Commuter Age

Metro-North Railroad has finalized its customer satisfaction pledge after six months of work between the Connecticut commuter council, the railroad, and the Department of Transportation.

No word on when the nine point pledge will be displayed on trains, in stations, to let riders know what they can expect in terms of good service.

The final document which has  been through many edits offers assurances of Metro-North’s intent to meet the following standards:

*A safe and reliable ride. This assurance includes being comfortable and ontime,  maintaining functional lighting and temperature control for riders, working public address systems, and clean restrooms.

•Accurate and timely information about service conditions. This was a major plank of efforts to win this pledge, after more than 200 customers were stranded on a train between Green’s Farms and Southport last July which forced the issue of a customer pledge into the public eye.

•Courteous employees, defined as, employees who are helpful and courteous all the time and provide accurate and timely information to customers.

•A clean environment, as in the railroad will maintain a clean environment for customers and the communities they serve on railcars, at stations, and station buildings maintained. This includes efforts to keep areas on and off the train, litter-free.To me, this seems like the type of thing that depends on how civilized people are handling their own trash.

•Alternate transportation. This promise/pledge pertains to Metro-North’s assurance that the railroad will make every effort to open train doors at stations to allow waylaid riders to seek alternate arrangements for transportation. If Metro-North service is cancelled, the railroad would “make every effort” to substitute emergency bus service.

•During discussions, officials for the railroad and state Department of Transportation parried calls for a straight-ahead guarantee of bus service on the grounds it would be impossible to muster enough buses to carry tens of thousands of riders in the event of a New Haven Line service outage.

•In the event of a significant event stranding riders at a station for an indefinite amount of time, Metro-North will immediately put in action plans to help those riders. Emergency personnel will be dispatched to assist the riders and efforts made to provide water and other aid.

This is again linked to the July incident when 200 riders were stuck on a broken down train in 100 plus degree weather. Tempers frayed, and customers complained they didn’t have enough communication.

•If weather requires the temporary cancellation or suspension of service during extreme weather, the railroad will make every effort to let peopel know before they go.

•Severe service disruption procedures will include up to date information about service restoration estimate times.

•Metro-North will waive its much reviled $10 refund processing fee for unused One Way or Round Trip tickets when a Metro-North service suspension is declared on the MTA Web-site.

Metro-North Railroad will begin running train service to the newly built Fairfield Metro-Station on Monday December 5, with every train stopping at the Fairfield station also stopping at Fairfield Metro.

Initially, Fairfield tickets will be good for travel to/from Fairfield Metro.  In fact, tickets for Fairfield Metro will not be sold at ticket vending machines and ticket offices until January 2, 2012.  Customers who plan to travel regularly to and from Fairfield Metro Station should consider signing up for the convenient, ticket-by-mail program, Mail& Ride.

Located midway between the Fairfield and Bridgeport stations, Fairfield Metro should encourage the use of mass transit by providing 1,400 parking spaces. The station was built by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the Town of Fairfield.  CTDOT owns the entire station facility.  The station and parking lot will be operated and maintained by Fusco Management Company for CTDOT. Metro-North provides train service in Connecticut under contract to CTDOT.

Fairfield Metro Station is fully ADA accessible with elevators on each platform. In addition, the station has two, high-level platforms with full-length canopies that can accommodate 12 rail cars each.  Other station amenities include ticket vending machines, benches, shelters and a fully enclosed pedestrian overpass for easy passage between platforms.   Recycling centers also are available on the platforms.

Beginning in January, bus service to and from the station will be provided by Greater Bridgeport Transit.  Taxi service will be available at the station, which is located at 61 Constant Comment Way in Fairfield.

The New Haven Line, the busiest single rail line in the United States, carried 37.3 million people in 2010, a 2.8% increase over the previous year.

Fairfield Metro is the first new station on the New Haven Line since State Street Station opened in New Haven in 2002.  Prior to that, the last station to open was Merritt 7 on the Danbury Branch in 1985.

Customers on the Metro-North Railroad expecting to ride Saturday are being advised to check MTA.info or call 511 before traveling to ensure that the rails are running normally:

With a winter storm expected to move through the region today and tonight, the MTA is undertaking storm preparations to ensure safe travel across the region. Personnel are being deployed, snow-fighting equipment is being prepared to keep rails free of ice and snow, salt trucks are being readied for MTA bridges and chains are being put on bus tires for overnight service. With strong wind gusts expected, there are particular concerns about downed trees, and personnel and equipment are prepared to respond. Outdoor materials are being secured and outdoor construction may be cancelled as necessary.

