Home Metro-North Metro-North to scale back New Haven service

Metro-North to scale back New Haven service

by Benjamin Kabak

The M-8s were first ordered in 2006 and unveiled in 2008, but they have yet to enter revenue service.

For the past four years, Metro-North and the Connecticut Department of Transportation have tried to ready the new M-8s for rollout along the New Haven line. After a 2008 announcement from then-Gov. Jodi Rell that promised a prototype by the end of 2009 and ten cars a month after that, things went wrong. The cars failed a stress test in June of 2009, and last month, reports surfaced of delays in testing the new rolling stock.

Now, the New Haven line is starting to buckle under the weight of train cars in dire need of replacing. As Michael Grynbaum reported this morning in The Times, Metro-North is cutting service on the New Haven line because half of the current fleet has been “knocked out by weather-related repairs.” As of this upcoming Monday, commuters from Connecticut will see their regular weekday service greatly reduced, and Grynbaum says these changes will “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,” Metro-North President Howard Permut said to The Times. “The trains are overcrowded, and the trains are so unreliable coming into the Bronx that they are now delaying Harlem and Hudson trains.”

Grynbaum has more:

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 breaking point, as Grynbaum noted, appeared to be a YouTube video that showed a New Haven Line train riding into Grand Central with a door wide open. Passengers acted as though this malfunction were a routine occurence, and from the sound of things, it just might well be.

Now, I don’t want to read too much into this announcement. After all, this winter has been particularly rough on infrastructure, and January saw record snowfalls across the region. But on the other hand, this is a clear sign of what happens when we simply stop investing in rail infrastructure. Connecticut has dragged its feet for years when it came to funding the M-8 project, and now, the MTA has no choice but to cut off a part of the country’s most reliable commuter line. Investment patterns have to change, and we as a region must do more to ensure that the modernization of our rails moves ahead as it should.

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28 comments

Edward February 2, 2011 - 11:41 am

Wonder if M-N reached out to other railroads (LIRR, Amtrak, NJT) to see if they have any extra equipment to borrow for short term? I seem to remember NJT locomotives/rolling stock being used by Amtrak a few years ago when they had equipment problems, and the LIRR shipping some old electric coaches to the Staten Island Railway in the early ’70s when that line needed more trains that were yet to be delivered.

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Max S. (WilletsPoint-SheaStadium) February 2, 2011 - 12:09 pm

I think the main problem with “borrowing” equipment would be that the New Haven line depends on overhead electric wires to power trains, not traditional third rail service which most of the region is currently equipped with.

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Edward February 2, 2011 - 12:16 pm

Good point, though NJT has engines with canteliver tripods that could conceivably pull non-electric coaches. Just thinkin’ out loud; I doubt anything will be done other than reducing schedules, which is sad.

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JoshKarpoff February 2, 2011 - 12:49 pm

The New Haven Line’s catenary operates at a different voltage than NJ Transit’s catenary. There is a marked point in Harold Interlocking where Amtrak trains on the NEC make the transition. Since NJ Transit trains don’t operate in anyone else’s territory, they don’t have the equipment necessary for this sort of transition. Amtrak is always hard up for electric locomotives on the NEC. In addition, the catenary ends at Larchmont and electric trains have to change over to third rail operation to enter GCT. What the MTA is currently doing is using as many of their GE P-32AC DM’s to haul coaches as they can. Only locomotives with dual mode capability, equipped with under running third rail shoes can run into GCT. MNRR only has 31 of these locomotives, which are also needed on the Hudson Line north of Croton-Harmon and the Harlem Line north of Southeast. The Brookville BL-20GH branch line locomotives that MNRR has can only pull 4 coaches at a time and aren’t equipped to enter GCT.
The M-8’s have not only had the manufacturing delays, but some software glitches during testing dragged out testing long enough that the M-8 testing had to be shelved due to the inclimate weather. MNRR needed the crews for snow clearing operations, there haven’t been any time slots available (because of snow removal trains using those slots) and the maintenance staff that would participate in testing are all working around the clock to fix the broken trains. So now the MTA is in a catch-22: the old M2/M4/M6’s are knocked out by the cold and are using up all of the resources that could be used to test the new M-8’s, which can’t go into service until they’ve completed testing, which has been put on hold until this winter weather comes to an end.

