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CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
NEWS RELEASE
2800 BERLIN TURNPIKE P.O. BOX 317546
NEWINGTON CONNECTICUT, 06131-7546 |
| FOR RELEASE: September 25, 2017 |
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
TELEPHONE: (860) 594-3062
FAX: (860) 594-3065
WEB SITE: www.ct.gov/dot |
New Metro-North New Haven Line Schedule Takes Effect on Sunday, October 8
Small Schedule Adjustments Will Enhance Service and Reliability
The MTA today announced that Metro-North Railroad will make a handful of minor adjustments to the New Haven Line schedule, which takes effect on Sunday, October 8. Metro-North never stops working to make your commute even better, and these small schedule changes support the railroad’s commitment to meet customer expectations and enhance safety, service and reliability.
Metro-North’s goal is to ensure that schedules adequately reflect the on-going infrastructure work taking place on the New Haven Line and branch lines. Year to date, Metro-North crews have installed 8,000 ties, 8.1 miles of rail, seven switches and renewed nine crossings, and this is just a portion of the railroad’s infrastructure work. In cooperation with Connecticut Department of Transportation, Metro-North has also initiated replacement of the railroad’s aging signal system to improve service reliability and capacity.
Additionally, Metro-North crews will continue making improvements to the line, including: over-head wire replacement between South Norwalk and Southport, and between Stratford and Milford. Elsewhere along the tracks, crews will replace timbers and rails on the Cos Cob Bridge, which carries trains over the Mianus River between Greenwich and Stamford, and on the Devon Bridge, which carries trains over the Housatonic River between Stratford and Milford.
The new fall schedule adds a few minutes of running time to nine trains in the morning reverse peak and off-peak schedules. The adjustments will fine-tune train schedules to match actual train running times.
In its efforts to keep improving on-time performance, Metro-North thoroughly reviews train schedules and actual performance to address sources of delay, eliminate schedule conflicts and more accurately reflect operating conditions. The railroad then makes small time modifications to reduce the likelihood of cascading delays.
Details of the New Haven Line schedule are below:
New Haven Line:
· Nine outbound a.m. reverse peak and mid-day New Haven Line trains between 7:30 a.m. and 3:05 p.m. will have schedules lengthened by 1-3 minutes to reflect ongoing infrastructure work and the necessary safety-related speed restrictions this work entails.
· Eight outbound mid-day trains have minor schedule adjustments to intermediate travel times to better reflect the actual arrival times for those stations. The overall running times for these trains remain the same.
Metro-North has many channels for all schedule information and service updates.
Email and text message service updates – Customers are urged to sign up to receive the alerts by visiting MyMTAAlerts.com. To avoid unwanted messages, a user can tailor the messages to the specific branch, and the specific times of day.
MTA.info – The rail tab of the “Service Status” box at the left side of www.MTA.info
is always the definitive source for the latest status for each branch, updated every minute. In addition, customers can visit www.mta.info/mnr to see special service notices in the upper center of the page.
@MetroNorth on Twitter – Twitter users can follow @MetroNorth to receive updates of a similar nature to the email and text alerts, shortened to fit Twitter’s format.
Metro-North Train Time app – Customers who use the Metro-North Train Time app will see up-to-the-minute status for each upcoming train at each station. The app is available via the Apple Store for iOS devices or Google Play Store for Android along with MTA eTix - Metro-North Railroad’s mobile ticketing app which allows customers to buy Metro-North tickets on their mobile device -- anytime, anywhere. As a caution, trains that start out their trips on time may experience delays en route.
The above communications channels can be accessed while at home or on the go. For customers who are located at stations, Metro-North will post the latest service updates on digital signs at station platforms and will make audio announcements over public address systems, and on-board announcements made by train crews.
For those who prefer the telephone, information is available from the Metro-North’s Customer Service Center by calling 511, the New York State Travel Information Line, and saying: “Metro-North Railroad.” For customers calling from Connecticut, the number is: 877-690-5114. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can use their preferred service provider for the free 711 relay to reach Metro-North at 511.
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The most up-to-date information on MTA service status is always available at www.mta.info. For immediate notice of service changes, sign up for email or text alerts at www.mymtaalerts.com. For weekend subway service changes, visit www.mta.info/weekender.