0

MTA NYC Transit Renames Crew Room in Memory of Late Employee

Posted by
on October 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm

The NYC Transit division of the MTA has just sent out a press/photo opportunity for tomorrow. The opportunity is in relation to the ceremony where they officially rename a crew room at the Astoria-Ditmars Blvd station on the N Train & W Train in memory of the late Michael A. Moore. Here are the details:

MTA NYC Transit, in an unusual move, is renaming a crew room in the Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. station in memory of Michael A. Moore, a veteran train operator and conductor on the N line.

WHO: Howard H. Roberts, Jr., President, MTA New York City Transit, and Roger Toussaint, President, TWU Local 100.

WHAT: MTA New York City Transit renames a crew room the Michael Moore Crew Room.

WHEN: Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. station platform.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
Introductions, Subway
0

Port Washington Branch Service Advisory Revision

Posted by
on October 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Earlier today I shared a press release that I received from the LIRR. The press release was to announce that service on the Port Washington Branch would be affected over 2 weekends due to track work on the East Side Access project. The LIRR has just sent out a revised press release regarding this within the last 5 minutes. Here is the revised press release:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road is completing the work to install a new switch and track configuration (called Wood Interlocking) just east of the East River Tunnels in Sunnyside, Queens, during the weekends of November 1-2 and November 8-9. The construction work is an important part of the East Side Access Project that will eventually bring MTA Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Terminal.

“In order to meet our future service needs, especially those linked to our East Side Access Project, the Wood Interlocking work is vital to the railroad’s successful operations,” said LIRR President Helena Williams.

During the weekend of November 1-2, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside customers will use temporary platforms to board and disembark from their trains. During the weekend of November 8-9, most Port Washington Branch customers will take # 7 subway service to complete their trips.

Weekend of November 1-2:

As part of the work, two of four tracks between Jamaica and Harold Interlocking (just east of the East River Tunnels) will be out of service for this weekend. Temporary platforms will be installed at Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside Stations. No other service impacts are anticipated.

Weekend of November 8-9:

Both tracks between Harold Interlocking (just east of the East River Tunnels) and Shea Stadium on the Port Washington Branch will be taken out of service for this weekend. Most Port Washington Branch customers will take the NYCT # 7 Subway train to complete their trips as follows:

Eastbound:

Customers may take LIRR service from Penn Station to Woodside where they will have a free transfer to the NYCT # 7 Line for service to Willets Point/Shea Stadium and then transfer back to LIRR Port Washington Branch service to points east. Or customers can choose to take the NYCT # 7 Line directly to Willets Point/Shea Stadium from Manhattan where they can transfer back to LIRR Port Washington Branch service to points east. Customers should anticipate increased travel time of up to 41 minutes.

Westbound:

Customers boarding at stations Port Washington through Flushing-Main Street will board their regularly scheduled trains at their stations and then transfer at Shea Stadium to NYC Transit’s # 7 Line for service to Grand Central Terminal. Or customers can choose to transfer back to the LIRR at Woodside Station for service to Penn Station. Customers should anticipate increased travel time of up to 58 minutes.

Affected customers should obtain a copy of the special November 8-9 Port Washington Branch timetable at their station or at Penn Station. Customers can also contact the LIRR’s 24-hour Travel Information Center in New York City at 718-217-LIRR, in Nassau County at 516-822-LIRR or in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR. The Travel Information Center’s TDD telephone number for the hearing impaired is 718-558-3022. Customers can also consult the LIRR website at www.mta.info.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
LIRR
1

Port Washington Branch Service Affected By East Side Access Work

Posted by
on October 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm

The LIRR just issued another press release within the last couple of minutes. The release which should hit their site sometime today was to announce that service on the Port Washington Branch will be affected due to track work related to the East Side Access project. Here are the complete details:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road is completing the work to install a new switch and track configuration (called Wood Interlocking) just east of the East River Tunnels in Sunnyside, Queens, during the weekends of November 1-2 and November 8-9. The construction work is an important part of the East Side Access Project that will eventually bring MTA Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Terminal.

“In order to meet our future service needs, especially those linked to our East Side Access Project, the Wood Interlocking work is vital to the railroad’s successful operations,” said LIRR President Helena Williams.

During the weekend of November 1-2, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside customers will use temporary platforms to board and disembark from their trains. During the weekend of November 8-9, most Port Washington Branch customers will take # 7 subway service to complete their trips.

