Humor

April 1, 2015

Grade Crossing Safety: Metro-North’s New Pilot Program

This morning Metro-North announced a new plan to get people’s eyes focused on grade crossings – literally. In a new pilot program, the railroad will be hiring people to wear costumes and protect grade crossings, reminding drivers not to stop on the tracks, or attempt to go around lowered or lowering crossing gates. Grade crossing incidents have been at the forefront of railroad safety recently, after three high-profile incidents caused major derailments, many injuries, and seven deaths. The three incidents occurred in New York, California, and North Carolina, proving that this is not merely a local problem, but a national...

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April 2, 2014

April Fools’!

As many of you surmised, yesterday’s post about the Metro-North Heritage Unit Program was most definitely an April fools’ joke. Here are some of the reactions from our little bit of tomfoolery: I was about ready to share this with a friend when I remembered what day it is. Enough of this nonsense. Just try to get me home on time. Unless there is a formal press release by the MTA or CDOT, no one should buy this. That is the UGLIEST paint scheme on a Genny I’ve ever seen! Nope. Not real. Admittedly, I designed the scheme to be...

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April 1, 2013

Construction on East Side Access Project Halted Indefinitely

While celebrating Grand Central Terminal’s 100th anniversary, we discussed a wide array of topics regarding GCT’s history, and its place in our lives today. The one thing that we failed to mention was one of Grand Central’s futures – a major one being the East Side Access project. Designed to connect the Long Island Rail Road to a new station underneath Grand Central, the new facility was estimated to open by 2019. Unfortunately, that timeline has been called into question after the discovery of fossilized remains in one of the underground tunnels where construction is currently going on. The first...

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December 21, 2012

Bye bye Joe Lhota, hello Sadie the cat?

In case you missed it, two big things in MTA land went down this week – (or should I say up?) fare increases are totally happening in March, and Chairman and CEO of the MTA, Joe Lhota, will be resigning. We’ve certainly had a seemingly endless revolving door in terms of MTA chiefs. Lhota has been at the helm of the MTA for just about a year, so I guess he didn’t really set any records for longest time served. People have been debating who should get the nomination to replace Lhota, and if you ask me, it should totally...

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October 30, 2012

The aftermath of Sandy on Metro-North, in one photo

Yes, this is the Hudson Line. Ossining, in fact. Metro-North service is still suspended, with no timetable for restoring service. Similar to Irene, the MTA has been keeping everyone apprised of what has been going on through their Flickr account. Some truly astonishing stuff. I couldn’t help poke fun at that one photo, however. Hopefully there will be service restoration soon, Metro-North is out surveying the damage, and hopefully not finding any more boats on the tracks…

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October 11, 2012

It’s that time again…

Ah, fall. Every Metro-North commuter’s favorite season. You know, the one where trains are slipping and sliding… After this morning’s commute, I felt that a repost of this was necessary: Most regular commuters are familiar with the fall slip/slide phenomenon, but if you aren’t, Metro-North always puts together a helpful little page explaining this recurring event. Please be a nice rider… don’t drop your banana peels on the tracks, or inside the train!