Metro-North 2018

Metro-North’s Special Train Schedule Starts Friday for the Christmas, New Year’s Holidays

SantaCon is Coming to NYC Dec 8: No Booze for Santa on Trains

Metro-North Has Travel Tips and Schedule Changes for This Year’s Thanksgiving

Metro-North Advises Commuters to Watch for Weather Announcements

On Metro-North (and Other Commuter Lines) ‘On Time’ can mean Six Minutes Late: Cameron on Transportation

Metro-North, ConnDOT Say Most of the Recent Train Delays Due to Infrastructure Projects

Train Schedules Change for July 3, July 4

Metro-North Gives Explanation for Thursday Evening’s New Haven Line Delays

All Off-Peak Weekday Trains to Get Quiet Cars Starting Wednesday

Donate Blood at Grand Central and Get a Chance to Win Yankees Tickets

Changes This Weekend for New Haven Line, New Canaan Branch, Plus Schedule Change

13 MTA Police Canines Get Explosives, Anti-Terrorism Training

Commuters on Monday May Find Delays and Crowding: Consider Yourself Warned

Holidays

By DARIENITE.COM | December 20, 2018

Holidays

By DARIENITE.COM | December 6, 2018

Holidays

By DARIENITE.COM | November 19, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | November 15, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | September 24, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | September 7, 2018

Holidays

By David Gurliacci | July 2, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | June 29, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | June 19, 2018

Blood Drive 2018

By David Gurliacci | April 26, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | March 16, 2018

Animals

By David Gurliacci | February 16, 2018

Transportation

By David Gurliacci | January 7, 2018

Here’s Metro-North’s announcement (which we’ve edited) about train schedule changes for the days surrounding Christmas and New Year’s, 2018 and 2019. It includes tips that go beyond schedule changes:

[Editor’s note: Some of this is repetitive, but you may be looking up this announcement fast as you’re rushing to the station, so repetition may be helpful.]

And to make your yuletide travels even easier, we have a special Christmas/New Year’s Holiday Timetable with schedules for Christmas Day (Tuesday, Dec. 25), New Year’s Eve (Monday, Dec. 31), and New Year’s Day (Tuesday, Jan. 1).

SantaCon is “a charitable, non-commercial, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year to spread absurdist joy,” say the organizers. The event for Santa-dressed bar hoppers takes place Saturday, Dec. 8, as early as 10 a.m. in New York City. The starting point is at Plaza 33, at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan. Organizers have released a list of venues on this Web page (keep scrolling).

Metro-North has announced a Thanksgiving holiday timetable with these customer service changes on the New Haven Line from Wednesday through Sunday, Nov. 21 to 25. — an announcement from Metro-North

You can also find train times on our schedules page or on Metro-North’s new TrainTime App! We’ve got plenty of service to take you over the river, through the woods, and to your holiday destination. On Wednesday, Nov.

Metro-North is advising train riders to check for announcements about train service on Thursday, as the National Weather Service predicts snow, sleet and rain for the afternoon. “With the projected inclement weather predicted for our service territory, customers are advised to monitor mta.info, social media feeds or call our Customer Information Center at 511 (in Connecticut call 877-690-5114),” Metro-North said in an announcement at 10:25 a.m.

Darien Public Schools, as well as Stamford Public Schools, have cancelled all after-school and evening activities because of the expected inclement weather. See also: “After-School and Evening Activities Cancelled by Darien Public Schools” (Nov. 15)

Here’s the rest of the announcement:
We urge all our customers to take care when traveling. Stay clear of the platform edges, use handrails, and walk carefully when entering or exiting stations and boarding or leaving trains.

Last spring, Japanese railroad officials apologized for a huge mistake: one of their trains left a station 25 seconds early! This was the second time such an egregious error had been made and I imagine that the offenders were severely disciplined. Meanwhile back on Metro-North’s New Haven line, the railroad’s latest OTP (on time performance) statistics stand at about 82% — a new low. To make matters worse, what the Japanese railroads and MNRR consider “on time” are two different things. “On time” in Japan means the 7:12 am train departs at 7:12, not 7:11 (as in this horrendous incident which prompted the apology) nor at 7:13. “On time” means ON TIME. Metro-North, however, defines a train is being on time if it arrives or departs within five minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled time.

