Metro-North: New Haven line to see delays for weeks

New Haven Line riders will continue to see delays during rush hour for weeks while Metro-North Railroad crews scramble to put together an emergency control panel where equipment in Greenwich, Connecticut, was destroyed by a weekend fire, a railroad spokeswoman said.

Passengers on the line can expect delays of six to 10 minutes, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

Anders said that while commuters encountered problems during the morning, the evening rush hour went much smoother.

"We had a couple of off-peak issues," she said. "Everything is A-OK at the moment."

The problems come just as the railroad is introducing new schedules aimed at restoring reliability and rebuilding consumers' faith in its service.

About two dozen New Haven Line trains were late during the Monday morning rush because of the fire and other snags — a late train out of Waterbury, Connecticut, and a switch problem in Stamford.

"It was not a flawless morning, to say the least," Anders said.

The fire that caused the problems broke out Saturday and destroyed a switching control house near Cos Cob. Its cause has not been determined.

Normally, the switching controls allow operators to designate three of the four tracks for trains headed in the peak direction, which is toward Manhattan in the morning. With the equipment knocked out, only two tracks could be used in each direction.

Anders said the problems would ease somewhat when the emergency panel is built, in perhaps a month. The custom-wired switching gear won't be completely replaced with permanent equipment, however, for 18 months.

The mishap became just another knock to customers' faith in the service.

"It's running 10 minutes late, so there we go," commuter Damaris Claudio, a legal assistant, said Monday morning after an announcement at the New Rochelle station that her train was running behind. She said it was difficult to say whether the new schedules will eventually build faith in Metro-North "just because they've been so unpredictable."

There were also 11 late trains on the Hudson Line and 14 on the Harlem Line, which is not unusual when schedules change over, Anders said. The railroad does not consider a train to be late unless it reaches its final destination, such as Grand Central Terminal, six minutes or more after it was scheduled to do so.

Lisa Oswald remains a fan of Metro-North's service – especially after experiencing years of frustration driving into New York City by car. She's been commuting by rail for the past three years.

Oswald said she usually takes the 7:23 or 7:46 a.m. express out of Hastings-on-Hudson to Grand Central. She said those times haven't changed under the new schedule.

She said her Monday morning train at 7:46 had been delayed by about five minutes.

"I am not certain if that's an anomaly but people should be accepting of that," she said. "I used to commute by car and the gridlock was highly frustrating and an unproductive way to start the day. I find Metro-North service very satisfying. It's a million times better."

Jim Cameron, a railroad activist, said he's giving Metro-North's new schedule some time. He said delays from the track problems are understandable for commuters going from Stamford into New York City.

"I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude to let Metro-North figure it out," Cameron said. "The railroad raised expectations spending two months coming up with the schedule. If it doesn't work they will have a lot of angry people who already have lost faith in the railroad."

Meanwhile, some Hudson Line riders at four stations in Yonkers and the Bronx continue to use bridge plates to board and disembark from trains in order to cross a section of track that is closed because of a mudslide in Yonkers.

The new schedules went into effect on Sunday. The railroad is promising they will shorten many trips to Grand Central Terminal by as much as four minutes. Some outbound rides were projected to take longer than before, particularly on the New Haven line.

The service has been riddled with a year of troubles that include a fatal derailment in the Bronx on Dec. 1. The new timetables are designed to be schedules the trains can meet safely and reliably, Metro-North President Joseph Giulietti has said.

Attorney Stephen Holden's 8:27 a.m. Harlem Line train from North White Plains arrived on time Monday morning, but then was delayed inexplicably for 18 minutes, he said.

"Mostly that was just sitting somewhere in the Bronx without moving," he said. "I don't see how that's any bit related to their safety concerns."

The new schedules are on the railroad's website.

Staff writer Steve Lieberman contributed to this report.