Weekly News Roundup, 12/31 
Our very last news roundup for the year… here are the interesting and relevant stories from this week:
An express train headed north passes Valhalla station on Friday 12/30, the last commuting day of the year.
The Metro-North Passenger Pledge
The Metro-North Bill of Rights previously mentioned on this site has morphed into a “Passenger Pledge” – and as of the 21st was approved by Connecticut’s Commuter Council. There aren’t really any amazing revelations, and it generally details policies already in effect in words. And although it promises courteous employees, there is obviously no promise for courteous fellow riders. Probably the only noteworthy addition is that in the event of train cancellations, riders will be permitted to return purchased tickets without having to pay the new ten-dollar returned ticket surcharge.
You can see the pledge here.
New Haven Line Fare Increase
Fares on the New Haven Line will be going up – increases will be going into effect on January 1st. Fares on the Hudson and Harlem Lines had already gone up previously.
Fare increase charts available have apparently been causing some confusion listing significantly higher on-board fares for branch-line stations like Merritt 7. This was in fact a mistake, as on-board surcharges are not charged for passengers at many branch stations, as they do not have ticket machines.
Danbury is your favorite Branch
According to our vote, the Danbury Branch beats out the Waterbury and New Canaan branches with 64% of visitors saying it is their favorite.
Bronx rail project debated
A Metro-North study has been launched, investigating linking the East Bronx to Penn station. It would include four new Metro-North stations.
Ridership up 3%
November ridership on the Harlem and Hudson lines was up 3%, compared with 2010. Weekend shopping also increased ridership in the month of December on both Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.
Top 10 photos in Ossining
The Daily Ossining has created a photo gallery of the top 10 photos of the year in their town. The top photo shows the flooded Ossining train station after Hurricane Irene.
Child falls into the gap
On Thursday at Beacon station, a four-year-old boy fell into the gap between the train and the platform. Thankfully, the child was not injured. Problems of this nature likely peak during holiday times, when children are off from school and board trains on adventures to the city. It should go without saying, keep extra watch on young children, especially those unfamiliar with riding the train.
Boston Railroad Wrecks
This might be a little morbid, but I love a recent post over on I Ride the T about train wrecks in Boston.
January 4th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Emily, I would clarify that the Penn Study has been ongoing for years, but gets press every so often. This is particularly true as we get closer to the LIRR completing its East Side Access Project (now estimated at 2018). This project would allegedly free up capacity at Penn which the MTA would then allocate to MNRR.
Of course, several think this won’t happen: that the LIRR won’t decrease service to Penn in lieu of service to GCT; that the LIRR will divert trains from its other non-Penn terminals to GCT; or that Amtrak or NJT have first dibbs on new slots at Penn (not withstanding the constraints that Amtrak and NJT have in the North River (Hudson) tunnels.
I would also clarify that this would be NH/CDOT service. The study at one point envisioned many different alternatives involving all three lines (Hudson, Harlem, and NH), and has been reduced to two main alternatives, with two variations (peak and off-peak) for Hudson and New Haven only. Lately, it seems all the chatter is the east Bronx Hell Gate service.
It’s a quite entertaining debate over by us:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=17711
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January 5th, 2012 at 10:28 am
Oh, and p.s., I apologize for picking nits. I love this project.
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Emily Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
No, by all means, for quite a while I didn’t get any comments whatsoever, so I enjoy that people are actually discussing. But I must laugh at your link, are there ever any debates on your forums that are *not* entertaining? You’ll get somebody on there that doesn’t know better and starts to troll Dutch… then that thread gets locked real fast :P
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Jeff Smith Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Dutch tolerates me because I am the keymaster. In reality, we have a good understanding. It’s all in good fun…. most of the time. And yes, the debates are ALWAYS entertaining. But it drives traffic, which makes the boss happy. Now if I can just get a raise….
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