Here's Why Metro-North Trains Are Crowded

Did you feel a little more squeezed than normal during your commute on Metro-North's New Haven Line on Wednesday? You're not alone, and the MTA has released an explanation for the overcrowding.

Turns out Tuesday's rainy weather, coupled with an abundance of wet leaves along the tracks in many areas, created particularly slippery conditions. And those conditions led to issues with braking for many rail cars, and that damaged some of the wheels.

The trains with damaged wheels had to be taken off-line for repairs, which resulted in fewer rail cars and overcrowded conditions.

Expect those conditions, and some delays, to continue this week. Below is the full text of the MTA statement:

Customers should anticipate shorter trains than normal this week, with the potential for crowded conditions and delays. The extended period of light drizzly rain yesterday (December 5), coupled with the ongoing late-season fall of leaves created extremely slippery rail conditions, which resulted in damage to train wheels during braking.

Cars with wheels that are damaged beyond FRA safety limits must be removed from service, resulting in a short-term reduction in the number of available rail cars.

Although a common problem every autumn throughout the Northeast, yesterday's weather created a perfect storm for a condition known as slip-slide, as light misty rain mixed water with leaves that had fallen and continue to fall throughout the region. The action coated rails with a mess of wet, crushed leaves that exudes a slippery natural combination of cellulose and pectin. This slippery leaf slime poses no danger to customers or crew members, but causes train delays as train wheels lose traction against the rails.

As trains attempting to stop momentarily slip along the rails, the movement of stopped steel wheel along the steel rails causes wheels to develop flat spots. Train cars with flat spots must immediately be taken out of service for repairs, leading to trains that are shorter than normal, with the potential for crowding to develop. Our equipment maintenance forces will be busy throughout the week working to build back our fleet sizes to full strength.

Last night Metro-North placed 30 extra personnel on the main floor of Grand Central Terminal to assist with customer information, and will continue extra staffing until the situation is resolved.

Read about Metro-North's efforts to combat slip-slide at http://web.mta.info/mnr/html/slipslide.htm

A video of Metro-North's leaf-fighting train is available at this link: https://youtu.be/H0uUGCnzEbw

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve these issues.

Photo credit: MTA