New York Metro Area Swamped with 2-3 feet Of Snow. Mass Transit is stopped cold.

At about Noon this past Sunday, December 26th, the 6th-worst deluge of snow fell on the New York City Metropolitan area. In the area surrounding New Rochelle, NY 22 inches fell while Staten Island and parts of New Jersey received 29”. In time, autos and buses stopped rolling as the drifts reached 4-5 feet. Even rail transportation saw severe delays and even cancellations as the day wore on. New Rochelle and other municipal governments declared snow emergencies for the blizzard conditions at hand.

On Monday the 27th, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road cancelled their commuter service. New Jersey Transit suspended bus service and cross-honored those tickets on commuter trains into New York Penn Station. Air traffic never took off as entire fight schedules were scuttled and terminals became temporary residences. In New Rochelle, Bee Line buses were nowhere to be found. The Post Office began ‘not guarantee-ing’ their next day mail service as those deliveries would be postponed somewhat. Shovel snow? It didn't feel good when the flakes came back to hit you in the face. In short, it became a day to stay home as that’s all you could do.

Tuesday the 28th proved better with some rail service into Manhattan with reduced schedules and cancelled trains ruling the day. In New York City, many streets were left unplowed in the surrounding boroughs and emergency equipment unable to reach their destinations.
With warmer temperatures melting some of the snow on Wednesday, the rail transportation picture improved and Bee Line buses resumed operation that I witnessed in New Rochelle. By Thursday, normal train schedule advisories were being sent out to the public by the commuter railroads.

Let’s hope the weekend rains don’t cause floods with the melting snow. If the floods happen, it might be a good time to use that new row boat I got on the 25th.

Note: Photos were taken in New Rochelle, NY 12/28/2010.

Metro-North’s New M-8 Commuter Car Debut Postponed About A Month

December 15, 2010 - According to a story published in the Connecticut Post, the spanking new New Haven line M-8 commuter cars are not coming on line this month as promised. Owing to a bug in the software, railway signal systems were disrupted while the cars were being tested. Kawasaki, that car's manufacturer, said the problem should be corrected soon.

I can't wait for these great-looking new cars to come on line into revenue service.

Click on the link for the whole story:
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Software-glitches-disrupt-signals-push-back-900772.php

On The Heels Of A Fare Increase, Summertime Ridership Survey Says 93% of Metro-North Customers are Satisfied With Service

New York, NY (December 14, 2010) – Metro-North riders found a note from the railroad on their seats tonight. The note was not about a service problem – it was an explanation of the 11.1% fare increase scheduled to take effect on December 30, 2010. In addition to the price up-tick for fares in New York State, the type of tickets sold and the terms they’re sold under have changed.

All WebTicket (internet purchase) discounts are being eliminated and a few types of tickets will no longer be sold via the web. Special event, ‘Getaway’, single day one-way and round trip tickets will no longer be available. The Mail&Ride 4% discount is being reduced to 2% or eliminated for travel between New York State stations. On-board step-up, ride extension and senior fares are also being increased. One-way and round trip tickets will be refundable only from 30 days of purchase, down from 6-months.
A $10 ticket refund processing fee will be implemented for redemption of unused or partially used tickets.
The life of issued tickets is being reduced. One-way and round trippers live only 14 days (reduced from 6 months) and ten-trips are reduced from 1 year to 6 months.

The bad news follows the good news Metro-North Railroad received that 93% of the customers surveyed this past June said overwhelmingly that they were satisfied with the train service overall. The poll had a range of topics from comfort, seat availability, and scheduling, to on-time performance and employee courtesy. The railroad also surpassed its sister commuter rail agency, Long Island Rail Road, for ridership last month.
"We at Metro-North are gratified that our customers are for the most part happy about taking our trains and that our front line employees continue to get extremely high ratings - 96% are satisfied with the courtesy and responsiveness of employees," said Metro-North President Howard Permut. "We will increase our efforts to improve in areas customers are least satisfied with, such as the perennial problems - toilets, both on trains and in stations, and communications during disruptions," he added.
Customer satisfaction is highest on the Harlem Line at 97% and the Hudson Line at 96%. The New Haven rating lagged at 88%, mostly due to the age of railcars and a chronic car shortage. This rating is expected to improve dramatically when 342 new M-8 fleet is introduced. Because the ratings are weighted by ridership and the low rating on the New Haven line, which is the busiest, brings down the overall satisfaction rating to 93 %.
On the two lines west of the Hudson (operated by NJ Transit under contract to Metro-North), the Port Jervis Line satisfaction rating is 84%, owing mainly to complaints about scheduling, and the Pascack Valley Line is 93%, higher because of the recent expansion of service with increased frequency.
Back on the East of Hudson side, among time periods, weekday off-peak and weekend off-peak got the highest ratings at 95% each, followed by the reverse peak at 93% and inbound AM peak at 92%. By line segment, the Upper Harlem and Lower Hudson each scored 98% satisfaction. The lowest ratings went to the Outer New Haven at 88% and the Inner New Haven at 89%.

