CT METRO NORTH NEW HAVEN RAIL COMMUTER COUNCIL

 

MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2003 MEETING

AT METRO NORTH OFFICES, MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY

 

 

The meeting began at about 6:00 p.m. 

 

Present were:  Members Rodney Chabot, Chairman, Jim Cameron, Vice Chairman, Jeff Maron, Joe McGee, Peter Millard, Peter Marcuse and Bob Jelley; Harry Harris and Ray Cox from Connecticut DOT; Eugene Colonese, George Okvat, Fred Chidester, and Kate Brower from the Metro North Railroad, and Scott Crosby, member of the public.

 

The Minutes of the meeting of October 15, 2003 were approved.

 

SHORE LINE EAST

 

Ray Cox reported that on-time performance for October was 96.6%.  He also reported that at Branford, there is new parking with 200 spaces west of the existing parking lot. 

 

When questioned about the absence of announcements of late trains at State Street, Ray Cox said that the computer software for the seven electric signs at State Street Station does not work, and, therefore, announcements cannot be made on those signs.  He claimed that public address announcements are made at State Street, although Bob Jelley reported that he had heard that they were not being made. 

 

Bob Jelley asked Harry Harris about the status of the contracts for construction of the new Branford, Guilford, and Clinton stations.  Harry Harris reported that the contract with the low bidder has not yet been signed, because there is, as yet, no agreement with Amtrak for lease of the land for construction of the stations.  That contract is being held hostage to a memorandum of understanding to be entered into between Amtrak, Connecticut DOT, and Metro North about improvements on the New Haven line.  Harry Harris said that he was hopeful that the various agreements could be finalized in the next week or so.  One of the problems is that the low bid expires in the near future. 

 

Bob Jelley announced that Amtrak had already constructed the high speed switches for the Guilford south side sidetrack, and asked whether that meant that Amtrak will complete the sidetrack before construction of the new Guilford station, thereby obviating the need of a temporary platform at Guilford.  Ray Cox said that there was no assurance that Amtrak will complete the sidetrack before June, 2005. 

 

WATERBURY BRANCH

 

Ray Cox reported that catenary work on track 3 at the junction with the Waterbury branch was now completed, and trains were again running on the Waterbury line.  However, as previously announced, buses have replaced midday trains on the Waterbury line.  Peter Marcuse said that the buses were unsuccessful for a number of reasons, including inadequate luggage racks, and no reading lights, so that reading is impossible when it is dark outside.  He requested that trains be brought back.  In response, Harry Harris said that he had asked Metro North to focus on publicizing branch line service.  He said that having midday to do train maintenance and repairs will give better peak hour service on the Waterbury branch.  He also said that if the buses become overloaded, he will revisit the issue of midday train service. 

 

In response to another question, Harry Harris said that he agreed that the midday Waterbury buses should be on the Metro North Time table.  [There has been an issue about this, because Metro North does not run the Waterbury buses.]

 

Peter Marcuse raised the continuing problem of cars being broken into at the Waterbury railroad parking lot.  He said that the problem was even worse with the midday buses.  He said that the Metro North Police and the Waterbury Police each claim that the parking lot is the other’s responsibility.  Ray Cox said that the lot was DOT’s responsibility, and he would report further on the problem at the December meeting. 

 

 

DANBURY BRANCH

 

Fred Chidester reported that there were 8 bus substitutions during October. 

 

Harry Harris reported that the project for installation of signals on the Danbury branch will be advertised in May, 2004, bids will be opened in July, 2004, and the contract should be awarded in September, 2004.  Harry Harris said that he continued to wish that he could avoid doing the project, because it presents so many construction problems.  Rodney Chabot said that he thought that it was a mistake not to install signals, and that it was hard to believe that the project was as difficult as the State reported. 

