Think Commuting’s Tough? Try Being the Train

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Check out this awesome article that appeared in the NY times today about Metro North's New Haven Division. . I think it's a fascinating perspective.

Published In The NY Times 2-11-07

By GERRI HIRSHEY

Think Commuting’s Tough? Try Being the Train

I AM 30-ish, but I carry the weight of generations, from young hedge-fund hotshots to silver-maned matineegoers. I work a 21½-hour day, traveling 505 miles on $3,959 worth of electricity. On average, I service 3,905 of you daily, amassing evocative keepsakes of our time together: 16 bags of trash and 4 full toilet tanks, plus errant cellphones, scarves, jackets, laptops and sippy cups.

I am your Metro-North train, called in the yards a “consist”: 7 regular cars, 1 club car and 842 seats, making 8 trips daily between New Haven and Grand Central Terminal. And sister, if you think you’ve had it rough when you and your Diet Snapple sink into my spavined vinyl seats for the 7:11 back to Darien, consider this: Since, like a majority of the New Haven fleet, I’m made up of M2 cars delivered in the early 70s, I’ve got over a million miles on my weary chassis, no understudies and (until 240 new Kawasaki cars arrive, probably in three years) no hope of relief.

It is also my lot to carry the messiest commuters. You leave twice as much trash per trip as riders on Metro-North’s Harlem and Hudson lines.

Check me out here in the Stamford yard before I meet my public, with cleaned, disinfected and fully supplied rest rooms, mopped and wiped floors, seats, windows and doors. It all happened outdoors, from about 2:55 a.m. to 5:50 a.m. Since the temperature was in the single digits last night, mops froze on the trip from bucket to floor. Whatever it takes, I roll out as train No. 1307 at 5:57 a.m.

But you’ve probably never seen me at my freshest. By the time I huff into Grand Central at 6:59 — and I was on time 97.6 percent of the time in 2006, thank you — brown rivulets of spilled coffee are marbling my floors. The crew you see waiting on the platform has less than half an hour to collect your papers, half-eaten bagels and cups, scrape your gum and mop up your sticky lattes.

I need to be presentable for a 7:29 departure as Train No. 1510, and it’s a full load. Reverse commutes are way up; so is off-peak and weekend ridership.

Despite the burden, I can’t even get a decent shower. My spa — a supersize car wash — is closed in freezing weather. And for those of you who have groaned, understandably, at the announcement that “this train is being taken out of service,” a peek into our E.R. will be instructive. Triage is performed in this yawning repair shop (and one in New Haven) by John Kulka, the facility superintendent. He has worked in these yards 28 years and knew us M2s when we were young and frisky. Here he is, chewing a cigar and, most often, his knuckles as he tries to get 300 cars in and out of repair and inspection facilities that hold only 18 cars at once. When you have 70 broken-down cars “shopped,” well, you do the math. When blowing powder gives scores of us bad “snow ingestion” in our doors and undercarriages, burning out components, Mr. Kulka is faced with logistics comparable to a Rubik’s cube devised by Satan himself.

Go figure — he says he loves his job. But he would also love a little respect for our battle-weary tenders. “We do everything we can,” he said, “but we’re at the mercy of weather and mechanical failure. We operate on a 100-year-old catenary system. Two years ago, I had guys out here working 24 straight, lying on their backs in two feet of snow in zero-degree weather trying to fix cars. The press was tearing us apart. But these people work their hearts out.”

No one knows that better than Prena Beliveau, the car cleaners’ general foreman. She has been on the job 24 years and has seen it all — particularly in our restrooms. We will sum up her vivid descriptions with a sanitized adjective: unspeakable. I am also regularly tagged with graffiti. My seats are knife-slashed. New Year’s Day? Let’s just say that as we limp back into the yards, it’s no Parade of Roses. But as a rule, I am most sullied on the morning commuter runs.

Ms. Beliveau’s crews handle it, biohazards and all, with hourly wages beginning at $14.10. They have been working without a contract or a raise for four years. Nonetheless, they come in voluntarily during storms and take care of their own, donating 400 sick days to help out a station clerk whose baby son was badly burned. My stalwart mechanics, or “car knockers,” as they’re called, didn’t cause the state’s vexing transit woes. But they’re the ones with disinfectant and baling wire trying to hold it together.