Ground Zero Greek Orthodox Church Celebrates Vespers

Ground Zero, New York, NY (December 5, 2010) – At 2 pm today, a rare religious ceremony was held at the site of the former Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero. The ‘vespers’ rite is in itself not rare, but the fact that it was conducted on the site of a church that no longer existed, was the rarity.

The ceremony was marked with the appearance of ‘precious artifacts’ that miraculously survived the destruction of the World Trade Center area on September 11, 2001: the splintered wood icon of the Life-Giving Spring (Zoodohos Peghe); a tattered altar cloth, a crushed silver bowl used to hold the blessed bread; twisted gold-plated candelabra; bent brass bell; mangle candles and a liturgical book. These symbols were prominently held by children during the service.

The Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, spoke of the destruction of the church and the resolved for its ‘resurrection’ and said, “On the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas, I take this opportunity to warmly greet and gratefully thank all those who especially today have witnessed their devotion to Saint Nicholas but also expressed in very tangible ways, despite the adversities, their wholesale support and steadfast resolve for the rebuilding of the Church of Saint Nicholas on this most hallowed ground.” He added that, “Almost 10 years ago, our city and nation suffered a terrorist attack of unparalleled proportions. In addition to the tragic and horrific loss of almost 3,000 innocent victims, a number of whom were members of our own community, the world witnessed the unimaginable collapse of the Twin Towers”.

In attendance were several political figures including newly-minted State Senator Anthony Avella and New York City Comptroller John Liu.

The church was built by Greek immigrants and opened in 1916 and served three generations until it was destroyed on 9-11.
 
In published reports subsequent to the vespers, the church sued the Port Authority over rebuilding issues at Ground Zero. This story's final chapter hasn't been written.

Christmas Time In New York - Get Out There And See It!!!

New York City, December, 2010 - New York is a fascinating city year-round but Christmas time in New York has its own special charms. With childhood dreams and a willingness to fulfill them a common wish in this holiday season, the opportunty to experience those and other desires are realized more during this time of year than any other. There are an endless number of places to visit in town and I'll clue you in on a few of them.

Holiday-themed productions are the rule this time of year and Wintuk is no exception for juggling, tricks and other amazing things to watch and have fun with.

If model trains are your thing, the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botancal Garden in The Bronx is a truly incredible experience. Garden-scale (also known as G-scale) trains meader their way through New York landmarks - and some of them are just memories now. The original New York Penn Station was destroyed in the 1960s where Madison Square Garden now stands but it has been resurrected and built with recycled plant parts. Trolley cars once ruled the streets of our city but now operate there again as the photo on the right suggests. The layout has a vast assortment of real and imagined trains. Waterfalls and rivers? Plenty of them! Bridges? Lots of them! This is 'a real worthy' as we say in the local vernacular!

If you're looking for a giant Christmas tree to see, Rockefeller Center's is not the only one. In the Financial District, a 60-foot Norway Spruce sits in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Just to the south of the tree, Broad Street has been made into an historic pathway as the history of the street is chronicled on the ground.

There are many different museums in Lower Manhattan that are open for visitors during the day. Federal Hall, The Museum Of American Finance and Fraunces Tavern are just three of them. There are some buildings in the area that date back to the American Revolution. There are many parks in the area including the first public park in North America - Bowling Green Park, which is where the American Revolution began and ended. A 3-day 'Culture Pass' gives you a discounted price and even transports you to each museum in this special program.