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Edward February 2, 2011 - 1:24 pm

Ah, OK.

kvnbklyn February 2, 2011 - 1:38 pm

NJ Transit and Metronorth jointly operate the Meadowlands “Train to the Game” from New Haven to Secaucus with NJ Transit equipment, so it is possilbe for NJT to provide relief service along the New Haven Line if it has the spare equipment. Of course, trains would go to Penn instead of GCT, but that might be better for a lot of riders instead of cramming onto overcrowded trains.

Al D February 3, 2011 - 12:14 pm

How about just borrowing a few diesels and coaches from whomever, Shore Line East, MNR’s other lines, LIRR, NJT, etc. There can’t be compatibility issues there. (?)

Alon Levy February 3, 2011 - 4:04 pm

First, those diesels are basically dinosaur trains. At least the M8s are good for FRA-compliant trains.

Second, diesels can’t operate into Manhattan.

Nathanael February 10, 2011 - 6:19 am

NJT actually runs two different frequencies of AC, and has equipment which can handle both. One is the frequency used on the New Haven Line. The voltage is not an issue, the NJT trains can run with “low voltage” (which is basically what the Metro-North runs with).

However, I don’t think NJT has extras to loan out. More important is your point that NJT’s equipment can’t enter the Park Avenue Tunnel or get to GCT. 😛 To borrow NJT equipment, you’d have to run service to Penn instead….

…which isn’t a bad idea, is it?

Kid Twist February 2, 2011 - 12:58 pm

They should work out an arrangement with Amtrak to honor MNRR commuter tickets on Amtrak trains at major Connecticut stations.

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Walter February 2, 2011 - 9:30 pm

Amtrak has no where near the capacity to honor Metro-North customers between New York, New Rochelle, Stamford, Bridgeport, and New Haven. Amtrak’s trains are already full as it is.

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Alon Levy February 3, 2011 - 1:49 am

No, they’re not. The Acela kind of is, with 60% seat occupancy (70% is about the maximum possible for all-reserved trains); the Regional, with 45%, most definitely isn’t.

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Nathanael February 10, 2011 - 6:20 am

Ah, but is that overall, or at peak? I would not be surprised if Amtrak is full during the Metro-North peak.

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oinonio February 2, 2011 - 12:59 pm

Is this what happens when you go with the lowest bidder? There was a time Railroads took pride in the quality of their equipment. Why is this so hard for New Haven line to figure out? The New Haven was once one of the world’s pioneering railroads!

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Donald February 2, 2011 - 1:17 pm

Wow, that video with the open door was unbeleiveable. Good thing nobody got hurt or killed, or else there would have bene a big lawsuit. Where are the federal and state inspectors? That train should have been taken out of service right there on the spot. I can’t drive a car with a busted tail light, but you can operate a train with an OPEN door? If I was on the train, I would have pulled the emergency cord and then called the police if the train operator tried to re-start the train.

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Scott E February 2, 2011 - 1:34 pm

I’m sure it WAS taken out of service once someone found out (remember, there were no indicators). I once was in the 2nd or 3rd car of an LIRR train that had partially pulled into Jamaica station when the doors opened. They closed the doors quickly (after some passengers in the vestibule made a joke about “watching the gap”). The train was taken out of service because of “equipment problems”, and the regular conductor on that train was missing for the next few weeks. In this case, I’m sure the conductor was the suspect equipment, but they need to play it safe.

