Northeast Blizzard (2/8-2/9)

How has Amtrak been getting their trains up through NHV and onto BOS if MNR is still out?

mainline is clear, trains are buried in yard, and crews are buried in their home/yards, some have not seen a snowplow in their streets yet.

MNR is planning to run a "half" schedule on Mon,per a report on the WCBS stream,the weight of the snow on the pans along
with snow on the roofs of cars layed up at New Haven are making things difficult.
New Haven got 34 inches of snow to boot! Believe Amtrak not quite running a full slate today as well.
National Guard Troops have been called in to help the state of Ct with many roads still unpassable

NHL AM Peak reduced service east of Stamford and no service to Waterbury. Everything else normal.

MTA Service AdvisoryFor Monday, February 11, Metro-North will operate a regular weekday schedule on the Hudson & Harlem Lines, and to/from Stamford to Grand Central on the New Haven Line. Limited AM Peak Service will be in effect to/from New HavenFor Monday, February 11, Metro-North will operate a regular weekday schedule on the Hudson & Harlem Lines, and to/from Stamford to Grand Central on the New Haven Line.

Metro-North will resume limited AM Peak service on the New Haven Line between Stamford and New Haven. A special schedule for Monday through 3 PM will be available later tonight on this website.

The New Haven Line schedule includes:

Regular AM peak service to/from Stamford
Regular New Haven Line off-peak service
Regular New Canaan and Danbury Branch service resuming
Service will remain suspended on the Waterbury Branch until further notice. No substitute bus service will be provided.

Since many roads remain closed in the New Haven area, many train crews are having difficulty reporting to New Haven yard in order to operate train service. With parts of the line still buried under four feet of snow, there is also limited track and yard availability.

Metro-North employees continue to conduct aggressive snow clearing operations in the New Haven and Bridgeport yards and to clear track switches that allow trains to change from one track to another.

For Sunday, February 10:

Metro-North is operating a regular schedule on the Hudson Line and the Harlem Line (including the Wassaic Branch).

A regular Sunday schedule is also in effect on the New Haven Line between Stamford and Grand Central.

For train times, please view our interactive schedule page for further information, or see the schedules below:

Hudson Line Sunday Schedule

Harlem Line Sunday Schedule

New Haven Line Sunday Schedule (to/from Stamford)

Service remains suspended between Stamford and New Haven as well as on the Branch Lines.

Crews continue working to remove deep snow from yards in New Haven and Bridgeport and to clear the track switches that allow trains to change from one track to another. At this moment, about 45 Maintenance of Way workers from NYC Transit are on board a diesel train to Bridgeport and New Haven Yards to assist in the clean up effort.

There are two jet engine snow blowers at work and CDOT has sent two front end loaders and several triple axle trucks to remove snow from the yards. In addition, deep snow has to be removed manually from the roof of each train car so that the pantographs can go up and down. The pantographs are the mechanical arms that capture electricity from the overhead wires.

People may notice that Metro-North Railroad will be running empty trains up and down the line this afternoon and evening to loosen the wires and pantographs and test the switches. These trains cannot carry passengers because of the uncertainty of conditions along the right of way and we do not want to strand any customers. These test trains will help the railroad assess the conditions and better plan tomorrow's service.

We urge customers to monitor media reports and to check this web site for the latest updates.

Please take care when traveling and allow for additional travel time. Customers should use caution when entering and exiting trains, and on platforms and staircases.

NH2060 wrote:Thank you for sharing your insight into the good ol' days. That whole business about even PC running in bad weather (considering how much of a botched operation it was) really says something. You'd think a RR like MN (whose reputation as a commuter rail carrier is undoubtably superb compared to PC) would have more intuition to run at least something. I remember when I was 12 during the '03 Presidents Day Blizzard and seeing Maxi Bombs stopping in Greenwich every 2 hours. I myself was rather disappointed to see the MBTA completely shutdown the commuter rail during this storm; I took a walk by the tracks on the North Shore and they sure as heck looked passable. I guess lawyers, liability suits, and insurance BS have taken over even the best of things these days

Connecticut closed the roads to all but emergency vehicles and utility trucks. I believe NY State did the same in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess. What's the point of running trains if you can't get anywhere when you get to the station? And how are the crews supposed to report if they're snowed in at home?

I agree that sometimes organizations today are overly worried about liability. However considering that this storm dumped more snow on Connecticut than anything since the Blizzard of 1888, I don't blame Metro-North for shutting down.

An operational question-- do the ground-level signals on MNR make it impossible to use a spreader to clear snow?

We don't have spreaders so we will never know, We do however use ballast regulators, which do have wing plows.

http://alert.mta.info/sites/default/fil ... MON_AM.pdf

I expect massive overcrowding, but something's better than nothing. Hopefully the PM peak schedule is better.

Westchester county did not close the roads

From the pictures and descriptions, I think this storm may have topped the blizzard of January 7/8 1996. The big difference is MN has learned to shut down operations instead of trying to keep trains running in severe weather. That kind of thinking destroyed almost 2/3 of the New Haven Line fleet of MU's and it literally took years to recover from that mistake. Some of the M2's were so badly damaged (burned up) that some never ran again and 12 pairs were sent to the MK Shop in Hornell NY from 1997 to 1998.

This storm was not an unexpected surprise and it's potential was forecasted days in advance.Since it was a massive storm on a Friday and would disrupt the service,longer trains with as much of the fleet as possible,should have been run to GCT and left there,protected from the elements.I have experienced the severity of the extremes of the weather on the physical plant and the equipment especially the M series cars which are more delicate and sophisticated than the older,more rugged and reliable MU'S and locomotives.No plan would have been perfect due to the lack of employees from all the departments needed to continue the operations especially employees under an hours of service law,but MTA has had a lot of years and experience on how to prepare and make an attempt to keep running.When extreme havoc from an act of God occurs,then no one can be faulted if there is no service account people's lives are foremost and not always knowing the magnitude of the potential danger that lies ahead,but this is a snow storm that has occurs many times since trains started rolling and there are options to prepare for and counter this scenario with a little more thought and effort on the part of the managers and some input as well from the unions involved who really carry brunt of the company's successful operations.

From SLE:

SLE Thru Trains



Monday February 11, 2013.

Due to weather conditions, Metro North evening thru Trains from Stamford will not be operating on Monday February 11, 2013.

Passengers are urged to take a Metro North train to New Haven Union Station and transfer for a Shore Line East connecting train.



Tuesday February 12, 2013

SLE Trains 1633 & 1637 will transfer at Union Station in New Haven instead of Stamford on Tuesday February 12, 2013.

NYCTA rotary showblower beiing pushed by CDOT 128 (Brookville BL20gh) two of these snowblowers are being used including personel from NYCTA.

Dutch,

Great shot, stupid question: Shouldn't the yellow light(side) be placed next to the track governed at (manual) block limit Beak? That wasn't part of rule for Metro Morth/NYNH&H or they all are this way with the red side adjacent to the track?

I was just wondering the same thing when I came to the above post.