METRO NORTH NEW HAVEN RAIL COMMUTER COUNCIL
(Established in 1985 under Connecticut Public Act 85-239, now Sections 13b-212b and -212c
of the Connecticut General Statutes)
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 20, 2004 MEETING
AT GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL
The meeting began at 6:00 p.m.
Present were: Chairman Rodney Chabot, Vice Chairman Jim Cameron, Bob Jelley, Carl Leaman, Peter Marcuse, Jeff Maron, Members of the Council; Gene Colonese, Donna Evans, George Okvat, and John Longobardi, Metro North Railroad; Walt Baranger and Jack Kadden, New York Times; Mark Ginocchio, Stamford Advocate; Lisa Peterson, The Hour Newspaper; Carol Leighton, CT–CTL; Larry Llydess, Ken MacCallum, Richard Stowe, Mark Wuest, Gabriella DiBlasi, and Mark Sparano, members of the public.
No one from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (“CDOT”) was present.
The minutes of the September 15, 2004 meeting were approved.
Because the meeting was being held at Grand Central Terminal for the convenience of commuters on their way home, the first item on the agenda provided for comments on any subject by commuters.
Richard Stowe of New Canaan suggested that New Haven line trains ought to stop at Woodlawn Station, the first inbound station passed by New Haven line trains on the Harlem line, in order to permit transfer from the New Haven line to outbound trains on the Harlem line. Gene Colonese pointed out that a number of New Haven line trains stop at Fordham, which also permits such a transfer. Stowe argued that Woodlawn permitted a transfer further out on the line.
Walt Baranger from the New York Times said weekly tickets begin on Saturday and end on Friday. He raised the question of whether it would not be better to have weekly tickets begin on Monday and end on Sunday, because of the number of Monday holidays.
Gabriella DiBlasi of Bridgeport raised a question about the Harbor Yard parking garage. She said that it is not a 24-hour garage, and therefore is a serious problem if one unexpectedly is in New York late and returns when the garage has already closed. Jim Cameron pointed out that because no one from CDOT was at the meeting, the council would have to raise that question by letter with CDOT.
Peter Swan of Westport spoke of the Connecticut fare increases planned to take effect at the beginning of 2005. He said that there had not been adequate notice of fare increases. Jim Cameron reported that public hearings about the fare increases had been held last spring and that the council had tried to give notice of the meetings to commuters. Bob Jelley said that it was apparently so that even though the fare increases had been postponed from July 1, 2004 until January 1, 2005, there was no requirement under Connecticut law to have a new hearing.
Gabriella DiBlasi of Bridgeport said that from her experience as a former commuter in New Jersey, the State of New Jersey seemed more willing to invest in rail transportation than the State of Connecticut. She thought the reason was that rail transportation affected more people in New Jersey than it affects in Connecticut. Bob Jelley agreed, and said that too many legislators thought of rail transportation in Connecticut as only benefiting Fairfield County and the Connecticut Shoreline. He said that he thought that it was important to support the institution of Springfield-Hartford-New Haven commuter rail so that more Connecticut people would be affected by rail. Richard Stowe agreed. Jim Cameron thought there was not enough money to support additional rail service. Peter Marcuse said that it was important to invest in the rail system. Mark Wuest said that he thought Springfield-Hartford-New Haven commuter service was not as important as the main line.
Ken MacCallum of Cannondale complained about a Danbury line train with doors that didn’t work automatically so that the doors had to be open manually by conductors, thereby delaying the train. Gene Colonese said the report was correct. He said that present Metro North procedures permit the operation of trains with doors that only open manually, but that these procedures are being looked at. He said that the doors had operated properly the night before.
It was reported that Metro North planned to do seat drops on fare increases on outbound peak trains. Jeff Maron suggested that seat drop materials also be placed in the Milepost racks on the GCT platforms.
OLD BUSINESS
Main Line Issues
Carl Leaman reported on the renovation of the Westport station.
Branch Line Issues
Gene Colonese reported that during October, there were 84 midday bus substitutions on the Waterbury branch because engines were out of service. John Longobardi said that midday train service had returned. Peter Marcuse suggested the importance of upgrading the Waterbury branch, and thought economic development arguments should be made in favor of such upgrade.
With respect to Shore Line East, it was reported that 15 used Virginia Railway Express commuter rail cars were already in New Haven. There was discussion of whether wheel inspection, which had been talked about at earlier meetings, needed to be done before putting the cars in service.
Rodney Chabot raised again the question of station buildings on the Danbury branch being permanently closed, but recognized that without CDOT representatives present, there was no one to discuss this issue. Bob Jelley raised the issue of a new Georgetown station on the Danbury branch, which was discussed in that day’s New York Times. He wondered why it seemed so easy to get new stations in commercial developments, such as Georgetown and the new station being built in the Black Rock section of Fairfield. But the issue of a new station in either West Haven or Orange has never been resolved and seems to be being studied to death.
Richard Stowe asked about the possibility of having some Danbury line trains begin and end in the middle of the line, rather than at Danbury. Gene Colonese said that a problem was no signals on the Danbury line.
With respect to the New Canaan branch, Rodney Chabot said the debris resulting from the train that went through the bumper at the New Canaan station last winter still was not cleaned up. John Longobardi reported that Stamford supervisors says that it has been cleaned up. Richard Stowe raised the question of additional early morning service for New Canaan and a later last train in the evening. Gene Colonese said that he would look at those questions for the April 2005 timetable.
Fleet Replacement
Gene Colonese reported that Metro North and CDOT were still studying the M-7/M-8 pairing proposal.
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Meetings
Rodney Chabot reported that both he and Bob Jelley had each attended a CCM meeting. Each thought that the membership attending the meetings was too diverse to focus properly on rail issues.
NEW BUSINESS
Fall Leaf Problems
Gene Colonese reported that Metro North is using better sanding mechanisms. Engines are now being sanded daily, and a rail washer and scrubber will be out nightly. He hoped that the problem would not be as bad as in previous years.
Winter Plans
Gene Colonese said that a lot of work is being done to upgrade the M-2, M-4 and M-6 cars to prepare them for winter. Doors are being weather-stripped. Brake lines are being worked on. Extra protection is being provided for components so as to avoid snow damage.
It was reported that there were delays in transferring the Amtrak maintenance shop in New Haven to Metro North. At the February 18, 2004 meeting, Ray Cox reported on the planned takeover of the Amtrak maintenance shop, and said he hoped it would occur by July 1, 2004. At the April 28, 2004 meeting, President Peter Cannito said he hoped Metro North would be operating the shop by the end of the summer. At the May 19, 2004 meeting, it was reported that it was expected that Metro North would be able to use the Amtrak shop by the end of August. Because there was no one from CDOT at the meeting, there was no one to report on where things stand now.
Miscellaneous
Rodney Chabot reported that there was no public telephone at the Glenbrook station. Metro North representatives said that CDOT handles the issue of public telephones at stations.
Rodney Chabot reported that car washings were not being done at Stamford and that cars are dirty. John Longobardi said that there was a shortage of people to switch the trains to bring them into the car wash.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. The next meeting will be held at Union Station in New Haven, CT on Wednesday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m.
Bob Jelley, Secretary
rjelley@wiggin.com
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