Q85Rosedale Posted February 2, 2011 Share #1 Posted February 2, 2011 With half of their fleet on the New Haven line knocked out by weather-related repairs, Metro- North Railroad officials said Tuesday that they could no longer run regular weekday service on that branch for the indefinite future. In an unusual move, the railroad will create an alternative timetable that greatly reduces the number of trains running on weekdays. The schedule, to take effect on Monday, better reflects the railroad’s current capacity on the New Haven line. The revised schedule — offering more frequent service than on weekends but less than a typical weekday — is expected to stay in effect indefinitely, at least until engineers can muddle through a steep backlog of repairs on the railroad’s aging, exhausted fleet. “We are not able to run a stable operation on the New Haven Line,” said Howard Permut, the railroad’s president. “The trains are overcrowded, and the trains are so unreliable coming into the Bronx that they are now delaying Harlem and Hudson trains.” For weeks, the line’s 67,000 riders, who hail from commuter enclaves like Greenwich, Conn., and Larchmont, N.Y., have had to squeeze into rail cars with barely enough room to stand. Many trains are too packed to board at all. Delays and cancellations are commonplace, and confused crowds have mobbed Grand Central Terminal at rush hour, trying to decipher train schedules that seem to have run amok. “This is a significant step which we almost never do,” Mr. Permut said of the new schedule, which is still being drawn up. “We’ve never had this amount of cars out of service.” Nearly half of all New Haven line trains have been relegated to repair yards for problems like frozen brakes, broken motors and malfunctioning doors, and Mr. Permut described the railroad’s facilities as “inadequate” to handle the needed maintenance. Most of the trains were built in the 1970s, and their electronic systems have proved ill equipped to handle the storms and icy weather affecting the region. High-tech replacement cars have been delayed for years because of manufacturing problems and a lack of financial support from the Connecticut government, which covers part of the costs for the line. The new timetable will not affect schedules on the Harlem and Hudson lines. Many riders on Metro-North, the top- performing commuter railroad in the country, are unaccustomed to such indignities, and the problems seem to have left passengers jaded. Last week, a YouTube video surfaced of a train from New Canaan rollicking along the elevated tracks in Harlem with a door wide open. Nonchalant passengers, standing inches away from the void, simply laughed. Chris Schoenfeld, a commuter from Greenwich who runs StationStops, a blog about Metro- North, described a chaotic scene that he witnessed at Grand Central last week. At the peak of the evening rush, the station’s billboard-size information screens went blank, and railroad staffers “had no idea whatsoever what was going on,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Confused riders crowded schedule display screens waiting for something to appear,” he continued. On Monday, Mr. Schoenfeld squeezed onto a 8:27 a.m. local from Cos Cob, Conn., to New York. He described the ride as “the most crowded train I have ever ridden on Metro- North.” “We shoehorned people on and off for four stops,” Mr. Schoenfeld said, “but by the time we got to New Rochelle, it was impossible to fit anyone else. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/nyregion/02metronorth.html?ref=nyregion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainfan22 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #2 Posted February 2, 2011 Wow, I never seen nothing like this before! Maybe MN can dust off the FL9s and ask NJT for the Comet 3 cars in storage to make up some push pull sets until the MU fleet is back on its feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineerboy6561 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #3 Posted February 2, 2011 Hell, if this is going to be a big deal over the long haul we could conceivably swap some C3s from LIRR for Comets and run them as push-pulls on the New Haven line until this clears up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Transit Posted February 2, 2011 Share #4 Posted February 2, 2011 I wonder if Connecticut has changed their mind about paying for a new fleet of cars to replace the M-2 MUs. When the MTA was ordering the new cars that are running on the Hudson and Harlem lines, they approached Connecticut for their matching funds for new cars for the New Haven line, and Connecticut balked. The MTA replied that they wouldn't buy new cars for the line unless Connecticut coughed up their share of the funds to pay for them. In the meantime, the MTA has bought some cars for the line, but they are certainly painted blue for the MTA, and NOT red for the State of Connecticut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted February 2, 2011 Share #5 Posted February 2, 2011 Wow, I never seen nothing like this before! Maybe MN can dust off the FL9s and ask NJT for the Comet 3 cars in storage to make up some push pull sets until the MU fleet is back on its feet. lolz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilbluefoxie Posted February 2, 2011 Share #6 Posted February 2, 2011 what about the newer M4 and M6 cars, are they functional or broken like the M2s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay.rosenthal Posted February 2, 2011 Share #7 Posted February 2, 2011 C3's would not be something Metro-North would even think of considering using as a temporary solution to the New Haven Line's problems. CDOT only owns four GE Genesis P32ACDM's, and Metro-North owns about twenty. However, some of those still have to serve Poughkepsie and Wassiac on the Hudson and Harlem Lines. In addition, the cab signals are different on the C3's and Metro-North would have to train crews on the fly to use C3 cars on the New Haven Line. Plus, even if you ran them as shuttles, you would still have the same number of diesel locomotives and the M2/4/6 situation still wouldn't be any better. Then there is also the problem that they are too tall to fit into Grand Central, which is the ultimate destination for the majority of New Haven Line