Weekend of November 1-2:

As part of the work, two of four tracks between Jamaica and Harold Interlocking (just east of the East River Tunnels) will be out of service for this weekend. Temporary platforms will be installed at Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside Stations. No other service impacts are anticipated.

Weekend of November 8-9:

Both tracks between Harold Interlocking (just east of the East River Tunnels) and Shea Stadium on the Port Washington Branch will be taken out of service for this weekend. Most Port Washington Branch customers will take the NYCT # 7 Subway train to complete their trips as follows:

Eastbound:

Customers may take LIRR service from Penn Station to Woodside where they will have a free transfer to the NYCT # 7 Line for service to Willets Point/Shea Stadium and then transfer back to LIRR Port Washington Branch service to points east. Or customers can choose to take the NYCT # 7 Line directly to Willets Point/Shea Stadium from Manhattan where they can transfer back to LIRR Port Washington Branch service to points east. Customers should anticipate increased travel time of up to 41 minutes.

Westbound:

Customers boarding at stations Port Washington through Flushing-Main Street will board their regularly scheduled trains at their stations and then transfer at Shea Stadium to NYC Transit’s # 7 Line for service to Grand Central Terminal. Or customers can choose to transfer back to the LIRR for service to Penn Station. Customers should anticipate increased travel time of up to 58 minutes.

Affected customers should obtain a copy of the special November 8-9 Port Washington Branch timetable at their station or at Penn Station. Customers can also contact the LIRR’s 24-hour Travel Information Center in New York City at 718-217-LIRR, in Nassau County at 516-822-LIRR or in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR. The Travel Information Center’s TDD telephone number for the hearing impaired is 718-558-3022. Customers can also consult the LIRR website at www.mta.info.

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
LIRR
0

LIRR’s Diesel Fleet Shows Improvements

Posted by
on October 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am

Last October a consultant named Donald N. Nelson told the Long Island Rail Road in a report that its diesel fleet was in “serious trouble” due to frequent breakdowns. This led to a call to arms by the agency which has led to some nice improvements since last year. In a press release that was just sent out within the last couple of minutes & which should appear on their site sometime today, they talk about these improvements:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road’s diesel fleet has shown marked improvement in reliability as new maintenance procedures have reduced delays and down time for the engines.

“While we still have additional improvements to make, we are encouraged that our focus on this issue has produced tangible results for our customers in the form of fewer breakdowns and delays,” said LIRR President Helena Williams.

Consultant Donald N. Nelson last October issued a report saying the LIRR’s diesel fleet of 45 locomotives was in “serious trouble” with too frequent breakdowns. The 22 Dual Mode locomotives – which allow trains to be run on either electrified or non-electrified tracks – pose a “major concern.” On average the Dual Modes were breaking down every 12,425 miles rather than the targeted 30,000 miles, said Nelson. Following Nelson’s report, the LIRR hired an outside train maintenance expert to identify recurring problems and recommend solutions. That consultant, Booz Allen Transportation, issued one dozen recommendations to improve maintenance specific to the Dual Mode engines that were manufactured for the LIRR.

A special task force headed by LIRR Senior Vice President of Operations, Raymond P. Kenny, has overseen the reliability enhancement program and most of those recommendations were implemented in the past year with good results.

An update on the diesel fleet repairs was presented Wednesday to the Long Island Committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The key solution was reorganization of the LIRR’s diesel maintenance operation. All diesel fleet functions are now headed by a newly established position, the General Manager – Diesel Shops and Yards, reporting directly to the Chief Mechanical Officer.

In the last year – there have been 32 percent fewer repeat maintenance problems in 2008 compared with the same period of 2007. Previously, locomotives that had a problem in the field were brought into the shop, but were not held long enough for a proper diagnosis. The train was released back into service “with a trouble not found” ticket only to have the problem re-occur.

A major part of improving the diagnosis includes upgrading the LIRR’s Morris Park facility, where locomotive maintenance is done. The Morris Park maintenance shop was built to repair steam locomotives of the late 19th Century and needed to be upgraded to maintain today’s equipment. As part of the new procedures, better tracking of defective parts and computer software was implemented to create a case history of recurring maintenance problems and what solutions worked.

The LIRR is also improving training of its mechanics and is arranging classes with the equipment manufacturer to complement in-house trainers. Improved communication between engineers and crew members with maintenance personnel has helped to quicken the diagnosis after a debriefing of what mechanical problem happened in the field.

