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

SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 MEETING

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

 

Present were:  Jim Cameron, Chairman, Jeff Steele and Terri Cronin, Vice Chairmen, Bob Jelley, Secretary, Joe McGee, Jeff Maron, Rodney Chabot, Robert Baird, Stan Trybulski, and Steve DiSalvo, Members;   Gene Colonese and Peter Richter, CDOT;   Joe Kanell, Ed Lydecker,  George Walker, and George Okvat, Metro North; Mark Ginocchio, Stamford Advocate; Larry Uydess, Justin Watras, and Josh Venter, Commuters;   Beverly Dolinsky, New York Metro North Commuter Council.

 

The Minutes of the meeting of August 23, 2006 were approved.

 

Jim Cameron gave the Chairman’s Report, describing his activities of the past month and particularly noting that the “Fix My Station” campaign is continuing and inviting people to continue to send him pictures and descriptions of station defects for placement on the Council’s website.

 

Ed Lydecker discussed the August Operations Report.  Mr. Cameron asked why the monthly goal for mean distance between failures had decreased compared with the 2005 Operations Reports.  George Walker responded that as cars get older, the expectation or goal of distance between failures decreases.  He went on to explain that for new cars, it takes a while for the “bugs” to be worked out of them, and therefore, the distance between failures increases as the “bugs” are discovered and corrected.  Thereafter, the distance between failures stays fairly level until the cars get older, when the distance decreases.  Mr. Walker went on to say that a failure is a mechanically-caused incident that causes a train to be six minutes or more late.

 

Joe McGee asked Mr. Walker what the Connecticut Legislature ought to be looking at so as to know when to buy new cars.   Mr. Walker said that Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was the program to look at, as opposed to mean distance between failures.

 

NEW M-8 CARS

 

Mr. Walker said that Metro North has an interior designer involved in designing the interiors of the new M-8 cars, which will be different from the M-7s.  A question was raised about whether the new M-8s will have 120 volt receptacles at each seat, and the answer was “no”.  The issue was raised of whether each seat really ought to have such a receptacle, so as to avoid the need for battery operation of laptop computers on trains.  Jeff Maron asked if the compilation of focus group comments on design of the M-8s could be made available to the Council, and Gene Colonese said he would look at that question.  Terri Cronin asked if bar cars, which are presently not included in the initial M-8 order, could be available sooner, and Mr. Colonese said that he was looking at trying to get them ordered sooner. 

 

There was a discussion about maintenance costs for the new M-8 fleet.  Mr. Walker said that the maintenance cost per car will decrease, but because there will be additional cars, the total fleet maintenance cost will probably be larger. 

 

MAIN LINE ISSUES

 

Mr. Cameron discussed the complaints about the restrooms at the eastbound side of the South Norwalk station being closed from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Peter Richter reported                         that the City of Norwalk said that the Norwalk Police had problems with the eastbound restrooms and with destruction of benches in the eastbound waiting room and as a result, the restrooms were closed except during peak hours and the benches were not being replaced.  Mr. Richter also said that he understood that the City lost money on station operations.  Mr. Cameron pointed out the importance of the eastbound facilities, because people wait there for the Danbury Branch train.  It was moved and voted unanimously that the Council send a letter to the City of Norwalk requesting information about income from the railroad garage and cost of operations of the station. 

 

Rodney Chabot asked about what was going on at New Rochelle station, and Mr. Colonese reported that the platforms and tracks were being rearranged so that the fifth track will cease to exist, but the remaining four tracks will all platform.  Mr. Walker said that as a result of the changes, the New Rochelle station and the junction between the New Haven line and the Hell Gate route will operate more smoothly.

 

Mr. Maron asked Mr. Colonese about the usage numbers for the Stamford garage.  Mr. Colonese said that he was putting together the September usage numbers, since the summer numbers were not representative.  He also said that he would get to the Council a copy of the Consultant Report about work needed on the old garage. 

 

There was a question raised about trying to get more express service between Fordham and Connecticut.  It was suggested that because of reverse commuting from Fordham into Connecticut, there may not be adequate service. 

 

Bob Jelley raised once again the question of closed cars on off-peak trains, and said that the first car had been closed on the 10:07 a.m. from Grand Central Terminal to New Haven on Sunday, September 17, even though the train seemed crowded.  The conductor, when asked, said that there were seats in the rear cars, and Mr. Jelley suggested that seats in the rear cars did no good for passengers at the front of the train.  Mr. Walker said that in spite of efforts by Metro North to have all cars open, there appeared to be a tradition on the New Haven line of closing the front car, but added that if specific complaints were brought to his attention he would speak with the conductors. 

 

With respect to additional service, Mr. Walker suggested that the addition of the M-8s to the fleet will permit additional service.  Mr. Colonese mentioned the new switches that are being installed at Southport.  He said that will make it easier to put in more express trains, because there is presently a long stretch of track west of Bridgeport with no switches, thereby making it impossible to switch trains between the local and express tracks. 

 

There was a discussion of the capacity of the New Haven line to absorb additional trains.  Mr. Walker said that there would be plenty of capacity once the catenary replacement is completed.  He said that it will take until 2014 for that to be completed, because 14 bridges have to be renovated, and it is best to do bridges and catenary at the same time.  He went on to say that there will continue to be three additional capacity restricting problems: (1) the need to restore the fourth track from east of the Housatonic River to New Haven; (2) the need for a better signal system; and (3) curves on the New Haven line that do not have spiral sections leading into and out of the curves.  He pointed out that the realignment required to improve the curves is almost impossible to accomplish. 

 

Bob Jelley asked Mr. Walker about the decision by Connecticut DOT and Metro North not to have 25-cycle transformers on the new M-8s, thereby making it impossible for them to go beyond Penn Station into New Jersey.  Mr. Walker said that 25 cycle transformers were prohibitively expensive.  He said that he believed that when Amtrak replaces the catenary on the main line from New York to Washington, they will go to 60 cycle.  He said that he believed that cross platform transfers in Penn Station or diesel-electric locomotive driven trains were the answer to service between Connecticut and New Jersey. 

 

Mr. Cameron asked Mr. Walker about the recent articles about the vast number of missing railroad control keys.  Mr. Walker agreed that there were too many keys around, but said that the key problems were an unlikely source of terrorism. 

 

BRANCH LINES

 

It was reported that the Waterbury line will begin operating again on October 7.  Mr. Cameron reported a letter from former Council member, Peter Marcuse, questioning why one train is able to get through the morning and then busing is required the rest of the day.  He said that there was confusion as to which bus stopped where.

 

GAP BETWEEN PLATFORM AND CAR

 

Mr. Cameron raised the problem that the Long Island Railroad has had with passengers falling through the gap.  Mr. Walker reported that Metro North does not have an enormous gap problem, even though it is now making announcements telling passengers to “mind the gap”.  Beverly Dolinsky said that New York State Statutes mandate a maximum 7 inch gap. 

 

WIRES DOWN NEAR DARIEN ON SEPTEMBER 12

 

The question of problems with the wires down on September 12 was raised.  Mr. Walker said that it was caused by the catenary work and the odd floating beam structure supporting the catenary in the Darien area.  He said that with one catenary being replaced, the rest of the beam had not been adequately stabilized.  There was disagreement about whether or not there had been adequate announcements about the disruption of service caused by the wires down.  However, there was general agreement among council members that train announcements at Stamford station are generally not good and do not adequately inform passengers. 

 

The meeting adjourned at about 8:30 p.m.   The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. in Union Station, New Haven.

 

Bob Jelley

Secretary

 

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