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New York Shutdown
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority was surprised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that all rail, tran- sit, and bridges would be closed and a trav- el ban enforced in advance of the blizzard expected from an offshore Nor’easter. On the evening of Monday, January 27, Grand Central Terminal was eerily deserted (ABOVE). Digital screens (TOP RIGHT) advised of canceled subway service due to snow, a fi rst for New York City. The Long Island Rail Road concourse at Penn Station (RIGHT) was also vacant following the cancellation of all trains. Snowfall was nowhere near predict- ed amounts, and limited service resumed the following day.
PHOTOS BY PATRICK CASHIN, COURTESY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
Finally, ten SD9043MACs were renum-
bered in November, including: UP 3584 (ex- WP 8162), 3638 (ex-WP 8177), 3706 (ex-WP 8226), 3708 (ex-WP 8228), 3737 (ex-WP 8272), 3738 (ex-WP 8276), 3743 (ex-WP 8293), 3744 (ex-WP 8294), 3746 (ex-WP 8296), and 3751 (ex-WP 8302).
PASSENGER AND COMMUTER OTTO M. VONDRAK
Winter Storm Shuts Down Northeast
As forecasters predicted late-January blizzard conditions for much of the eastern seaboard, transit agencies from Boston to Washington took precautions to protect not only their customers, but their trains as well. By the af- ternoon of January 26, 2015, rail and transit systems across the region prepared to either shut down or dramatically curtail their ser- vices. Possibly the most bizarre reaction came from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who
announced a complete shutdown of all Met- ropolitan Transportation Authority services, including Metro-North, the Long Island Rail Road, and the New York City Subway. The announcement caught the MTA by surprise, according to a report posted to The Brooklyn Paper. The vast majority of the Subway is un- derground, unaffected by snow. The MTA had prepared contingency measures to keep trains running reliably through all kinds of weather, yet these plans were ignored by Albany. Sub- way trains continued to run through the night to keep tracks clear, but carried no riders due to the governor’s imposed travel ban on the region, stranding many city residents. Neighboring New Jersey Transit wound
down its operations, and anticipated resum- ing commuter rail service by Thursday at the earliest. By Tuesday morning, it became clear that the New York metropolitan area escaped the worst effects of the storm, and limited service resumed on both NJT and MTA lines. Transit services in Philadelphia and Baltimore were largely unaffected by the storm, operating on modified “winter weath-
er” schedules at the beginning of the week. It was a different story for coastal Con- necticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, however. The storm intensified and dumped more than two feet of snow over two days, forcing service to be suspended system-wide on all Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail and transit lines, as well as Connecticut’s Shore Line East commuter rail. Amtrak service was affected with limit- ed service on January 26 and suspensions on January 27, including the Lake Shore Limit- ed which was turned back at Albany-Rensse- laer, with no service to New York or Boston. By Wednesday, January 28, Amtrak services up and down the Northeast Corridor resumed with increasing frequency. Boston finally began to dig out on January
28, with limited service resuming that day on all lines except the Mattapan-Ashmont Line which remained suspended through the end of the week. Connecticut’s Shore Line East resumed with a limited schedule as well. By the end of the week, normal operation had re- sumed.
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