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- Seats in New M-8 Car
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- Prototype of New Rail Car
Talk about bad timing. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is the public corporation responsible for serving the transportation needs of the city of New York and 12 counties in Southeastern New York as well as 2 counties in Southwestern Connecticut. The MTA works in conjunction with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, overseen by Governor Jodi Rell, who originally had proposed the idea of investing in 300 new rail cars for the New Haven Line of Metro-North. Rell, also proposed a $1 per ticket surcharge to take effect after the new cars were successfully in operation.
The original date proposed for the brand new Kawasaki M-8 cars to begin testing on the New Haven line was August of 2009, with several M8’s in full operation by December of this year. However, August has come and gone and there is no sign of the M8 rail cars, which are manufactured in Japan and shipped over to the United States post-production.
Meanwhile, Governor Rell’s fair increase was approved by the state legislature in 2007 and was written into law to begin taking effect in January of 2010. And, what are commuters who ride the New Haven line’s 30-39 year old M-2 cars to New York City everyday supposed to get in return? They are going to be riding the same loathsome, cramped, and overheated cars passengers have continued to ride since the 1970’s.
Luckily, the Connecticut Board of Transportation is listening to advocates like Jim Cameron, Chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council and former NBC News Director and Anchor. Thanks to the help of Cameron’s outspokenness, the state legislature and transportation board have begun to realize the atrocity of raising fairs without new cars. According to an article by Martin B. Cassidy of the Greenwich Time newspaper, “The state’s transportation head told Connecticut rail advocates Wednesday that Metro-North Railroad commuters would likely skirt any fare hikes for at least four to six months, with existing fares possibly remaining in place until the state’s long awaited M-8 rail cars are in use.” (Greenwich Time, 9/17/2009)
Metro-North as a whole, like many publicly run programs, operates at an annual deficit, bringing in around $240 million in fares each year while having around $328 million in operating expenses. The state is able to bail out 65% of the deficit annually, but I am sure Governor Rell and the state legislature would like to close the gap towards profitability.
