Major Service Disruption on NE Trains

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Railroad Bill

Railroad Bill

Buckeye Train Watcher
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
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3,918
Location
Northern Ohio
I suppose this is old news to those who live in the area around New York City, but just learned out here in the hinterlands of the major electrical disruption that shut down regionals, Acelas and Vermonter trains all day. Apparently the latest is that the outage will not be repaired in time for rush hour. :(

I was checking the status of the Vermonter today since we will be riding it this coming Saturday and it was in service disruption as well. Apparently they ran a couple of diesels between Stamford and New Haven but that only made a small dent in the traffic north of NYC.

Of course when that happens around here we just join our Amish brethren is some candlelight dinners :p
 
The disruption is caused by a failure of a Con Ed feeder cable which has severely hampered Metro-North operations on the New Haven line between Stamford and GCT. MNRR is running diesel powered trains, but they can only carry a fraction of the normal daily traffic. The latest reports are this is a serious failure which could hamper operations for days and take several weeks for a full repair of the feeder line. Has not been a good year for Metro-North and the New Haven line.

If the signal system is still powered and operational, Amtrak may be able to use diesels to pull Regionals from New Rochelle to Stamford or New Haven.

Just posted CBS New York article with the latest updates. Which does not have good news.
 
Sounds like it could be several days before service in the NEC is restored north of NYC. :help:

Perhaps we should start looking at other alternative routes for our weekend excursion on the Vermonter :(
 
Bill, you're having bad luck with the trip, aren't you. Hope you can enjoy it nonetheless.
 
WNBC reports it could be weeks before power is fully restored and CT Gov. Dannel Malloy is asking commuters in the affected area to try and work from home for the duration. Commuters are cranky and there is not enough train space to get everyone out of Grand Central in a timely manner with just one Diesel Local running per hour. But they have not said a word about any Amtrak delays.
 
Their using diesel locomotives to pull Amtrak Regional trains through the effected area between I assume somewhere near Sunnyside and Stamford, checking status maps looks like 1/2 hour to hour delays. Acela is suspended (although one train seems to be operating with a Regional Trainset).

Did notice this.

Train #176 arrived in New Haven 41 minutes late at 5:50pm

It's connecting shuttle train #476 left for SPG just 5 minutes late at 5:25pm not waiting for the Regional it was supposed to connect too!

The whole point of the Regional/Shuttle connection is its guaranteed!
 
Amtrak has posted an updated service alert (5:30 PM ET, Sept. 25):

Due to the ongoing commerical power problem in the New York area affecting Metro-North Railroad territory, Amtrak Acela Express service will not operate on Thursday, Sept. 26 between New York and Boston. However, Amtrak Northeast Regional service will operate under diesel power through the affected area.

Additional cars are being added to Northeast Regional trains to add capacity to accommodate Acela Express passengers traveling between New York and Boston. Passengers should expect delays of up to one hour due to the diesel operation.

Acela Express and Northeast Regional trains will operate normally between New York and Washington, D.C.
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if Amtrak can move enough diesels to Sunnyside yard and NYP, the Vermonter can get a diesel loco at NYP or wherever the Regionals are being swapped and keep the diesel for operation north of NHV.
 
We have decided to go to Plan C :eek: which is reserving a rental car in Springfield, Ma. If the Vermonter does not operate on Saturday, we will get the car and drive to Burlington on Saturday. We have reservations at hotel in Burlington for Sat. night and our next day ride from Port Kent to Cleveland is already set. At least the weather looks like it will be nice. :)

If the Vermonter does not run, I will just have to cancel the Shuttle rides we were planning for Saturday morning and of course, the Vermonter ride. But we would still have our LSL ride to SPG and the aforementioned Adirondack and LSL back home on Sunday. :huh:

This has been a real fun time trying to make this weekend work. With the LSL being so late into NYP almost everyday and with the Metro North trains out of commission, Plan A (a weekend in New York City) is just as well rescheduled for another time.

Holding out hope that Plan B (Vermonter ride and shuttle points runs) will go, but with Amtrak--ITS ALWAYS AN ADVENTURE :p
 
Railroad Bill, just curious how far south on the Shuttle from SPG are you planning to go?

Just so you know, Windsor Locks is literarily a bus shelter on the edge of a parking lot with nothing around. Windsor is more substantial actually inside a town although the historic station isn't opened to the public, now offices. Hartford is a big city station.
 
This is an odd question, but why not run some trains to 125th Street and comp subway passes to commuters to get there?

Edit: Assuming that you'd have to spend 30 minutes getting a single train in there and out through some push-pull work, and that you could do one train per track on three of the four tracks at 125th Street, that'd still get you from 1x/hour to 7x/hour.
 
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I think the problem for MNRR is having the fleet flexibility to run the diesels they need to get over the road. Amtrak can pull some diesel reserves over from Albany, Boston, Philly, or Washington, whereas Metro North has a very small fleet of those. Keep in mind Metro North could shut the diesel down for its run into GCT, the issue most likely is having a diesel to run.
 
That point is taken; sorry, when I hear about issues with GCT I tend to think of the issue as being specific to GCT.
 
SubwayNut said:
Railroad Bill, just curious how far south on the Shuttle from SPG are you planning to go?

Just so you know, Windsor Locks is literarily a bus shelter on the edge of a parking lot with nothing around. Windsor is more substantial actually inside a town although the historic station isn't opened to the public, now offices. Hartford is a big city station.
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Plan B involved riding NER 147 down to New Haven in the morning and catching Shuttle 460 back, getting into Springfield around noon. Then riding Vermonter around 3pm up to Burlington.
 
battalion51 said:
I think the problem for MNRR is having the fleet flexibility to run the diesels they need to get over the road. Amtrak can pull some diesel reserves over from Albany, Boston, Philly, or Washington, whereas Metro North has a very small fleet of those. Keep in mind Metro North could shut the diesel down for its run into GCT, the issue most likely is having a diesel to run.
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It looks like from a fleet roster Metro-North has up to 31 P32AC-DM units on hand. Now since I do not have first hand experience with how that system operates, I'm curious as to how they are distributed and if they can bail in enough to run a decent schedule on the New Haven Line.
 
