State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, who represents Westport, and state Rep. Kim Fawcett, who serves Fairfield, are scheduled to be at the Greens Farms train station Monday at 7 a.m. to listen to commuters’ concerns in the wake of a power outage that has disrupted service over the past two weeks.
Both have stated that they support Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s demand that commuters be given full refunds from Metro-North for the number of days the trains are not in service. They also want Metro-North to give an explanation as to how an outage of such magnitude could occur.
“New Haven line commuters are long-suffering, from coping with substandard rail cars and tracks to frequent delays and outages,” Steinberg said. “It’s time Connecticut’s rail customers got a fair deal from Metro-North, starting with full reimbursement for every day without regular service.”
Calling the failed service outrageous, Fawcett stressed that the rail system cannot “wait until the next major failure to open the conversation.”
“It is outrageous that an entire train system can go down and we just expect people to find another way to commute or not go in,” she said.
John Hartwell, a Greens Farms resident who serves on the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said that bad weather coupled with poor maintenance “have led to numerous shutdowns in the past few years, and commuter rail is critical to the economy of Connecticut.”
“We need a fully-funded, long-term plan to bring all the components into the 21st century so that Metro-North can provide the level of service that we deserve and expect,” he said.