If you're looking for a real train to ride, 1930's vintage IND subway cars operate every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. The 'Shopper's Specials' (right) began operating November 28 from the 'F' Second Avenue station on the 6th Avenue IND line to the Queens Boulevard IND's Queens Plaza station. These are the cars of folklore - wicker seats, ceiling fans and all the smells and sounds of yore. The free rides (yes, you must pay the regular subway fare) end on December 26th.

The Italian American Museum at the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets in Little Italy is an interesting place to learn about the immigration experience of Italians that migrated to this country. There are holiday-themed seminars and is a great snap shot of the past.



Grand Central Terminal rounds out this photo essay. Aside from the Main Concourse with its breath-taking sight, this historic structure also caters to shoppers. All kinds of goods are for sale in Vanderbilt Hall and food is available in the food courts on both levels.

What ever you do, enjoy the holiday season as here are a variety of places to go and places to see.

LIRR Goes Live With High-Tech Switching and Signaling in Jamaica

Jamaica, NY (October 25, 2010) – MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) President Helena Williams conducted the press conference to announce the railroad's new rail command center in Jamaica as culmination of the ‘Jamaica Cutover’ project. The new center, the Jamaica Central Control (JCC), replaces three manually-operated towers on the main line (Jay, Dunton and Hall) which surround Jamaica Station. The overall $56 million cost was funded by the MTA LIRR Capital Improvement Program and impacted ten of the LIRR’s eleven branches. She said that, “…this work was needed to help meet a $400 million 2015 unfunded mandate to implement positive train control. The project will help us get ready for the future and continue our ongoing effort to modernize."

The ‘Jamaica Signal and Switching Control System Cutover’ was completed using a pair of 48-hour weekend service disruptions within a 4-weekend window. Three trains made round trips out of New York Penn Station instead of customary nine on a normal weekend schedule with no LIRR train service between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. When responding to a media inquiry on why this work couldn’t be done at night, Ms. Williams replied, “Testing must be done on weekends because a [contiguous] 48-hour window is necessary.”

Note: Editors - for the whole story and to vew additional images for publication, contact me directly via e-mail at: transprailien@gmail.com.

MTA Celebrates Queens Midtown Tunnel’s 70th Birthday

New York, NY (November 15, 2010) – MTA Bridges and Tunnels celebrated the landmark birthday of the Queens Midtown Tunnel which linked Manhattan and Long Island City, Queens. It was the culmination of a 20-year lobbying and planning effort along with four years of hard work. At the time it was the largest, non-federal public works project in the nation.
“From its inception, the Queens Midtown Tunnel was a key link in the metropolitan region’s transportation network, providing a vital conduit for businesses, daily commuters and families exploring the cultural riches that exist from Manhattan to Queens and Long Island," said MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Jim Ferrara.
The MTA placed a collection of historic photographs and accompanying text in lobby of its lower Manhattan offices at 2 Broadway until the end of November. It was also among one of the most photographed projects. Commercial photographers took more than 4.600 photographs documenting each aspect of its progress. The display shows the evolution from construction of the tunnel thru its completion and opening from the MTA Bridges and Tunnels Special Archive.
History of the tube
Inspired by the new Holland Tunnel on Manhattan’s west side, civic and business groups began lobbying in the early 1920s for an East River tunnel to help handle a steady increase in traffic at its already clogged East River bridges. The city’s Board of Estimate approved $2 million to design and construct an East River tunnel but plans were put on hold when the stock market crash occurred in 1929.
In order to begin the construction process, the Public Works Administration promised $58 million loans in 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Then Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia created the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority, telling the new agency’s three-members, “You are starting from scratch with no appropriation and nothing but an idea and a law.”
The Oct.2, 1936 ground-breaking was marked with the push of a ceremonial button by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Over the next three years, the tunnel’s two tubes were excavated using the typical technology of the day - dynamite, drills and four circular 31’ wide cutting shields. The shield were lowered into shafts at each end of the tunnel and hydraulically shoved through the riverbed until they met in the middle. Sandhogs behind the shields assembled the 32-inch wide cast iron rings that still line the tunnels. As each ring was installed, 28 jacks behind the shield shoved new rings into place using 5,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. The work was particularly difficult on the Manhattan side where the rock was made of schist, limestone, gneiss and dolomite. All the rubble was removed using the Queens and Manhattan construction shafts. Work proceeded at a rate of about 18 feet per week for each shield. All totaled it took 54 million hours of labor to finish the QMT.
To blast the last six feet of rock between the Manhattan and Queens shields in both tubes, Mayor LaGuardia ignited the last dynamite charge on November 8, 1939. Fifty-three weeks later, opening ceremonies were held at the Manhattan toll plaza, attended by President Roosevelt, who was the first person to drive through the new tunnel. Other attendees included Mayor LaGuardia, Sen. Robert Wagner, and the tunnel’s Chief Engineer Ole Singstad, a well-known tunnel builder who finished building the Holland Tunnel after the death of its original engineer. In its first full year of operation, 4.4 million vehicles used the tunnel, paying 25 cents to cross it.
The tunnel today
Seventy-years later, the tunnel appears much the same as it did when it opened in 1940, except the original brick roadway, which was replaced with asphalt in 1995, and the addition of E-ZPass technology. The last major rehabilitation project, a $126 million project completed in 2001, replaced original 1930s materials and resulted in brighter lighting, new ceilings, new tiles along the walls and an entirely new traffic control system, including electronic message signs, and traffic control lights and signals. In 2009, 27.7 million traversed it.

