Metro-North caters to demand with plans to add service, upgrade equipment

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Interesting. Great to see my favorite railroad thriving!

Metro-North caters to demand with plans to add service, upgrade equipment

By CAREN HALBFINGER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: August 7, 2007)

Railroad plans for 2008

Trains:

- Design and buy 300 M-8 cars to start delivery in 2009.

- Rebuild 104 diesel coaches: new seats, windows, new wheel-sets, all mechanical systems - heating, ventilating and air conditioning, brakes, door systems, lighting, et cetera - and exterior painting and decals.

- Rebuild 31 dual-locomotives will have their engines, brakes, wheel-sets, all mechanical and electrical systems rebuilt and upgraded now through 2012.

- Overhaul 240 New Haven Line M-2s, which are getting new critical systems, through 2009: propulsion, door motors, lights, HVAC, toilets, seating, flooring, paint and new windows.

- Overhaul 140 M-3 electric cars for the Hudson and Harlem lines, through early 2009.

- Finish receiving 11 new diesel locomotives for branch line service and to haul work trains, early 2008.

- Begin using seven rebuilt F-40 locomotives West-of-Hudson.

Riding the train will probably cost more next year, but Metro-North Railroad wants commuters to believe they're getting their money's worth.

The railroad will add service and invest in railroad cars, stations, shops, yards, tracks and signal systems to meet the demands of a record-setting ridership. Metro-North is expected to deliver 79.5 million rides this year, up from 76.7 million last year, and rides are projected to jump an additional 2.4 percent, to 81.5 million, in 2008.

To meet the growing demand, the railroad plans to boost its schedule by 2,214 trains, to 204,437, next year. To allow more riders to sit down, Metro-North also plans to add cars to some off-peak and weekend trains.

This could take away some of the sting from the proposed fare increases that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will present to riders in the fall. But riders say there's more to be done. A shortage of seats was the most common complaint of rush-hour riders interviewed at the White Plains train station, closely followed by the request for more rush-hour express and local trains and on-board air conditioning that works.

"They need to have the air conditioning work on a regular basis and get the smell out of the old cars,'' said Kathi Rotondo, a lawyer from White Plains.

As Belinda Atkins, an overnight stocker at Target, ate a breakfast sandwich, she watched one crowded Manhattan-bound express train after another come and go from her spot on the platform at White Plains. She had finished work at 7 a.m., and by 8:40 a.m., she said, she had spent more than 20 minutes waiting for a train that would stop at the Fordham Road station in the Bronx.

"You can wait and wait and wait,'' she said. "They're all running express. They should have more-frequent local trains.''

Atkins was still smarting from the two hours she spent cooling her heels in the Wakefield station during a thunderstorm two weeks ago. Trains kept bypassing that station because of flooding at the Melrose station, she said, adding that track repairs that would prevent rain from washing out service would be much appreciated.

Atkins, 26, who commutes from the Bronx to White Plains and back, is part of a diverse majority. Since mid-2006, 51 percent of Metro-North riders have been people who travel from one Metro-North station to another without entering Grand Central Terminal, who reverse commute, or who ride midday, night or weekend trains. Just 49 percent of riders head to Manhattan weekday mornings.

The trains "need to run more frequently, and they need to have air conditioning,'' said Mohammed Daver, 27, of White Plains, who was traveling to Manhattan. "Very rarely do I get a seat," the business analyst said.

"From 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., we need more trains," said Lucienne Murtha, 41, an administrator from White Plains. "There are not enough cars on those trains. I have to stand from 30 to 40 percent of the time.''

Gil Silva, 71, a consultant from White Plains, agreed: "I rarely get a seat," he said, but he added that he appreciates the railroad's punctuality.

"During the busiest part of the morning peak, there's a train arriving in Grand Central nearly every minute and a departure nearly every two minutes," Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. "The four-track Park Avenue Tunnel is practically at capacity. And in the terminal, there is a limited number of platform tracks. As a result, opportunities to add peak trains are constrained."

Where the railroad has track space, it has been adding trains where needed during the early peak, late-morning and off-peak periods, Anders said. A lack of New Haven Line trains is hampering this effort, she said, but when new trains begin arriving in mid-2009, that will help all three lines. For now, some diesel trains are being used to supplement New Haven Line service. When those diesels are freed up, they can be used to add service on the non-electrified parts of the Harlem and Hudson lines, as well as on the Danbury and Waterbury branches.

To add to the schedule, the railroad needs trains that break down less often. Toward that end, Metro-North and Connecticut are teaming up to design and buy new trains for the New Haven Line. The railroad also will rebuild and replace key components in some electric M-3 cars, coaches and diesel locomotives for the Hudson and Harlem lines.

Some stations are also getting a new look. The railroad will finish replacing the inbound platforms and add elevators at Irvington, Hastings-on-Hudson and Dobbs Ferry, making them fully accessible to the disabled. It will start reconstruction of the platforms and overpasses at Phillipse Manor, Scarborough and Ossining and construct a new station at Yankee Stadium for a spring 2009 opening. Metro-North also will start replacing elevator doors on the Harlem and Hudson lines and increase elevator maintenance on the New Haven Line.

Behind the scenes, the railroad will build new coach and locomotive shops at the century-old Croton-Harmon railyard, construct a new $16.4 million drive-though train wash at the Highbridge Yard in the Bronx, and hire more than 20 mechanics for the New Haven Line repair shop.

To keep the trains moving, Metro-North employees will install more than 35,000 wooden ties, resurface 200 miles of track, install 45 switches, replace 35 miles of rail, and install 25,000 new concrete ties.

But if the signals don't work, the trains go nowhere. The railroad will continue work on a major signal study next year, in preparation for designing and building a new signal system.

Also next year, the railroad will start constructing a new operations control center, with upgraded software to monitor and control train traffic.

To streamline onboard ticket sales, the railroad will buy hand-held devices with wireless printers so conductors can give clearly printed receipts, skip manual reports and ease the railroad's ability to forecast ridership and revenue. The steep penalties for onboard ticket purchases will still apply.

The railroad also will buy two new systems intended to cut down on cars conking out. This could help it avoid the kind of slippery-rail fiasco it had in the fall, when two-thirds of the M-7 railcars were out of service with flat wheels, and will help it monitor the interaction between the pantograph shoe and the catenary wire on the New Haven Line.

Some riders are happy with the service and don't flinch at the prospect of a ticket price increase.

"I think it's the best deal in town,'' said David Langhorne, 44, an investment adviser from Greenwich. "The service is great. Ninety-nine percent of the time they're on time.''

Langhorne said he drives from his home near Westchester County Airport to the White Plains station because service from there is more frequent and reliable than from Greenwich.

"I hate the New Haven Line,'' he said. "This is quicker.''

For those who want to get a seat, Langhorne said, "take the local.''