Bridgeport Station

1. The minutes of the October Meeting were approved after amendment to show that Nancy Crelan had requested at the meeting that the Council hold a meeting at a Naugatuck Valley location further north than Bridgeport to give residents along the Waterbury Branch Line a more convenient opportunity to be heard.

OLD BUSINESS:

2. Under Waterbury Branch Line issues, discussion first addressed a broken cylinder on locomotive #2005 which caused a breakdown on the line "last month" during which many stranded and waiting passengers were given neither bus rescue nor public address information. Jack Reidy explained that, despite calls to four bus companies, CDOT was unable to obtain bus transportation for most commuters.

Attendees cited the absence of backup engines for such situations and the need to have a standby bus service to get passengers to the main line when breakdowns occur. In this case, the lone bus available left waiting passengers in some stations without announcements detailing what was occurring when it traveled through full. Concern was expressed that Connecticut Transit, for which CDOT is the principal source of revenue, is not equipped to supply emergency buses. Mr. Reidy noted that the shortage of engines would be eliminated when Genesis engines now on order are delivered.

Ms. Crelan also voiced annoyance that cars purchased by Connecticut for use on the Waterbury line have been supplanted by older, graffiti. explained that, while there is no shortage of cars, CDOT and Metro North work together to pool their car needs, and that it would not serve this end to have car use steadfastly restricted to assigning cars exclusively to the lines for which they were originally obtained.

There followed a discussion of the fact that 30 regular riders have stopped using the Waterbury line because of service disruptions, bus substitutions, the availability of free parking in Bridgeport, and the most recent schedule changes. Some of them now drive all the way to Stamford. The line’s intrastate commuters are also said to find the 5:55 train (#1946) too late for their needs, and want an earlier connection. Rodney Chabot and Jim Cameron both noted that the recent schedule change might ultimately put more, rather than fewer, cars on Interstate 95. Mr. Reidy emphasized, however, that CDOT must cater to the needs of the largest number of riders, and that there will always be cases in which individual passengers will not have service exactly as they want it.

This fact was underscored by Jasmine Matthew, a Waterbury single mother, who noted that Train #1933 (the first morning Waterbury connector) results in arrival in Grand Central Terminal at 8:59 a.m. As most businesses open no later than 9 a.m., she said, this is too late for her to obtain work she needs in Manhattan.

3. Service on the Danbury Branch Line has been good, it was reported, with no recent instances in which buses were substituted for trains. Installation of the centralized traffic control will begin in spring, 2001, Mr. Reidy reported, and in 60 days CDOT will have completed its study of the proposed re-electrification of the line. Engineering studies of other ways to speed service on the line are underway, it was noted. Mr. Cameron cited e-mails from commuters on the line complaining (1) that bar car service on Train #1868, listed on the schedule, is not being provided and (2) about diesel fumes through trains to Danbury create in the Park Avenue tunnel. While trains are supposed to operate electrically in the tunnel, Mr. Bowen held that there’s no EPA prohibition of diesel use underground. Mr. Colonese said he will look into the bar car matter. The new Redding station is operating well and the parking lot in Bethel is functioning at about 90% of capacity, Mr. Reidy reported.

4. At the Stamford station, Mr. Reidy said the two new escalators on the eastbound side (Track 2) will be operative in about two weeks (the absence of escalator service has been a major inconvenience to passengers), and the new westbound escalators will go into service in about four months. Work on updating the tunnel and making its walls graffiti-proof is continuing, he said, and $750,000 has been approved to supplement the original $1.7 million appropriation for the station project. Mr. Reidy also said a bus turnaround is being created under I-95 at the end of the upgraded tunnel, and that taxi service will be centered at the eastbound side, where trains arriving from New York provide the greatest number of taxi users. (Presumably taxis will be permitted to drop off New York-bound riders on the inbound side.)

There was discussion of westbound trains’ usage of the new Tracks 3 and 5, and the inconvenience inbound passengers boarding at Stamford encounter in having to use Track 3 when the new Track 5 is directly accessible from the street (an editorial in The Advocate addressed this subject). There are construction and operating issues that keep the pattern from being written in stone, Mr. Reidy said, but Amtrak and through express trains are supposed to operate on Track 3, and local service on Track 5. Direct access to Track 3 exists, he added, when a train on Track 5 opens doors on both sides for Track 3 passengers’ benefit in crossing over. The need to give passengers better signage for getting to platforms and trains was cited.