SIDEBAR
Queens Midtown Tunnel By the Numbers (courtesy MTA Bridges and Tunnels)
•The south tube to Queens is 6,272 feet while the north tube to Manhattan is 6,414 feet
•There are a total of 178 employees at the Queens Midtown Tunnel. This figure includes 112 Bridge and Tunnel Officers, 18 Sergeants and Lieutenants, 37 Maintenance workers, 4 Engineers, 6 Managers and 1 administrative worker.
•The tunnel’s two ventilation buildings bring 3 million cubic feet of fresh air into the tunnels each minute, and provide a complete air change every 90 seconds.

Roosevelt Island Tram Reopens After 8-Month Overhaul

New York, NY (November 30, 2010) – After an extensive overhaul, the Roosevelt Island tram reopened after an 8-month overhaul that began March 1st. The upgrade by French-based Leitner-Poma, allows each tram cab to operate independently - making for improved rush hour service levels. The repairs were originally scheduled to be concluded by the end of August. This modernized and streamlined transportation system is ready to serve New York City/Roosevelt Island commuters, tourists and sightseers for the next thirty years.
The genesis of this upgrade arose in 2006 when the tram locked up and stranded riders hundreds of feet up in the air with no way to get down. The gondolas couldn’t move independently and those passengers were literally swinging in the wind for about 10 hours.
The two major benefits resulting from the completion of this project is that one cab could operate independently when the other is out of service and the 3-minute trip from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island is a minute faster than before. The new tram has been outfitted with two independently operated and powered cars (or pods) shuttling back and forth across the East River with the ability to carry up to 109 passengers at a time and 2 million people annually.

Note: Editors - for the whole story and to vew additional images for publication, contact me directly via e-mail at: transprailien@gmail.com.

NY Botanical Garden’s 2010 Holiday Train Show Opens

The Bronx, NY (November 16, 2010) – Today is media preview day for The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show which opens to the public on November 20th. This annual extravaganza showcases more than one dozen Garden-scale model trains weaving their way around various replicas of New York landmarks on nearly a quarter-mile of track. The Garden’s collection contains more than 140 structures—all created from plant materials such as leaves, twigs, bark, berries, seeds, pine cones, nuts, and pods.

This year’s notable addition is the new re-creation of Eero Saarinen’s icon of modern design, the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center at JFK International Airport that opened in 1962 (right).

NYBG fan favorites such as the original Penn Station [(1910–1964) left)], Yankee Stadium (1923-2008), the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall all return to the three Botanical Garden’s “crystal palace,” galleries in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

The New York Botanical Garden is located off the Bronx River Parkway’s 7W exit at Fordham Road and Metro-North Railroad’s Botanical Gardens stop of the Harlem line in The Bronx.


Note: Editors - for the whole story and to vew additional images for publication, contact me directly via e-mail at: transprailien@gmail.com.

Nat'l Railway Historical Society New York Chapter Celebrates Holiday Season

December 2, 2010, New York, NY - New York Chapter of the Nat'l Railway Historical Society celebrated the holiday season with a party and vintage videos of the railroads that called at Grand Central Terminal - the New Haven and the New York Central.

The group meets every month (except during the summer) in the Williamson Library of Grand Central on the first Thursday of the month.

Wishing eveyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah (whatever your belief calls for).