Frustration To End Monday For Metro-North New Haven Line Commuters

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Life is about to return to normal for commuters who rely on the Metro-North's New Haven line.

For the first time since it lost power nearly two weeks ago, the line will run at full capacity Monday morning.

"We have full power back," Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders told WCBS 880 on Sunday. "We will have all-electric service, and we are confident that things will go well."

Power was knocked out to the entire New Haven line Sept. 25 due to a failed Con Edison feeder cable. A second feeder cable was previously taken offline for scheduled service.

The New Haven line used diesel trains and was running at about 50 percent capacity because of the outage until last week, when service was boosted to 65 percent of normal.

Frustrated commuters had complained of overcrowded trains, long wait times and poor communication by Metro-North.

Anders said Metro-North has completed work on a new Mount Vernon substation, which was tested over the weekend.

"Con Edison and Metro-North determined that the fastest way to get power back to the New Haven line was not for them to fix the crippled line, but for Metro-North expedite its ongoing construction of a brand new substation at Mount Vernon," Anders said.

Customers holding weekly tickets valid from Sept. 25 to the date of full service resumption can begin applying for the credits on Oct 9. Customers with monthly tickets for September and October can begin applying for the credit on Oct. 20, when November monthly tickets go on sale, the MTA announced.

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