Meeting of the Metro-North Railroad Committee July 2018
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Meeting of the Metro-North Railroad Committee July 2018 Members S. Metzger N. Brown R. Glucksman C. Moerdler M. Pally A. Saul V. Vanterpool J. Vitiello C. Wortendyke N. Zuckerman Metro-North Railroad Committee Meeting 20th Floor Board Room 2 Broadway New York, NY Monday, 7/23/2018 8:30 - 9:30 AM ET 1. Public Comments 2. Approval of Minutes Minutes - Page 4 3. 2018 Work Plan 2018 Work Plan - Page 12 4. President's Report Safety Report MNR Safety Report - Page 19 MTA Police Report MTA Police Report - Page 22 5. Information Items Grand Central Terminal Retail Development Grand Central Terminal Retail Development - Page 28 Environmental Audit Environmental Audit - Page 46 Track Program Quarterly Update Track Program Quarterly Update - Page 50 PTC Status Report PTC Status Update - Page 62 Acquisition of Property from CSX Transportation, Inc. on the Hudson Line in Poughkeepsie, NY Acquisition of Property from CSX Transportation, Inc. on the Hudson Line in Poughkeepsie, NY - Page 90 6. Procurements MNR Procurements - Page 92 Non-Competitive- None Competitive MNR Competitive Procurements - Page 95 Ratifications- None 7. Operations Report MNR Operations Report - Page 103 8. Financial Report MNR Finance Report - Page 115 9. Ridership Report MNR Ridership Report - Page 136 10. Capital Program Report MNR Capital Program Report - Page 147 No August meeting. Next Meeting: Monday, September 24, 2018 at 8:30AM Minutes of the Regular Meeting Metro-North Committee Monday, June 18, 2018 Meeting held at 2 Broadway – 20th Floor New York, New York 10004 8:30 a.m. The following members were present: Hon. Susan G. Metzger, Chair of the Metro-North Committee Hon. Mitchell H. Pally, Chair of the Long Island Rail Road Committee Hon. Norman Brown Hon. Randy Glucksman Hon. Charles G. Moerdler Hon. Andrew Saul Hon. Veronica Vanterpool Hon. James E. Vitiello Hon. Carl V. Wortendyke Not Present: Hon. Neal J. Zuckerman Also Present: Hon. Ira Greenberg Hon. Scott Rechler Hon. Vincent Tessitore, Jr. Catherine Rinaldi – President, Metro-North Railroad Susan J. Doering – Executive Vice President, Metro-North Railroad Richard L. Gans – Vice President and General Counsel Glen Hayden – Vice President, Engineering Yvonne Hill-Donald - Vice President, Human Resources John Kennard – Vice President – Capital Programs John Kesich – Senior Vice President, Operations Mark Mannix – Sr. Director, Corporate and Public Affairs Owen Monaghan, Chief, MTA Police Department Michael Shiffer – Vice President, Planning Justin Vonashek – Vice President, System Safety The members of the Metro-North Committee met jointly with the members of the Long Island Committee. Ms. Metzger, as Chair of the Metro-North Committee, called the joint meeting to order. In addition to the Metro-North President and Metro-North staff noted above, President Eng and various staff of the Long Island Rail Road attended the joint committee meeting. The minutes of the Long Island Committee for the meeting of June 18, 2018 should be consulted for matters addressed at the joint meeting relating to the Long Island Rail Road. ________________________________________________________________________________ Master Page # 4 of 156 - Metro-North Railroad Committee Meeting 7/23/2018 PUBLIC COMMENT Murray Bodin stated that it is not necessary to blow train horns at Harlem 125th Street. He expressed his opinion that the red box painted on the roadway at the Roaring Brook Road crossing is illegal. He requested the Committee ask President Rinaldi why Metro-North is buying married pair cars. Additional details of the comments made by the public speakers are contained in the video recording of the meeting produced by the MTA and maintained in the MTA records. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND METRO-NORTH 2018 WORK PLAN Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Committee approved the minutes of the May 21, 2018 Metro-North Committee meeting. President Rinaldi reported that the Bi-Annual Report on the M-9 procurement is no longer included in Metro-North’s 2018 Work Plan since Metro-North has decided not to exercise the option on the M-9 procurement which will now be a Long Island Rail Road only procurement. A copy of the 2018 Work Plan is filed with the records of this meeting. PRESIDENT’S REPORT President Rinaldi reported that, in early June 2018, she travelled to Pittsburgh with Glen Hayden and the Positive Train Control (PTC) team to meet with the system integrator. The Long Island Rail Road was also represented at the testing site. President Rinaldi noted that a productive meeting was held with half of the day spent with Bombardier staff and half of the day spent with Siemens staff. The team visited the facilities, including the PTC test lab where they saw some of the testing being performed. President Rinaldi was gratified to see that the testing in the lab was going well. She noted that Metro-North still has some concerns with the resources