sTraining

MetroNorth ought to be ashamed of its New Haven line.  For the past several weeks, the railway has been plagued by cancellations, delays and overcrowding.    http://www.mta.info/news/stories/?story=186  http://www.lohud.com/article/2010102020331   Yesterday, during a morning rush-hour commute, fifteen minutes late and shoehorned into a car (lucky to make it in at all), I stood the entire way, squished against seated and standing passengers.  Others seemed to take it in stride; discomfort has become standard operating procedure this winter.

But that's the issue:  it's not just this winter and it's disingenuous for MetroNorth to consider this in isolation.  Some of us have memories . . . of the winter of 1995-96.  Trains were cancelled, delayed, crowded and overall unreliable.  I was very pregnant, ill and relegated to standing in order to work through my "partial bed rest" sentence.  No one cared.  No one offered me a seat, and I kept a card with my emergency info in my pocket, just in case I passed out.

I digress   . . . the point is, nothing has changed in 15 years.  There's been no improvement in the east of Hudson rail cars or rails, while the Hudson and Harlem lines are comparative luxury (I've taken trains to Dobbs Ferry and been amazed by the comfort and views).  The only difference perhaps is that passengers are resigned to this.  I wonder why.