Service suspended between STM and GCT

http://web.mta.info/supplemental/mnr/mn ... _info.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Park & Rides established, unfortunately many of them are quite far south.

Audio clip from a press conference recently providing an update on the events: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kg5gfxyd0y7i9 ... 0Beach.MP3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From the press conference, it seems like there is going to be two trains operating through the affected area at any one time. The trains will operate non-stop and will be limited to 60 m.p.h.

http://www.mta.info/mnr/NHLPowerLossWeekday.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mount Vernon East, next stop Rye! During peak hours note that there are close to no trains making local stops south of Harrison that don't originate there.

During the off peak, when everything's local, I guess they're still going to use diesels.

lirr42 wrote:From the press conference, it seems like there is going to be two trains operating through the affected area at any one time. The trains will operate non-stop and will be limited to 60 m.p.h.

That makes perfect sense. They're saying 13MWe, it takes about 7MWe per train at max acceleration, so not stopping that math works out. The new schedules are up on the site. It's still frustrating that they are operating less service than they could be with only diesels...

2 M8s were spotted on 2 Harlem line trains on this day, the first was on Train #9518 the North White Plains to GCT Local this morning which I went on it and the other one was on Train #9532 at Harlem - 125 Street on the Semi - Train from North White Plains this afternoon.

I understand that NH Line MU's (with pantographs along with 3rd rail) have been operating on the Hudson Line to provide GCT-Croton legs of NY-Poughkeepsie schedules so that some of the coaches and locomotives normally assigned to NY=-POU service could be used on the GCT-Stamford shuttles.

Andy

I think I speak for many when I ask if anyone has any pictures or video of weird equipment moves as a result of this shutdown -- NHL equipment on the H&H, Amtrak regionals with diesels on the NHL, etc -- please post!

twropr wrote:I understand that NH Line MU's (with pantographs along with 3rd rail) have been operating on the Hudson Line to provide GCT-Croton legs of NY-Poughkeepsie schedules so that some of the coaches and locomotives normally assigned to NY=-POU service could be used on the GCT-Stamford shuttles.

Andy

That would be good if that was the case. But then where did all the Maxi's go? If they are in fact doing that, there were about 7 Maxi sets plus 50 coaches MIA.

redline43 wrote:I think I speak for many when I ask if anyone has any pictures or video of weird equipment moves as a result of this shutdown -- NHL equipment on the H&H, Amtrak regionals with diesels on the NHL, etc -- please post!

There are a bunch up on YouTube, including one of M-8's and M-7's side by side in White Plains. There are a whole bunch at STM showing Maxis and Amtraks, and one at Harrison (although it doesn't show frankensubstation). I found that searching for Amtrak is useless, search for Metro North and look for stuff posted in the past few days.

You cant realistically expect MN to run every maxi bomb flat out all the time.. As much as any locomotive they can get is needed, lets be real here, to run every maxi all the time is how you're going to start breaking the P32s.. Busted P32s is probably the last thing MN needs at the moment. Plus, power failures such as this don't exactly announce themselves, a couple were probably due their 92 day inspections. MN needs to be smart about how they run their fleet, regardless of circumstance.

Metro North is still using diesel trains for the trains north of Croton-Harmon. There is only so many diesel sets you can give before you affect service north of there. Some trains have been operating through to Grand Central while some have required a change at Croton-Harmon to an electric train. It doesn't make sense to cut service on one line so the other line can have full service. Hudson Line riders had to suffer just as much with the freight derailment back in July where for days they had to be bussed to Yonkers from the subway in the Bronx.

mvb119 wrote:Metro North is still using diesel trains for the trains north of Croton-Harmon. There is only so many diesel sets you can give before you affect service north of there. Some trains have been operating through to Grand Central while some have required a change at Croton-Harmon to an electric train. It doesn't make sense to cut service on one line so the other line can have full service. Hudson Line riders had to suffer just as much with the freight derailment back in July where for days they had to be bussed to Yonkers from the subway in the Bronx.

That was a garbage train.. In the middle of a summer heatwave. No one suffered more than the brave souls tasked with cleaning it up.

beanbag wrote:

mvb119 wrote:Metro North is still using diesel trains for the trains north of Croton-Harmon. There is only so many diesel sets you can give before you affect service north of there. Some trains have been operating through to Grand Central while some have required a change at Croton-Harmon to an electric train. It doesn't make sense to cut service on one line so the other line can have full service. Hudson Line riders had to suffer just as much with the freight derailment back in July where for days they had to be bussed to Yonkers from the subway in the Bronx.

That was a garbage train.. In the middle of a summer heatwave. No one suffered more than the brave souls tasked with cleaning it up.

Believe me, they have my full empathy having worked many a time out in the heat, and also in those ungodly tunnels under the east river. Brave is an understatement for them.

lirr42 wrote:Audio clip from a press conference recently providing an update on the events: Press Conference Audio link

Amtrak7 wrote:Weekday schedule link
Mount Vernon East, next stop Rye! During peak hours note that there are close to no trains making local stops south of Harrison that don't originate there.
During the off peak, when everything's local, I guess they're still going to use diesels.

Thanks to you both for the links.

I noticed that as well, the trains stopping in the affected zone all originate at Harrison and will probably be diesel. Allowing two MU trains an hour through the affected zone has apparently allowed them to eliminate the bus transfer at Rye. That's got to be great news for Old Greenwich-Rye commuters. That had to be a real pain. You could get tired of that real quick.

Apparently Amtrak is getting some slots through the zone for electric operation because they are advertising limited Acela service on Monday and that has to be all-electric I believe.

Here's an M-8 train arriving at White Plains on Friday evening: Link

I don't know about ridership patterns at rush hour, but there seem to be way too few AM rush inbound trains east of South Norwalk. It seems like they wanted all those to be MU's.