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 NOVEMBER 18, 2009
UNION STATION
NEW HAVEN, CT
Present were: Jim Cameron, Chairman; Rodney Chabot, Jeff Maron, Sue Prosi, John Hartwell and Bob Jelley, members of the Council; Jeff Parker, Gene Colonese and Jim Redeker, CDOT; Jeff Watson, Capt. Jim McKenna, Joe Kanell, John Longobardi, MNR; Jim McKenna, and Bill Fineki, and John Kerwick, MTA Police; Scott Howland, Amtrak; Ed Stannard, New Haven Register; John Austin, Bill O’Brien, and Danine Chevarella, Members of the Public.
The meeting began at 6:00 pm with a demonstration of the MTA Police dog teams, which are trained to find explosives. The Police explained that all explosives commercially made in the United States have a tag odor that can be used to train dogs, but that for explosives made in foreign countries, there are no tags so the MTA Police must get samples from the FBI in order to train their dogs. There was then a demonstration of a dog looking for and finding an explosive.
WATERBURY BUSSING
Danine Chevarella, a Waterbury commuter spoke about the evening bussing on October 30, 2009. She said that a lot of people waited in Bridgeport for an hour and a half for a bus and the same thing happened again a week later on a Saturday morning. She reported that the buses were very crowded and sometimes ran express to Waterbury, making no other stops. She complained that locomotives on the Danbury line kept breaking down.
Joe Kanell said that there were significant problems with the new diesel locomotives that were recently purchased. With a single track line, there is no way of passing a train that has broken down, and the only solution is to try to get busses until the track has been cleared. In Connecticut there are two firms that are under contract to supply buses if they are able to. There was a question about why conductors didn’t get on the bus with the passengers, and Mr. Kanell said that conductors are required to stay with their trains. Sue Prosi pointed out that without conductors on the buses; there is no way to collect tickets.
There was a general discussion about the problem of train failures on the Waterbury line and problems with bussing.
FARE INCREASE
Jim Redeker said that there was nothing new to report. He said it will probably be June before they are able to do the 1.25% fare increase.
NEW M-8s
Gene Colonese reported that the first two M-8 cars were going through the Panama Canal and were expected in Baltimore on December 2. He expected them to be in New Haven by mid- December.
STAMFORD GARAGE
Jeff Parker said he expected there might be a meeting on December 9 in Stamford for the public to comment about station improvements and parking. Jeff Maron pointed out that Stantek, the company doing the study, has not yet spoken to the Rail Council. He suggested that neither Stantek nor the city planning people are paying much attention to the public. Ms. Prosi emphasized the need for input from users.
Mr. Colonese reported that the repairs to the old garage in Stamford had been completed. Mr. Maron said that he thought there was still more work to be done. He went on to ask about signage issues in the garage. Mr. Colonese pointed out that the signage was not a part of the repair contract. Mr. Maron suggested the need of enforcement of stop signs in the garage. Ms. Prosi suggested that experienced traffic personnel ought to go through the garage to make suggestions about signage.
MISCELLANEOUS
Mr. Kanell reported that the 97.3% on-time performance is an all time record for the New Haven Line.
Mr. Colonese said that the DOT was studying whether to do any rehabilitation work on M-4 and M-6 cars. He said that in general, the price of a rehabilitation was about $100 million per car.
The meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm. The next meeting will take place on December 16, 2009 at 7:00 pm at SWRPA.
Bob Jelley
Secretary
Phone: (203) 498-4306
E-mail: rjelley@wiggin.com