We urge all of our customers to take extra care when traveling during the storm. Stay clear of the platform edges, use handrails on staircases and walk carefully when entering or exiting stations and boarding or leaving trains and buses. Please allow extra time for travel during the storm. 

With the storm expected to differ greatly in different parts of the region, customers are also urged to check MTA.info, call 511 or tune into news reports before traveling during the storm. For Metro-North Railroad the following service advisories are currently in effect:

• Because of the potential for heavy wet snow and high winds in our service territory, customers should anticipate possible delays, disruptions and cancellations.  

On Wednesday(Sept. 22)  the Department of Transportation and Metro-North announced the trains which will include cars equipped with two prototype bike racks being considered for installation on the state’s fleet of M-8 cars pending the completion of a pilot study on their relative quality. The schedule of the trains will continue through November 13.

The trains selected are only outside the railway’s peak operation hours of 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and 4 p.m. to

The DOT is hoping to get some feedback which you can get to them via this link.

The selected trains where the prototype racks will be available for use are as follows:

Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation are asking bike enthusiasts to try out two prototype bike rack designs for the state’s new M-8 railcars at two events this week.

Photos of the racks were not available on Tuesday afternoon.

The two potential designs will debut  on-board two M-8 railcars from 11am to 1pm, Thursday, Sept. 15, at Union Station, 50 Union Avenue,New Haven.
The designs will subsequently be shown from 11am to 1pm, Friday,Sept 16, at Grand Central Terminal, 42nd St., in New York City.
Riders are asked to bring a bicycle if possible to test the designs.

After the showcase, Metro-North and the DOT are planning to have the M-8 cars with the two designs assigned to specific New Haven line trains on both weekdays and weekends throughout the autumn where bicyclists could expect to use them.

Last August, Metro-North Railroad chose to not conduct a $100,000 trial to test out a bike hook design on-board M-7 cars on Metro-North’s M-7 cars, which are similarly configured to Connecticut’s M-8, and run on MNR’s Harlem and Hudson lines.

The reason given was that the trial could be delayed because the railroad lacked the required $1 million to fabricate and manufacture the racks for Connecticut’s M-8 fleet, and hundreds of M-7 cars on the Metro-North and Long Island railroads.

I just wanted to follow up my story in Monday’s edition with a reminder about Metro-North Railroad and Connecticut Department of Transportation holding a customer forum Thursday night on the wire problems which hindered your afternoon commute on July 22.

A total of 137 of the 600 trains on Friday July 22 arrived late as a result of the weather-related chaos brought on by the 100-degree-plus temperatures.

Most of the attention has focused on the 1:34 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal to New Haven, which was stuck for more than 50 minutes between Westport and Green’s Farms stations.

Here are the deets:

6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday Aug. 18, at Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Ave.

Metro-North President Howard Permut and Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker are expected to attend.

The Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, the state appointed watchdog group which represents commuters on the New Haven line is asking commuters to send them information about their travel experience during Friday’s wire-related service disruptions.

Council Chairman Jim Cameron said the council is especially interested in reportage from those who were stranded on trains without power or air conditioning or on put on cancelled or combined trains out of Grand Central Terminal.

Afternoon service was suspended westbound during rush hour due to three separate trains becoming ensnared in overhead wires that had drooped in the blistering heat.

Here is an excerpt of the announcement:

We’d especially be interested in what kind of communications you got from Metro-North train crews, platform announcements or e-mail alerts and how you felt that may have kept you informed of the delays ahead.

The Commuter Council will assemble all of this information to present to the authorities investigating Metro-North’s performance during this crisis.

Click here <mailto:CTRailCommuterCouncil@gmail.com>  to share your experiences.  Please forward this to your colleagues.  We need as many responses as possible.

Thanks for your continued support…

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police K-9 team has taken top honors for the second time in three years going muzzle to muzzle against other  handler dog combos from police departments throughout the nation.

The K-9 team of MTA Police Officer Kevin Pimpinelli and his German shepherd Mullen bested seven other dog-officer combos at the finals in Pearl,Miss at the U.S. Police Canine Association finals.