Although commuters burned out by Metro-North Rail Road’s frequent train cancellations and delays this winter aim their ire at rail managers, the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council blames the Rowland Administration’s skinflint transportation budgets for the rail system’s winter of woe.

Metro-North riders have seen a rolling wave of train cancellations during January.

The Commuter Council says Metro-North is doing all it can with its equipment, but that many train-sets suffer from a design flaw that sucks fine snow into electronic systems, where it melts and re-freezes. The week of Jan. 19th, about 40% of train cars on the New Haven Line were out of service. Many of the cars are over 30 years old and have exceeded their expected service life. The Council reports that the railroad’s Connecticut shops are laboring 24/7 to return equipment to service, but that repair capacity is also weak, especially considering the age of the New Haven line fleet.

The 180 new rail cars set for delivery to Metro-North’s NY lines will not suffer the same cold-weather flaw as the older cars (Long Island Rail Road is already using many of the newer cars and is suffering fewer problems than Metro-North), but they will offer no relief on the New Haven Line, which uses an overhead wire power system, rather than the 3rd rail the new cars will be outfitted for.

Metro-North’s Hudson and Harlem lines and the LIRR have nonetheless had their shares of trouble with older trains. MTA action to accelerate a train-set purchase for Metro-North’s NY lines last week set off a protest by Mayor Bloomberg, who said it tilted transit capital spending emphasis in favor of the suburbs. MTA leaders said a NYC Transit subway car purchase was similarly moved up in 1999.

The New Haven Line is scheduled to get about 15-20 new cars in 2007-08. ConnDOT acknowledges it needs to buy up to 400 new cars for the New Haven Line, but that the Rowland Administration has kept on lid on such a request to the legislature. The state Transportation Strategy Board has confirmed the need for a huge capital investment in the New Haven Line, but has been unable to win appreciable new funding.

The Commuter Council is attempting to direct riders’ ire toward the Connecticut legislature: www.trainweb.org/ct.  

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