 

There was discussion of the Branchville-Cannondale leaf slippage problem.  Fred Chidester reported that no matter what the railroad did, it was impossible to prevent falling leaves from causing slippery conditions on the tracks.  The grade in the Branchville-Cannondale area is the steepest grade in the Metro North system.  Buses are being used to transport passengers to and from the station on the grade that is being skipped.  Rodney Chabot raised the issue of re-electrification of the new Danbury branch, and said that the use of individually-powered cars, as opposed to a single engine, was the solution to the slippage problem.  Fred Chidester disagreed.  Gene Colonese said that re-electrification of the Danbury branch is being studied. 

 

 

STAMFORD STATION

 

Jeff Maron said that access in to and out of the garage is still a problem, because there is only one access point, which creates back-ups.  It was reported that the road at Station Place is being repaved and both the old garage and the new garage will be open in January.

 

Jeff Maron said that Brian McCure had not yet given him the information about the garage which he had been promised.

 

Rodney Chabot suggested that there were design problems with the new garage access, and the narrowing of Station Place.  Jeff Maron suggested that the DOT ought to have advised the Commuter Council in advance of the plans for narrowing Station Place, and Harry Harris said that the plans had been available at the public hearing some years ago, which Rodney Chabot attended.  [Harry Harris did not say that there was any discussion of the intention to narrow Station Place at the public hearing.] 

 

There was discussion of gaps in windows on the new overpass at Stamford Station, with water coming in through the gaps.  There was also discussion of pigeon droppings at Stamford Station.  Ray Cox reported that the DOT was getting prices on doing something about snow sliding off roofs at Stamford Station.  It was also announced that the $2.00 taxi fee for taxis at Stamford Station had been approved by the DOT. 

 

 

CAR REHABILITATION PROGRAM

 

It was reported that 17 pairs have been completed. 

 

Bob Jelley reported that the toilet odor problem seemed to have been taken care of, and George Okvat confirmed that that was so. 

 

Fred Chidester reported that on the morning of November 19, only five trains were missing one car each, and that the last few weeks have been very good in terms of missing cars. 

 

 

METRO NORTH IN-SERVICE INDICATORS

 

Peter Marcuse, who has been talking with Gene Colonese about ways to report to the Connecticut legislature about the needs of the New Haven line, said that he and Gene Colonese had come up with five possible monthly measures of car deficiencies:  (a) average distance traveled between car failures; (b) percentage of trains with complete number of cars; (c) percentage of trains where loading standard violated (i.e., more than 95% of the seats are occupied); (d) number of engines and number of cars waiting to be serviced; and (e) number of cars violating overhaul standards: (i.e., number of cars not completely overhauled within 10 or 15 years of previous overhaul.)  Harry Harris suggested that items (a) – (c) are fine, but questions (d) and (e), particularly (e).  Jim Cameron suggested using (a) - (d).  Peter Marcuse suggested that the possibilities should be put in terms of a number vs. a target number.  It was decided to discuss the matter further at the next meeting. 

NEW COACHES FOR THE NEW HAVEN LINE

 

Bob Jelley asked about the study for the design of new coaches for the New Haven line.  Ray Cox said that discussion had narrowed the possibilities to two:  (a) pull-pull trains with an engine at each end and double-decker cars; (b) EMU’s, as at present, with motors in each pair of single level cars.  Ray Cox went on to say that double-decker cars were being very seriously considered.  He and Gene Colonese said that because the engines of pull-pull trains take up car space, it was necessary to have double-decker cars in order to have adequate seats.  Ray Cox expected that a recommendation would be decided upon by mid March. 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

It was reported that on November 7 one of the catenary wires was pulled down west of Stamford Station by a bad pantograph. 

 

It was reported that there will be a reduced Shore Line East schedule for the Friday after Thanksgiving and for other holidays and days after holidays. 

 

It was reported that the train arrival monitors at the north tunnel at Stamford had been out of order for 7-10 days. 

 

The meeting adjourned at about 7:30 p.m.

 

 

Bob Jelley

Interim Secretary