A discussion of Amtrak’s Acela service disclosed that Stamford stops for this service would be phased in as station construction progresses and permits. But not all high-speed trains will ultimately stop in Stamford.

5. Citing a website tally of 98 complaints as opposed to two compliments, Mr. Cameron questioned Mr. Colonese’s statement at the September meeting that the new timetable would contain "no major changes." He alleged that the changes gave short shrift to intrastate passengers, including the 3,000 who use trains to reach jobs in Stamford. Mr. Bowen said the largest number of complaints to Metro North have been resolved by restoring stops in Greenwich and South Norwalk by through trains -- a change which could be made readily by adding only a minute or so to the trains’ running times. This was an easier fix, he said, than juggling train times on a congested schedule that also includes Amtrak service. Mr. Cameron complained that the full printed timetables intrastate commuters require were not readily available, that promised seat drops of the schedules were not made, and that a high volume of complaints on this point were received.

Train #1546, which leaves New York at 4:41 p.m. has empty seats from Grand Central Terminal, but has standees when it leaves Stamford, it was noted. A re-evaluation of equipment needs was requested.

6. Mr. Kiniry said that the idling of diesels in the Danbury Yard, with resulting fumes and fuel waste, is necessitated by the shortage of electrical capacity and out-lets which would permit them to hook up electrically. This should be corrected soon.

7. The 800 phone number in Mr. Reidy’s office, which also serves the Council, has not been operative, Mr. Chabot reported. This was because of an answering machine failure, Mr. Reidy said, noting that a new voicemail system will soon replace it.

8. There were no service complaints involving the Shore Line East. The tower is now giving trains needed information for relay about arrival and departure platforms.

9. Mr. Reidy said a design assessment is being made on the long-delayed station kiosks, to be patterned after one at a bus depot in Waterbury. The kiosks are in-tended to aid out-of-town passengers in getting to their destinations upon arrival at Metro North stations.

10. With Standard Time’s arrival, station lighting outages and problems have been cited in Stratford, Milford and Darien. These have been or are being attended to, Mr. Reidy promised.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Mr. Kiniry defended Metro North’s purchase of diesel electric switching engines for use in Grand Central Terminal, saying these units better serve Metro North’s needs at a lower cost than pure electric engines.

2. The schedule of Acela stops in Stamford has not yet been finalized, but will start with a single daily train until the Stamford station project nears completion.

3. Service disruptions have occurred recently due to November 3 damage to the catenary near Bridgeport by either an Amtrak or Metro North train and due to a suicide in the Danbury station yard, Mr. Reidy stated.

4. New Haven Division M-2’s have been spotted on the Hudson line, Mr. Reidy said, because, while all divisions have adequate equipment, maintenance and repair situations often create a temporary need to re-allocate cars. When this occurred, he added, the New Haven Division had adequate cars to operate without shorting trains while the M-2’s involved were used on the Hudson line.

5. The complaint of Ann Spiro that Train #1409 regularly has standees was investigated, Mr. Colonese said. There are available seats on the train, he added.

OTHER NEW BUSINESS: Mr. Chabot reported that, due to a broken glass in the timetable case at Talmadge Hill station, there has been no display of the prevailing Metro North schedule since the summer. Mr. Reidy will take action on this.

Mr. Anglace asked about the Stratford station platform and past requests that it be extended with a canopy. The capital budget does not presently permit this project, Mr. Reidy said. Other projects, such as a request for $700,000 to expand station parking, have had to be put on hold until the huge outlay for updating the catenary "is behind us," he explained. The suggestion was made that Mr. Anglace seek recourse through "political pressure."

Respectfully submitted,

Edward H. Zimmerman

Secretary

In Attendance

Rodney Chabot, Chairman Jim Mohs, Council Member

Jim Cameron, Vice Chairman John Anglace, Council Member

Edward Zimmerman, Secretary Nancy Crelan, Waterbury commuter

Jack Reidy, CDOT Albert Auscavitch, Oxford commuter

Peter Richter Jr., CDOT Marice Green, Southbury commuter

Eugene J. Colonese, Metro North Jasmine Matthew, Waterbury commuter

Ted Bowen, Metro North Dick Carpenter, CT Public Trans. Com.

Moe Kiniry, Metro North Jennifer Connic, The Hour

Fred N. Chidester Jr., Metro North Stefanie Cruz, NBC 30

John Hogan, Metro North Scott Criscuolo, WICC

Jeff Maron, Council Member