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 FEBRUARY 15, 2006 MEETING
UNION STATION
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
Present were: Rodney Chabot, Chairman, Jim Cameron, Vice Chairman, Jeff Steele, Steve Di Salvo, Lee Carlson, Carl Leaman, members; Ed Lydecker, Jeff Watson, Tim
McCarthy, Metro North; Gene Colonese, Carmine Trotta, Peter Richter, Connecticut DOT; Sue Prossi, SWERPA; Patrick Linsey, The Hour newspaper; and Mark Ginocchio, The Advocate newspaper.
The meeting started at 6 pm.
Minutes of the January 18, 2006 meeting were approved.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Sue Prossi reported icy snowy conditions on the Stamford stairways after the recent snowstorm and that the canopies have not eliminated the problem. Gene Colonese said CDOT was looking at how to make the Stamford station work better including the above problem.
FOCUS GROUP REPORT
Tim McCarthy of Metro North gave the report. Three manufactures have indicated an interest in bidding for the M-8 contract-Bombardier, Kawasaki and Siemens. They will receive the specs for car interiors before bidding of the equipment. Seating on the new cars will be 106 versus 120 in the older equipment. This is caused by ADA space and electric lockers inside the car as opposed to underneath the car. Tim then reviewed the interior proposals that are being reviewed by focus groups including a Council focus group.
MONTHLY OPERATIONS AND PLANNING REPORT
Ridership up 3.2% in January vs. January 2005. On time performance was 96.3% while consist compliance was 83.8% vs. 82.1% a year earlier. Same number of VRE cars in service as the month before. Diesel availability is not satisfactory and is being reviewed. The Council will receive written answers to its specification questions regarding the M-8’s submitted in January.
MAIN LINE ISSUES
Operations did quite well during and after the major snowstorm on February 12th. Electric service resumed late Sunday and the Monday morning commute ran an average of ten to fifteen minutes late. Members noted that MTA e-mail alerts were not received on a timely basis and with the many hours delay it must be a Metro North server problem.
Timetable changes in April include two new inbound early morning trains that will arrive in GCT before 6 a.m. The Council spoke favorably about the new trains and felt they would be full from day one.
BRANCH LINE ISSUES
Shore Line East continues to have communication problems regarding late trains at State St. station. The Madison station construction contract has been issued with completion scheduled for early 2007.
EQUIPMENT PROGRESS REPORT
RFP’s for eleven diesel switch engines and six dual mode mainline engines have gone out. Update on the VRE contract will be discussed next month. The running repair shop expansion is underway and Council members will do a walk thru before the April meeting.
STAMFORD PARKING GARAGE
Structural review draft report is due in March and final report in April 2006.
OTHER
Based upon collected tickets, 64,000 riders took advantage of the Holiday tickets promotion by MTA. Metro North will attempt to estimate riders that did not fully use their tickets.
Peak reverse commuter fares have shifted riders to off peak trains. Peak is down 2% while off peak is up 14%.
NEW BUSINESS
Smoke condition on train 1540 of January 26th will be discussed at next month’s meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm.
The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m. at SACIA, One Landmark Sq., Stamford CT.
Carl W. Leaman
Acting Secretary
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