failure was 106,000 miles. He said that this improvement was assisted by adding a second shift of maintenance workers in New Haven. He said that in 2009 Consist Compliance was 94% during the morning peak, 92% during the evening peak, 97% off-peak on week days and 99% on weekends.
He went on to say that about 60% of MNR’s operating costs were covered by fares, one of the highest percentages in the United States.
With respect to Yankee Stadium service, he said that on average this season, 10-15% of the people going to the game used the train. He said that the station had been built very efficiently. He also said that train service after the game was a real challenge.
He said that the thru service from New Haven to Sunday football games at the Meadowlands was something that had never been done before. He mentioned that the trains are manned by Metro North crews from New Haven to Penn Station and by New Jersey Transit crews to Secaucus Junction.
He spoke of the new locomotive shop that has been completed in Croton Harmon.
With respect to the new M-8 cars, he said that the first two cars would be shipped from Japan on October 28. Thereafter there will be two cars per month until March, when 8 cars will have been received. Then Metro North will put together an 8 car train and begin dynamic testing for six months. He expected the first new cars to be in service at the end of 2010 with delivery after March of about 10 cars per month.
He spoke of the ongoing work to replace railroad bridges and catenary lines in Connecticut. He said that the new maintenance shop will be built in New Haven. He spoke of Metro North’s financial problems. He said that there were problems with both the operating budget and the capital budget in both New York and Connecticut. He said that the federal government has mandated positive train control (as a result of the fatal train accident in California) and that will cost $400 million. He said that funding for the next five year capital budget in New York State was only in place for the first two years, and that the remaining three years were unfunded.
Terri Cronin asked about uncollected tickets. Mr. Permut said that ticket collection was good to and from GCT. He said that collection between intermediate stations was harder, particularly with heavy ridership. Ms. Cronin suggested the need for more conductors. Mr. Permut said that the goal is 96% collection of tickets, and that on average 94-95% are collected. He mentioned that during the a.m. peak, more people get off trains in Stamford than board trains there. Mr. Cameron pointed out that a lot of people are switching from monthly to 10 trip tickets, because they were betting on the likelihood that the tickets would not be collected. Mr. Permut said that the Railroad is looking at all possibilities for ticket collection.
Mr. Cameron mentioned that when trains were fully packed, there is frequently no attempt by conductors to collect tickets. Mr. Permut said that conductors are disciplined if they do not collect tickets. John Austin said that some conductors don’t use seat checks. Mr. Permut agreed that seat checks produce better ticket collection. He said that the M-8s will solve overcrowding so it will be easier to collect the tickets.
Mr. Permut noted that in other rail systems there is no collection of tickets but instead police check frequently to see that passengers have tickets and levy heavy fines if there is no ticket.
In answer to a question, Mr. Permut said that there are no plans for selling tickets with credit cards on trains. He mentioned that through union negotiations, the railroad is now able to install 52 additional ticket machines.
Drew Todd asked about upper level vs. lower level track assignments in GCT. He said that his trains were always on the lower level. Mr. Permut responded that diesel trains are always on the upper level. He also said that there were shorter platforms on the lower level, so that shorter trains were assigned to lower levels. He also said that Metro North tried to put busier trains on the upper level and less busy trains on the lower level, because lower levels platforms are narrower. He said that during the morning peak, 67% of Harlem line trains were on the upper level, 82% of Hudson line trains and only 58% of New Haven line trains. He added that there were more shorter six-car trains on the New Haven Line than the Harlem and Hudson lines.
He was asked about new facilities in the New Haven yard. Jeff Parker said that DOT has $250 million from the Legislature for work on the yard. He said that the bids were lower than expected and that the DOT would be in front of the state’s Bond Commission the following week, with the expectation that it would be let in December. He said that the acceptance facility would be completed and would have yards for storage.
In answer to a question, Mr. Permut said that he expected Yankee Stadium service to stay the same next year. Ms. Cronin described a failure to hold a New Haven line train at 125th Street in order to permit transfer of Yankee Stadium passengers on a shuttle. Mr. Permut said that he thought they did better with the transfer problem later in the season.
In answer to a question about the Meadowland service, Mr. Permut said that it was so new that it was hard to comment about it and that it was necessary to give it time to become popular. Ridership was averaging 200 passengers per train. He said that it was possible that they would reduce the number of trains next year, because everyone seemed to take the same train. He said that next year there would be a “traingate” area at the Meadowlands stadium for picnicing by train passengers.
He was asked about the status of East Side Access (the MTA project to bring LIRR trains into Grand Central). He said that it was proceeding but was behind schedule. He said that the High Bridge storage facility made it easier to give up some track space at GCT for East Side Access construction. He went on to say that completion of East Side Access is important because it will free up space at Penn Station, and Metro North wants access to Penn Station for the New Haven line.
There were questions about the schedule for M-8 service. Mr. Cameron suggested that Commissioner Marie had promised cars would be in service by the middle of 2010. Mr. Permut said that in his view adequate testing was vital and he expected M-8 service to begin by the end of 2010. He also said that he expects the cars to arrive at the rate of about 10 per month.
In answer to a question, Mr. Permut said that the reason no customer satisfaction survey was done in the fall of 2009 was because they wanted a uniform survey which would be instituted in the spring of 2010.
There was a question about why service alerts on Metro North take so long to be issued. Donna Evans said that the emergency desk was not staffed at all times. She said that they were doing two things: (1) looking at using other staff to get alerts out more quickly; and (2) using the real time information monitors at stations to tell the next three trains, their track numbers, etc. Mr. Permut added that it was important to get service alerts worded correctly and it took time to get the information to produce correct service alerts.
Mr. Cameron thanked Mr. Permut for speaking at our meeting.
FARE INCREASE
Mr. Parker said the earliest that they would be able to put the 1¼% fare increase into effect is May, 2010. That is because of the need for public hearings. He said CDOT was working on fare tables which would show how the fare increase would be rounded and applied to various tickets. He went on to say that while there is a hole in their operating budget, they’re not planning a 10% fare increase and the Governor doesn’t want to raise fares.
M-8 CARS
In answer to a question about liquidated damages for delays of delivery or cars, Mr. Parker said that the upper limit was 10% of the contract value. Rodney Chabot asked about the option for more cars. Mr. Parker said they have the option to add 80 cars to the 300 that have been ordered and that they would like to order the additional 80 cars. He said that bar cars are among the 80. In answer to question from Bob Jelley, he said that 24 cars for Shore Line East were also part of the 80.
BRANCH LINE ISSUES
Connor Murphy asked about work on Wilton station on the Danbury line. Mr. Chabot reported that the ticket machines at New Canaan station are hard to see when the sun is shining on them. Mr. Cirella asked about positive train control on the Waterbury branch. Mr. Parker said that they were seeking a waiver on positive train control on the Waterbury branch from the Federal Railroad Administration,. The problem is the amount of service on the Waterbury branch exceeds the usual amount of service for waiving the requirement.
The meeting ended at 7:55 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for November 18 at 6:00 pm at Union Station, New Haven.
Bob Jelley
Secretary
Phone: (203) 498-4306
E-mail: rjelley@wiggin.com
