Metro-North offers ‘Way Ahead’

But leaves Connecticut behind

Metro-North on Tuesday released a plan to improve the safety and reliability of the commuter railroad that carried more than 86 million riders last year.

But the series of proposals is mostly focused on improvements on the New York side of the rail system and barely mentions the New Haven Line or the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines, which are owned by Connecticut.

“They are talking about enhancing New York, not Connecticut,” said state Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, cochairwoman of the Legislature’s transportation committee.

“That is terrible for us,”

“They are talking about enhancing New York, not Connecticut. That is terrible for us.” State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton

Boucher said. “Our contract with MetroNorth is terrible and we pay 65 percent of the bill.”

Although Connecticut owns its rails and equipment, the railroad is run by MetroNorth under a decades-long contract with the state.

Metro-North officials touted the plan, unveiled in an email to commuters, as the “Way Ahead” for the railroad.

“I ride the train every day, to work in the morning and to home at night,” MetroNorth President Catherine Rinaldi said in a video.

“Riding the system every day, I have a real insight in terms of what customers expect, where we meet their expectations and where we have more work to do,” Rinaldi said.

Planned upgrades

Highlights of the plan include a call for enhanced safety, reliability and customer service, along with improving cellphone coverage and connectivity, purchasing multilevel coaches to handle increased ridership and buying 66 new M8 rail cars to accommodate increased ridership.

The plan also calls for completing access from the New Haven Line to Penn Station and replacement of the catenary power lines in southwestern Connecticut.

“All of their upgrades are dead on,” said Shawn Thompson while waiting for a train at the Bridgeport station Tuesday evening. He said said he takes the train from Bridgeport to Stamford every day.

But one thing Thompson would like to see is an option for food and beverages on the train, like riders on Amtrak have access to.

“There’s no concession stand on trains,” he said. “I’d like to see that.”

Rinaldi said 2 million more people are expected to live in the New York City metropolitan area by 2040, and many of those will live near Metro-North stations and use the train system.

Boucher said she is constantly hearing complaints about trains being late — sometimes by as much as 20 minutes — and said there is no discussion in the plan about resolving that problem.

“It makes a big difference,” Boucher said of on-time performance. “Connecticut cannot afford to lose more people.”

Nancy Gamerman, a Metro-North spokeswoman, said the plan will benefit riders in Connecticut and New York.

“‘Way Ahead’ details actions to enhance safety, service, infrastructure and communications, which benefits all Metro-North customers,” Gamerman said.

Lizmary Padilla, who lives in Stamford and was waiting for a train ride home from Bridgeport on Tuesday, said she travels a lot for her job, often taking the train because it’s easier.

“They could clean more inside the trains, if that’s not already a plan,” Padilla said. “And add security cameras, which I know was on there list. I mean, we’re getting places with technology, we might as well get their with our trains.”

History of crashes

Rinaldi acknowledged the railroad’s troubled history, citing two crashes in 2013 — one in the Bronx and one in Bridgeport — that killed four riders and injured nearly 100 passengers.

“The events of 2013 led to a lot of soul searching and inspired us to take a more targeted look at every aspect of our operations, including our culture, systems, training, inspections and maintenance,” Rinaldi said.

A “Deep Dive” investigation by the Federal Railroad Administration concluded Metro-North was too focused on on-time performance and put insufficient resources into maintenance, repairs and safety.

Rinaldi said the railroad’s investment in infrastructure has improved reliability.

“As reliability improved, ridership has more than doubled, spurring population and economic growth,” Rinaldi said.

The plan includes expensive capital projects such as replacement of the 125year-old Park Avenue Viaduct and repair of the Park Avenue tunnel and Grand Central Terminal’s track and platform areas.

“As the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] looks to its stakeholders and elected officials for funding to the upcoming 2020-24 Capital Program, we must make a compelling case for investments that will make our system safer and our service more reliable,” the report said.

Boucher noted Metro-North’s call for “double decker” trains would not work in Connecticut because bridges are often too low to accommodate them.

Metro-North officials said the ”bi-level” trains are still being evaluated.

Work needed

Jim Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group and a Hearst Connecticut Media columnist, said there is little discussion in the plan about improving the Connecticut side of the rail line.

“There’s much discussion in their plan about improving stations, but that’s irrelevant to Connecticut where [the state] owns and maintains the stations and parking,” Cameron said.

He said there is also no mention of the railroad’s multiyear slide in on-time performance, which he said has dropped to 85 percent.

“Trains are running much slower than before the derailments because of FRA regulations, but I don’t see that mentioned in the plan,” Cameron said. “Or when it will be fixed and faster speeds resumed.”

A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation could not provide comment about the Metro-North plan, which was reviewed by state officials.

Metro-North officials said replacement of the overhead power system will benefit Connecticut riders, as well as infrastructure repairs, new digital information boards at GCT, a better public address system, improved cell service and the connection to Penn Station.

Boucher said the trains keep getting slower and that has to be fixed.

“It’s slower than in any year,” Boucher said. “They slowed after the accidents. They need to be slower around turns but not the entire route. We need our people to be on time for work.”