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Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

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 #884095  by MNCRR9000
 
From watching the forecasts it sounds like the Northeast is really going to get hit hard. There is currently a blizzard warning in effect for the tri-state area. 10-16 inches of snow is expected Sunday night into Monday. With a storm like this it is kind of a wait and see since it could track to the south east and just graze the northeast. Has MNRR begun any preparations for the pending storm??

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.p ... rd+Warning

Blizzard warning from the National Weather website.

Article from the New York Post.
Break out the shovels and driveway salt — as much as a foot of snow is expected to blanket the city starting tomorrow afternoon.

The Nor’easter is expected drop 8-12 inches of snow in Central Park and across the metropolitan area, with more than a foot possible in interior Connecticut.

“At the height of the storm, New York City will have sustained winds at 20-30 mph, with gusts as high as 50,” said Dave Samuhel, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com.

The storm is now forming over the northern Gulf of Mexico, near Pensacola as of 2:30 p.m. Christmas Day.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/s ... 2lm6BiFrWN
 #884115  by theozno
 
of course if this were during the week a plan would be in place... but since this is christmas, this could get pretty ugly with third rail. 3 maxi bombers are in Danbury. i don't see them being in use. Engines are all off at last check at this time. Metro north crews need time to prep them which woun't be until probably tomorrow night some time
 #884148  by HBLR
 
Now is the time to get service protection plans in place. Busses, stage work crews etc before the first flake drops from the sky.
 #884191  by num1hendrickfan
 
theozno wrote:of course if this were during the week a plan would be in place... but since this is christmas, this could get pretty ugly with third rail. 3 maxi bombers are in Danbury. i don't see them being in use. Engines are all off at last check at this time. Metro north crews need time to prep them which woun't be until probably tomorrow night some time
Should have seen the models for this storm early in the week, all over the place ( one was fairly consistent with a hit though ( Euro model ), then it wavered around Wednesday Thursday ). When Friday rolled around most everything came back West again.
Would hope MNRR like any other corporation in the travel business was paying attention to the potential storm since early last week.

Things will most certainly get ugly, but it's not like they shouldn't have plan in place for tomorrow and Monday. Would expect extra protect engines to rescue stalled trains ( especially if wires start coming down( and not just catenary wires ) ).
Worst impact though probably will be south of MNRR's territory, right here on Long Island.
 #884209  by HBLR
 
RearOfSignal wrote:Buses??? To replace trains in a snow storm? Good thing you're not in charge.
I'm not talking about snow, i'm talking about wind, tree on the line, traction power lost, snow or no snow, the wind is going to play a huge factor. If the power to 3rd rail goes out, that train is going to get cold rather quickly.
 #884219  by RearOfSignal
 
Whether it's snow, ice, wind, downed trees or squirrels that cause lost power how does a bus rescue a stranded train?

MNR will prep the equipment for snow tonight and tomorrow and call in crews to standby just in case. Good thing I'm off though. :)
 #884273  by Tommy Meehan
 
I wonder how many regular riders we have here? From about 1996 onwards Metro-North has actually done a pretty good job in major snow storms. A year or two ago an employee posted a description here about the preparations they made before one of these major storms. They take a lot of precautions.

Apparently because of the changing climate major snowstorms have become regular events and riding the Hudson Line I have had few problems. I usually see track crews standing by at Spuyten Duyvil and Mott Haven too. That really paid off on one trip when we were stopped below Riverdale. The crew announced we were stopping because a crossover switch at Spike was not locking. I thought, 'Oh great!' But someone asked the conductor how long she thought we'd be delayed and she said hopefully not too long, that there was a crew already there trying to clear the switch. She told me the crew had been there since early morning. The stop was only a couple minutes.

Last winter I had to take the train from Tarrytown to Yonkers during a very heavy snowfall. The local I rode just as the storm ended was actually on-time. I remember I had to take a cab from the Yonkers station because the Bee-Line buses had shutdown.

There was another bad storm last winter when I rode from GCT to Marble Hill. and later from Yonkers to Tarrytown. That day the trains were running okay, I had no problems. Westchester Bee-Line buses ran too but with major delays and reroutes.
 #884296  by DutchRailnut
 
as for workers, don't worry we will show up tomorrow ;-)
we got to bridge holidays to get them paid LOL.
 #884299  by Clean Cab
 
Wayside Observer wrote:With snow you never know how much you're going to get, or how long it will last. Remind you of anything else? :)

Groan!! You may have won the bad taste award for 2010!!!
 #884301  by joseph
 
management messed up in the 1996 storm. since that time these people are serious as to keeping the service reliable. before my retirement, i would be on the job continuously until my time was up for the day. i was proud to be part of this organization. MTA Metro North Railroad is the way to go.
 #884318  by checkthedoorlight
 
I was planning on taking a SLE/MNRR trip back to the city this evening, but with the blizzard coming, I decided to come back early instead. Apparently I wasn't the only one with this idea, since the SLE filled up all 4 cars leaving Old Saybrook (this was the first time I've ever seen all 5 seats in a row taken), and my 11 car train at New Haven was also so packed that they didn't even collect tickets. Fortunately, both ran without a hitch, aside from having to sit at CP 106 for about 8 minutes, which was when the snow really started to pick up. BTW, I did see 2 maxibombs sitting in New Haven yard.
 #884336  by Darien Red Sox
 
Advisory email was just sent out that Metro North will be running a Sunday schedule tomorrow
[Quote]On Monday, December 27th Metro-North will operate a regular Sunday schedule on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines due to the blizzard. See a current October 17 timetable or view http://bit.ly/ihfS8c for details on train times. [\Quote]