Not to ruin Plans A, B or C, Bill, but are you sure the ferry from Burlington to Port Kent is still running? :huh: I'm not certain but I think it stops after Labor Day. A few years ago, I took the Adirondack on one of the runs that had the Ocean View on it. We did not stop at Port Kent, because the ferry was no longer in operation for the season! :eek:
 
the_traveler said:
Not to ruin Plans A, B or C, Bill, but are you sure the ferry from Burlington to Port Kent is still running? :huh: I'm not certain but I think it stops after Labor Day. A few years ago, I took the Adirondack on one of the runs that had the Ocean View on it. We did not stop at Port Kent, because the ferry was no longer in operation for the season! :eek:
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Hi Dave,

I called the ferry operator and the last day of operation is Sunday September 29, which is the day we will be traveling :eek: . If I have to go to Plan D E or F, I think I will just forget the whole thing.... :giggle: . Amtrak did book my train ride from Port Kent to Cleveland so they darn well better stop and pick us up :p
 
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OlympianHiawatha said:
battalion51 said:
I think the problem for MNRR is having the fleet flexibility to run the diesels they need to get over the road. Amtrak can pull some diesel reserves over from Albany, Boston, Philly, or Washington, whereas Metro North has a very small fleet of those. Keep in mind Metro North could shut the diesel down for its run into GCT, the issue most likely is having a diesel to run.
Click to expand...
It looks like from a fleet roster Metro-North has up to 31 P32AC-DM units on hand. Now since I do not have first hand experience with how that system operates, I'm curious as to how they are distributed and if they can bail in enough to run a decent schedule on the New Haven Line.
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I would venture to guess most of those run on the Hudson line. Shifting units from the Hudson line to the New Haven line would cripple the Hudson side as well.
 
Saw you made alternative arrangements but FWIW I was supposed to take the Vermonter from Hartford to NYC this afternoon. It ended up being a bustitution to New Haven where we would transfer to a regional. I only found that out after getting to the station. Looking at the app and online beforehand, it showed Vermonters status as departing earlier stations with only a few minutes delay... no mention of the bus.

HFD shares a station with Peter Pan so at that point I just canceled the Amtrak ticket and took a direct bus into NY. You can see the tracks in a few places along the highway. The entire way we just saw one train, a northbound MNRR under diesel.

Finding alternate arrangements for the weekend was probably the best move.
 
Ok: MetroNorth, Connecticut, and ConEd are idiots that have to be locked in the dunce room for a day. I hope the wrath of the people who ride this line causes heads to roll and that the New Haven line is deeded over to make a unified Northeast Corridor under the same owner, the way it should've been done when ConRail ceded it.
 
Metro-North has had some really terrible luck this year, the New Haven Line deraliment in May, the Hudson Line freight derailment in July in goes on...

For Clarification the diesel fleet:

The Metro-North Dual-Mode Diesel Trainsets and Genesis P32AC-DM locomotives primarily run hourly or better service on the Hudson Line from Poughkeepsie trough Croton-Harmon into Grand Central.

They also provide four rush hour peak direction only rush hour through round trips from Diesel Territory at the northern end of the Harlem Line between Wassaic and Southeast, and up the Danbury Branch.

The Wassaic, Danbury and Waterbury branches during off peak hours are served by Shoreliner cars (that can operate into Grand Central) and diesel only Brookville BL20-GH Locomotives, their modified shunting locos that have some HEP. Shore Line East use the ex-VRE Mafersa Cars that can't operate into Grand Central because they lack automatic doors.

One idea though I've thought of would perhaps discontinue through service on the upper Hudson Line, and run shuttle service between Croton Harmon and Poughkeepsie, connecting to additional electric service using the numerous M2, M4, M6, M8s that are now basically out of commission to operate except for the Stamford-New Haven service and the New Caanan Shuttle (they can't all be stranded beyond Stamford).

Yes if you look at a Metro-North roster you'll also find Comet Vs but these are dedicated to New Jersey Transit service in their joint equipment pool. I don't think they even fit into Grand Central.
 
I see a focus on the Vermonter in this thread and want to add the the Vermonter IS operating SAB-SPG-SAB as a train, with busses SPG/NHV, and alternate regional train service NYP/NHV. If anyone had plans traveling between SPG and points North by Train, you should be good to go during this disruption.
 
Question for the board on the bustitution... Anyone know why Vermonter would turn back at SPG? I would have assumed it would continue to NHV under diesel and then transfer passengers to a regional instead of leaving a gap.
 
They can use the same trainset turning it at SPG but not NHV?

I'm surprised they can't just run the train all the way through and just do the engine change in Sunnyside instead of New Haven, would that work?
 
ne52 said:
Question for the board on the bustitution... Anyone know why Vermonter would turn back at SPG? I would have assumed it would continue to NHV under diesel and then transfer passengers to a regional instead of leaving a gap.
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Excellent question and the reason is turning the train at Springfield requires only one train set. For example P-42 #101 and consist departed SAB @ 8:58A on time and arrived at SPG 2:46P, very close to on time. There it turned to become today's north bound Vermonter, and departed @ 4:15P, just one hour late and was able to arrive at SAB @ 9:40P, 43 late. This is pretty reasonable considering the magnitude of the disruption, and again uses only one train set, and keeps both trains 55/56 SAB/SPG as close to on schedule as possible.
 
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