Catenary, bridge improvements on the Metro-North New Haven Line
Written by jrood
MTA Metro-North Railroad timetables change on Monday, August 30 to accommodate a major, multi-year Connecticut Department of Transportation catenary and bridge improvement project on the New Haven Line.
The work involves the
replacement of the 100-year-old overhead catenary wires that supply power to
trains as well as the reconstruction of five rail bridges in this critical
section of the New Haven Line.
The schedule change will
affect most peak-hour trains on the New Haven Line. Harlem and Hudson schedules
will also have some minor adjustments to accommodate this work, since all three
lines share tracks between Grand Central and the Bronx.
On the new haven Line,
two of four tracks will be continually out of service between Southport and
Bridgeport, limiting track capacity. As a result, many peak-hour New Haven Line
trains (including some modification to Shore Line East trains) will operate up
to 6 minutes earlier or up to 14 minutes later. Also, station stops made by
some trains will change.
There will also be track
outages that will require customers to board trains from temporary platforms,
and occasionally from opposite-side platforms. Metro-North and CTDOT worked
together in an effort to limit the project’s impacts on providing reliable
train service.
As part of this effort,
trains will be using the new interlocking at Southport, which was built to
mitigate more significant schedule impacts.
The improvements to the
catenary system, bridges and signals will ultimately result in a more reliable
service.