Metro-North and the Connecticut Department of Transportation issued this announcement late Friday afternoon to explain some of the delays on the New Haven Line and its branches (we’ve added the boldface and subheadings):

The recent trend of late trains on the New Haven Line, including the New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury Branch Lines, has primarily been the result of extensive, ongoing upgrades to infrastructure to ensure safe operations and make our service more reliable for the future. While the infrastructure work is necessary and in many cases, the train delays are unavoidable, we realize there is room for improvement in how we communicate with our customers. On the New Haven Line, delays have been largely the result of track outages and speed restrictions necessary to accommodate an unprecedented infrastructure investment program funded by the State of Connecticut. Much of this work will continue into 2019 and beyond. Projects include the construction of new bridges in Greenwich and Stamford, the continuation of our overhead catenary power replacement program, and the construction of a new railroad interlocking in East Norwalk. To accommodate the work, tracks have been taken out of service; unfortunately, however, with fewer tracks in service, our flexibility is reduced if another operational issue should arise.

Declare your independence from traffic and tolls this July 4th holiday by taking Metro-North to celebrate our nation’s birthday. — an announcement from Metro-North
On Tuesday July 3
On Tuesday, July 3, there are nine extra “getaway” departures from Grand Central Terminal starting at 1 p.m., nine of them on the New Haven Line (and eight others on the Harlem and Hudson lines). For the New Haven Line, here are the extra trains:

12:58 PM, stopping at Harlem-125th Street, Westport, and all stations between Fairfield and New Haven. 2:01 PM, stopping at Harlem-125th Street, Westport, and all stations between Fairfield and New Haven. 2:28 PM, stopping at Harlem-125th Street, Westport, and all stations between Fairfield and New Haven.

The extensive New Haven Line delays you experienced during yesterday’s p.m. rush were the result of a quick-moving summer storm with a lightning strike that damaged signal equipment between Green’s Farms and Southport.

— This is an announcement from Metro-North. Amtrak’s Acela trains were also delayed.

This occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m., preventing any train movement through the location for about 90 minutes. Signal maintainers manually operated switches to allow trains to begin moving safely on only two inside tracks at 6 p.m. The other two tracks remained out of service; limiting our ability to operate trains through the area. This caused delays of 40 to 90 minutes and required westbound trains to bypass Green’s Farms, Westport and East Norwalk Stations. By 8 p.m. we were able to operate on another track, restoring service to the three affected stations and operating with residual delays of 10-15 minutes. Repairs were completed overnight and we were able to provide full service this morning.

Effective June 20, 2018, Two Quiet Cars remain available on every PEAK weekday train thanks to the “Quiet CALMmute” program. Effective this Wednesday, June 20, there will now be one Quiet Car on all off-peak trains to better accommodate customers, Metro-North announced Tuesday. During peak weekday periods, commuters already have two Quiet Cars, and that policy remains the same. They’re either the first two cars, for trains headed toward Grand Central Terminal, or the last two cars for trains headed away from the terminal. The same pattern will hold for the off-peak trains, only with one car: Headed inbound to Grand Central, the first car is the Quiet Car; headed outbound, it’s the last.

A blood donation drive will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal. The first 250 presenting donors will receive a pair of tickets to an upcoming New York Yankees Game. To schedule an appointment to donate call 1-800-933-2566 or log onto AllAboardToSaveLives. Please bring I.D. with photo or signature. Eat well and drink fluids before you donate.

Booze is banned from trains on Saturday; some minor timetable changes for the New Haven Line will begin on Sunday, March 18; buses will replace trains late on Saturday on the New Canaan Branch, and the train to the games at Yankee Stadium will have some service changes, Metro-North announced. SATURDAY: No Booze on the Trains on St. Patrick’s Day
A Metro-North announcement (edited to include just the New Haven Line):

On Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, to maintain orderly travel for customers, Metro-North will not permit alcoholic beverages on trains, platforms or at stations. MTA Police will confiscate any alcoholic beverages brought onto Metro-North trains and facilities. Customers should buy round-trip tickets in advance using MTA eTix, or arrive at the station early to buy tickets.

Thirteen canines and their handlers, Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers, graduated from the MTA Police Department’s explosives detection and anti-terrorism training at a ceremony held in late January at Grand Central Terminal. ___________

— This article is a version of one in the MTA “Mileposts” newsletter. ___________
Most of the dogs are young German Shepherds and Belgian Shepherd mixes. A dog’s sense of smell is 3,000 to 5,000 times stronger than the human nose, which comes in handy for following scents untraceable by humans. Each canine forms a deep, emotional bond with his or her police partner.

« August 2022 »

Metro-North is warning commuters that Monday morning’s commute could be worse than usual. Here’s the announcement:

Metro-North will operate a regular weekday schedule on Monday, Jan. 8. Customers should anticipate possible delays and crowding due to the residual effects of the weather on our infrastructure and equipment. Please listen for announcements at your station.