(The following story by Mark Ginocchio appeared on the Stamford Advocate website on February 18.)
STAMFORD, Conn. — An annual study conducted by Metro-North Railroad found rehabilitated rail cars on the New Haven Line outperformed the rest of the fleet.
The results of the “Mean Distance Between Failure” report — a rating system that determines the average number of miles a rail car can travel before it needs to be taken out of service for repairs — provide some hope for commuters who will have to wait at least three years for new cars to arrive.
According to the report, the 66 renovated M2 rail cars on the New Haven Line traveled 98,676 miles, on average, before service was needed. The remaining 175 M2 rail cars — the oldest in the Metro-North fleet — that have not yet been rehabilitated averaged 49,452 miles between breakdowns; the New Haven Line’s 54 M4 cars average averaged 44,539 miles and its 48 M6 cars averaged 65,117 miles.
While the railcar breakdown problems caused by last winter’s snow and icy weather brought the overall failure rate down to one of its lowest levels in years, Metro-North and state Department of Transportation officials said they were pleased by the performance of the rehabbed M2s.
“These old electric train cars proved more reliable than even we had hoped,” Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said. “And even in the past few months of cold, I don’t know of a single one that failed.”
Last winter, about one-third of the New Haven Line fleet was knocked out because the cold weather and ice frazzled electrical components.
A $150 million critical systems replacement plan began 18 months ago and aims to upgrade all 241 M2 rail cars that are more than 30 years old, 10 years past their life expectancy, within the next five years, said Peter Richter, DOT assistant rail administrator in the agency’s Bureau of Public Transportation.
The renovated trains feature new power inverters that don’t fail when moisture enters the components, Brucker said. The rehabilitation plan includes replacing the “coffin boxes” which house electrical components under the train, the rubber gaskets on the electric doors and the train’s bathrooms, Brucker added.
Richter called it “a pretty aggressive program. We’re taking this on from all angles. It just takes time to turn these things around.”
The goal of the program is to keep the New Haven Line’s oldest rail cars running until the state approves a plan to replace the fleet, officials said. Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed a $1 billion fleet replacement plan in her budget last week that must be voted on by the Legislature.
Metro-North’s Harlem and Hudson lines, which are funded solely by New York state, added new M7 cars in May and the failure rate gave some indication of their performance.
From May to December last year, the M7s averaged 108,332 miles between failures. But Brucker said because the trains were phased into service throughout the year and quickly taken off the rails if mechancial problems were detected, that number isn’t necessarily indicative of their performance.
“It’s really apples and oranges,” Brucker said of any comparisons. “It’s statistically meaningless.”
By October, the M7s averaged about 225,000 miles between failures. Brucker said it wouldn’t surprise him if the rail cars averaged about 200,000 miles this year.
But until Connecticut gets new rail cars of its own, the state must stay aggressive with its program or commuters won’t be able to get through the next few years, said Jim Cameron, vice chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council.
“I’m very encouraged, but there’s still a number of cars that need to be worked on,” he said. “And we have to continue that long after we buy the new rail cars.”