commuters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #8 Posted February 2, 2011 what about the newer M4 and M6 cars, are they functional or broken like the M2s? I think there are 50 M4's, 50 M6's and 240 M2's. I might be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metsfan Posted February 2, 2011 Share #9 Posted February 2, 2011 They have busses on the waterbury branch as well. I wonder if this is to free up passenger cars for regular new haven line service using diesel power? - A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova RTS 9147 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #10 Posted February 2, 2011 They have busses on the waterbury branch as well. I wonder if this is to free up passenger cars for regular new haven line service using diesel power? - A That's also why several Wassaic trains were canceled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N-Trizzy2609 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #11 Posted February 2, 2011 Think about it this way. Now MTA has to fixed those M8s pronto and get em in service!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #12 Posted February 2, 2011 That's also why several Wassaic trains were canceled. This is what I think is going on: -Waterbury Branch bused to free up diesel equipment. -Wassaic through trains cancelled (except 1) to free up dual-mode equipment, use the Waterbury diesel sets. -Dual-mode equipment used to run New Haven Line service -New Canaan Branch using diesels to free up electrics. If this new schedule is to take effect Monday, I wonder why it isn't online yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip1035 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #13 Posted February 2, 2011 Passed week I've been riding on 4 car trains. I knew it was because of equipment problems but to this magnitude? wow.... Our MTA fare increases at work... I too am curious where the new timetable is if it goes into effect Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortline Bus Posted February 2, 2011 Share #14 Posted February 2, 2011 Not to get off topic. Why can't the (MTA)/Metro North and CDOT askes Amtrak to cross honor tickets/fares on their their regional trains (it never happen for acela) going to NY Penn Station? i.e New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford and New Rochelle to help the load as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q85Rosedale Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted February 2, 2011 I saw on CBS news today, the trains that ran on the New Haven line today, a good majority had pantograph problems coming into the Bronx. They were stuck up and had to be manually put down by the crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q85Rosedale Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share #16 Posted February 2, 2011 Not to get off topic. Why can't the (MTA)/Metro North and CDOT askes Amtrak to cross honor tickets/fares on their their regional trains (it never happen for acela) going to NY Penn Station? i.e New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford and New Rochelle to help the load as well. My guess would be licensing agreements. And to the fact that Amtrak goes to Penn Station, not Grand Central causing more confusion as compared to say, the NJ transit and PATH where both go to Newark Station and Penn Station (well the Path is 33 St) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted February 2, 2011 Share #17 Posted February 2, 2011 Schedules are up: http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/planning/schedules/pdf/NHL_ReducedSchedWeb_AM_2_2_11.pdf http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/planning/schedules/pdf/NHL_ReducedSchedWeb_pM_2_2_11.pdf Off-peak on regular schedule, weekends on Sunday schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forest Glen Posted February 2, 2011 Share #18 Posted February 2, 2011 Not to get off topic. Why can't the (MTA)/Metro North and CDOT askes Amtrak to cross honor tickets/fares on their their regional trains (it never happen for acela) going to NY Penn Station? i.e New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford and New Rochelle to help the load as well. Amtrak's rolling stock is just as shoddy as the New Haven line fleet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCTNostalgia Posted February 3, 2011 Share #19 Posted February 3, 2011 I get on the New Haven Local at Pelham. Need I say more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
checkmatechamp13 Posted February 3, 2011 Share #20 Posted February 3, 2011 But it would be a better use of their capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCTNostalgia Posted February 3, 2011 Share #21 Posted February 3, 2011 It's even WORSE! when they want to use 5 car trains on rush hours! :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainfan22 Posted February 3, 2011 Share #22 Posted February 3, 2011 Amtrak's rolling stock is just as shoddy as the New Haven line fleet. The only issues I heard of Amtrak's fleet having is the HHP8s can be unreliable at times and the AEM7s that didn't get overhauled are showing there age, but still, it doesn't seem to be as drastic as the Metro North issues with the MU fleet. I'm pretty sure Metro North NH line fleet is much more shoddy than the Amtrak fleet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forest Glen Posted February 3, 2011 Share #23 Posted February 3, 2011 In December, I took Amtrak from New York to Baltimore. We were delayed at Metropark because of an air leak in the bathroom. Need I say more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainfan22 Posted February 3, 2011 Share #24 Posted February 3, 2011 In December, I took Amtrak from New York to Baltimore. We were delayed at Metropark because of an air leak in the bathroom. Need I say more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgedPolaris Posted February 4, 2011 Share #25 Posted February 4, 2011 In December, I took Amtrak from New York to Baltimore. We were delayed at Metropark because of an air leak in the bathroom. Need I say more. Sorry... I'd feasted on one too many black bean empanadas and several too many beers the night before. I think I broke that Amfleet's fragile bathroom. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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