Can I last until those spanking new Kawasakis arrive? I think I can, I think I can. But please, Joe and Jane Commuter, clean up your act.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/nyregion...xprod=permalink

[SpartanML 0]

That is truly a terrific article! That is what the media lacks nowadays, good ol' fashion make you smile and think articles. Hats off to the men, women, and yes trains of the Metro North. I also think the writer of this nice article deserves a tip of the hat as well! Nicely done!

[RichC 0]

This is a well written article but as someone who has been on the train since the late 80's I think the trash thing is a litte overdone. Having said that, riders have had rate hikes on a regular basis and yet as the article states we are operating on 100 year catenary system with cars from the 70's. The subways have had fare hikes too but the equipment and performance has improved quite a bit over the same time span.

I always hear about these on time stats and they make me wonder. What I don't like is being looked down on because I am a train commuter whose ticket price has tripled in my time on the train while the service, well let's just say it hasn't kept pace with the subway improvement. And I don't believe nor have I ever heard any one say that it is the fault of guys in the shop.

I have no doubt they do a good job with what they are faced with, I just don't understand why they are faced with it.

[Guest]

That's a great article and has some interesting facts. I would have had no idea that the New Haven passengers leave more trash than the other two lines. The trains are pretty gross.....

It'll be a really good thing when those new Kawaskis come rolling around from Yonkers.

RichC, you make a good point about the Subway fare, but comparing the Subway to Metro North is like comparing the Subway to the Disney Land mono-rail. The costs of purchasing and maintaining rolling stock for MNRR is more than double that of the subway. Revenue per car is lower too. An 85' MNRR car can hold only a few more people than a 55' Subway car (The subway cars are also a couple of feet narrower, even though the gauge is the same). The weather is also far less of a factor when the rolling stock spends much of it's time underground. Lastly, there are not many subway cars rolling around that are any where near 30 years old.

Who do you blame? The wonderful "other" state that the New Haven line (unfortunately) serves. Connecticut has not paid subsidies that even come close to what New York pays per rider. Thats why the Harlem and Hudson lines have nice shiny new cars and we're stuck with what the shops hold together with spit and glue. Hats off to the shops guys!

Well written article.

[RichC 0]

Interesting about the state of CT. I had heard something about that but I did not have the facts. I also think CT has more riders than NY does on the New Haven line. Maybe someone on here will know if that is the case. When you pull into Grand Central next to a new clean modern and uncrowded trains from the other lines, makes you a little mad especially in the summer when the train is steaming.

I went on a tour of the train shop with my son once. It is impressive. They do a job.

[Guest]

Great article. I drive by the Stamford yard alot. There is always alot of activity at all hours of the day. I think they do a good job given the age of the equipment.

[dadbo46 50]

This is a well written article but as someone who has been on the train since the late 80's I think the trash thing is a litte overdone. Having said that, riders have had rate hikes on a regular basis and yet as the article states we are operating on 100 year catenary system with cars from the 70's. The subways have had fare hikes too but the equipment and performance has improved quite a bit over the same time span. 

I always hear about these on time stats and they make me wonder. What I don't like is being looked down on because I am a train commuter whose ticket price has tripled in my time on the train while the service, well let's just say it hasn't kept pace with the subway improvement. And I don't believe nor have I ever heard any one say that it is the fault of guys in the shop.

I have no doubt they do a good job with what they are faced with, I just don't understand why they are faced with it.

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70% of the ridership on the New Haven LIne are from Connecticut. Hence, Connecticut has to come up with the $$ to pay for the cars, power system etc.

Note that the cantenary system has been removed in NY between the Woodlawn Jubnction and south of New Rochelle station where the Hell's Gate branch (AMTRAK) line joins the main line.

New cars have been ordered for the New Haven Line but you won't see them for a few years.

[Guest]

-The new cars (M8's) will be here in 2009.

-The NH Line costs are divided 65% - 35% with CT paying the higher amount

-CT riders pay higher fares because CT pays less per rider

-CT would not pay for new cars until recently, hence the 30+ year old cars

-The Catanary wire ends in Mount Vernon, however it is not live past the Pelham/MV border where the 3rd rail begins.