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BBnet3000 February 2, 2011 - 1:34 pm

I think people just wanted to get home. Having an open door isnt THAT dangerous, i think youre just being melodramatic. Clearly everyone in the car was aware of the problem, which was likely very loud and very cold.

If the alternative is stranding myself, I think id take the open door. That said, would it be possible to force such doors closed and then not open them at all? I’ve seen this on BART, where you actually have to walk to the next car to get off the train (depending on which side the platform is on at your destination). It makes that car a lot less crowded though.

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Kid Twist February 2, 2011 - 1:39 pm

It’s pretty damn dangerous. If the train lurches around a turn or stops quickly, someone could go flying out and end up under a wheel.

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Christopher February 2, 2011 - 7:06 pm

It was going along Park Avenue on way to GCT. If there was a sudden turn, there’d be more problems than just the open door.

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Donald February 2, 2011 - 1:40 pm

Having an open door is not that dangerous… until someone falls out. Not to mention I am sure there are dozens of laws and MTA regulations that were violated. Just remember: if someone fell out of the train, the lawsuits will come flying.

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Duke87 February 2, 2011 - 8:17 pm

It is getting ridiculous how the old cars are falling apart. There is no reasonable expectation of arriving on time anymore. Hell, there is no reasonable expectation of arriving at all anymore, with trains breaking down and blocking the line. Last night, there was a train that derailed(!) by Cos Cob which stopped everything dead for… a long time. Not sure how long, all I know is that I ditched my train where it was stopped at New Rochelle, called for a ride, waited half an hour for them to get there, and half an hour later driving by on I-95, there was the derailed train still stuck there with no sign of anything moving it anytime soon. Ugh.

All kinda makes you wanna say “Who is John Galt?”, doesn’t it?

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Edward February 2, 2011 - 9:54 pm

Ayn Rand had it right, and it’s no coincidence that the subject of “Atlas Shrugged” was the falling apart of a major American railroad. No one takes pride or responsibility for their work anymore, it’s just a faceless public entity that goes begging for money, raises fares and delivers crappy service. Who is John Galt indeed!

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VLM February 2, 2011 - 11:20 pm

Perhaps they raise fares because the state doesn’t come through. The MTA is no model of efficiency, but what happened in Connecticut happened because the state dragged its feet for years when it came to investing in rolling stock. If the MTA had access to the money, they would have activated new cars half a decade ago.

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Alon Levy February 3, 2011 - 1:52 am

Edward, I get what you’re saying about deferred maintenance… but you might not want to quote Ayn Rand.

(By the way, the reality is that deferred maintenance was done under private management in order to boost short-term profits, which were important for short-term managers and for mergers and acquisitions. The people in charge of e.g. the Milwaukee Road were quite proud of their railroad – they just thought that they could get away with not maintaining anything.)

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Walter February 2, 2011 - 9:41 pm

The MTA wanted to buy new cars a decade ago; at the same time the LIRR and Hudson and Harlem Lines were to get their M7s the New Haven Line was to get the M8s based on the M7. New York State even put up their third of the money, but Connecticut did not put any money up until Jodi Rell agreed to put up the $600 million in 2004. Whenever a fellow commuter complains about the trains, I usually simply ask “Did you vote for John Rowland” and usually get a dirty look in response. Elections do have consequences, people.

The M8s are the most advanced and complicated rail cars in the country; there was always a chance they’d have issues in testing. Is it inconvenient and annoying that the trains are old, crowded, and dirty? Of course, but Metro-North can only make due with the equipment it has. Service has already been cut on the Waterbury Line to free up Bombardier cars for the main line, but the system simply cannot replace 200 cars in the shop overnight.

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Donald February 2, 2011 - 11:15 pm

If the MTA can’t get their new trains on time, they at least they should hire more mechanics to keep the trains they have running.

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[…] to extreme weather and an aging fleet of cars that are bad need of maintenance, Metro-North had to scale back service on the New Haven Line. Nearly half of its current M2 rolling stock is laid up in the shop, and […]

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