The new diagnostic repair procedures have worked as there have been, 119, or 30.2 percent fewer delays for diesel trains in the first seven months of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

In another area, there were zero incidents of Dual Mode locomotives being unable to switch from diesel to electric mode between January and June of this year. There were 16 such incidents for the same six-month period in 2007. There was a 55 percent reduction in the total number of Dual Mode failures resulting in a delay – with 30 in the first six months of 2008, compared to 66 for the same period of 2007.

The new maintenance program put the brakes on a trend of steady increases of diesel train delays from 2002 to 2007, averaging 9.5 percent increase each year – with more than 700 delays last year. However, there is a 31 percent decrease through July, 2008 as the new maintenance procedures were implemented.

The update provided to the Long Island Committee indicates that the diesel fleet shows a turn-around trend in terms of fewer delays and better performance.

The press release contained a report with a few pages worth of graphs to illustrate the progress made. You can see those images by clicking the links below:

Page 1-2

Page 3-4

Page 5-6

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
LIRR
0

Too Little Too Late Might Be The Story For The Ravitch Commission Report

Posted by
on October 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 am

This past June, I wrote an entry about New York Governor David Patterson appointing 12 members to the MTA Financing Commission. The commission which is headed by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch is known in most circles as The Ravitch Commission. Their goal was to recommend strategies to fund MTA capital projects and operating needs over the next ten years. Their report which is due in the first week of December was looked at by many as the saving grace to the MTA’s financial woes.

However due to the global financial crisis leaving no sector safe including transportation agencies like the MTA, the report’s recommendations might be too little too late. William Neuman of the New York Times has more in this report which will appear in today’s print edition:

When Gov. David A. Paterson created a commission last spring to recommend a solution to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s financial troubles, the panel’s head, Richard Ravitch, a respected former chairman of the authority, quickly took on white knight status, with officials and politicians hoping he would ride in before the year was out to save the authority from disaster.

Questions in recent months about the authority’s economic future have repeatedly drawn the same response: Wait for the Ravitch commission.

But the stock market’s troubles and the global banking crisis have accelerated the authority’s financial slide to the point that officials are now working to carve deeper cuts in their budget plans for 2009.

And it appears likely that there will be insufficient time for the State Legislature to act on the Ravitch commission’s proposals, meaning the authority will be forced to adopt an austerity budget with both service cuts and fare increases by late December, an official said.

Further, because of sharply falling revenues, an even larger increase in fares and tolls might have to be considered than in the authority’s earlier budget plan, which called for an 8 percent rise in revenues from those sources, the official added.

All that sets the stage for a winter of wrangling among the governor, the Legislature, the mayor and authority officials, who will be under intense pressure to rescue the region’s mass transportation system.

“We clearly are going to be laying out some very painful stuff,” Elliot G. Sander, the executive director of the transportation authority, said in an interview last week, referring to the budget discussions that will unfold over the next two months. “We are going to have to balance the issue of fare increases and service cuts and also see how we can cut our budget further. Those are the three pieces to the puzzle and we’re just in the process of dealing with those trade-offs.”

He said that agency heads within the authority have been put on notice that they may be asked to propose budget cuts greater than the 4.5 percent reductions they had previously been asked to consider for next year.

Click here for the complete report.

For those like myself who are in tune with happenings at the MTA, nothing in this report comes as a surprise. However even with saying that, one must be considerably worried when Elliot Sander says “We clearly are going to be laying out some very painful stuff.” This is an extremely powerful message & unfortunately for us, it is not a good one.

If I had to place a wager on service cuts happening immediately if things continue the current status quo, I would bet against it. While many consider the MTA to be against the public, they won’t do something such as cutting service when it is clear that more is needed. The fat will be trimmed from many layers including upper management down to employees.

However when all of that huge fat is gone, then & only then would they look into actual service cuts. The only thing I would worry about right now is how much fat they can realistically cut off that won’t get neutralized with an economy that continues to bottom out. While I wouldn’t ring the panic alarm yet, I don’t think we are far off from it ringing uncontrollably.

Can Ravitch somehow pull off the impossible this time? The first week of December will be quite historic for the MTA, whether good or bad remains to be seen!

xoxo Transit Blogger

You might enjoy reading these related entries:
MTA Finances