available for the project. Metro-North continues to closely monitor the PTC project. President Rinaldi believes a high level of visibility is important to maintaining the schedule. President Rinaldi reported that the American Public Transportation Association gave Metro-North its highest safety award known as the Gold Award for Safety. The award, accepted by Justin Vonashek, was given to Metro-North’s Office of System Safety for its program “Together Railroads and Communities Keeping Safe” (TRACKS). President Rinaldi commended the Office of System Safety for their exceptional work in implementing the TRACKS program in a relatively short period of time. Since its inception in 2016, TRACKS has reached over 191,000 people. President Rinaldi noted that the program, initially focusing primarily on rider safety, grade crossing safety and trespassing, was expanded in 2017 to include campaigns about emergency preparedness, gap safety and bridge plate safety. TRACKS was again expanded in 2018 to include suicide prevention partnerships. President Rinaldi noted that the Gold Award is a recognition of Metro-North’s intense focus on safety. She thanked the Office of System Safety for their work and Mr. Vonashek for his leadership. President Rinaldi recognized and thanked her co-workers for their efforts on three recently completed projects. She recognized the Stations and Facilities team who constructed, on schedule, the temporary, mini-high level platform at the Port Jervis station to ease accessibility for Metro-North riders who utilize wheelchairs or have mobility-based disabilities. She also recognized the team involved in repairing and replacing the power poles and wires damaged during the March 2018 storms on the upper Harlem Line. President Rinaldi noted that replacement of the pole line was a concerted effort over eight-weeks and included the provision of a substitute bus service plan. She noted that the busing plan, which is no longer ________________________________________________________________________________ Master Page # 5 of 156 - Metro-North Railroad Committee Meeting 7/23/2018 needed, was supported by multiple departments. She thanked everyone for their work on that project. President Rinaldi reported that Metro-North completed the replacement of the west- side staircase from the street level leading up to the platform at Harlem-125th Street Station. She noted that the railroad will be replacing the east-side staircase at that station. President Rinaldi reported that Metro-North is aware of concerns about crowded conditions on the Harlem Line during off-peak times because of the March 2018 schedule change which was necessary to move forward with the White Plains Station project. She noted that the overcrowding on the platform and trains has been exacerbated at White Plains Station due to the closing of the southern end of the platform. President Rinaldi has asked the Operations Planning and Analysis Department to examine the overcrowding conditions to determine what measures can be implemented to mitigate these conditions. The Operations Planning and Analysis Department examined train ridership counts and based on those counts, it was determined that there were crowded conditions on the 7:59 p.m. local train from Grand Central Terminal to North White Plains and the 8:53 p.m. express train to Southeast with a connection to Wassaic. As a result, Metro-North increased both trains from six cars to eight cars. President Rinaldi asked Metro-North’s Operations Planning and Analysis Department and the Transportation Department to identify additional mitigation strategies. These departments have worked together to reinforce to the train crews to keep all cars on Harlem Line mid-day and evening trains with eight cars or fewer open for service. Train crews will also make announcements informing passengers if there are seats available toward the middle or the rear of trains. Effective June 20, 2018, Metro-North will reduce the number of Quiet Cars during the weekday off-peak period from the current two cars to one car all three lines. There will be no change to the Quiet Car program during the peak periods. Metro-North will continue to monitor ridership and make additional adjustments as necessary. President Rinaldi noted that, as Executive Vice President Doering reported at the May Committee meeting, in May 2018 service delivery was very challenging especially during the p.m. peak period. In May 2018, overall on-time performance was below goal at 91.0% while year-to-date May 2018 on-time performance was above goal at 93.1%. The railroad is experiencing a higher number of six to 10 minute delays in the off-peak period because of infrastructure work. President Rinaldi reported that in May 2018, overall on-time performance West of Hudson was below goal at 90.4%. Metro-North is pursuing several measures to mitigate the service impact on Pascack Valley Line customers due to New Jersey Transit’s decision to temporarily reduce train service system-wide, including one a.m. peak and one p.m. peak train.