40 trains have been added to the New Haven Line schedule to accommodate holiday shoppers.
The Harlem Line is also adding a special shoppers train on Sunday.

Also on the New Haven Line:

In the AM Peak, the 8:14 AM train from New Haven will now depart at 8:16 AM; the 9:18 AM train from Harrison will now depart at 9:19 AM.

On the Hudson Line, reverse-peak substitute busing will continue at Scarborough and Philipse Manor.

More information at MTA.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Metro-North Schedule Change Adds Holiday Shopping Weekend Trains

There are no schedule changes to the Harlem Line.

On the Hudson Line:

“With the completion of concrete tie installation between Cold Spring and New Hamburg, weekend and daytime off-peak train schedules will return to their pre-April times. This change will allow for faster travel times of up to five minutes for most off-peak Upper Hudson Line customers.”

New Haven Line Customers will see the bulk of changes:

• Weekdays on the New Haven Line, the 5:48 PM train departing Grand Central, which currently terminates at Bridgeport, will now make additional stops at Stratford, Milford and New Haven, where it will arrive at 7:36 PM. This change improves the frequency of service between Stamford and New Haven during the evening rush hour.

• The 5:30 PM train departing Grand Central, which currently terminates at Old Greenwich, will now operate to Stamford, where it will arrive at 6:29 PM, allowing customers from local stations along the New Haven Line to connect with the 6:32 PM train at Stamford (which is actually the newly extended 5:48 PM train from Grand Central to New Haven).

• We’ve added midday service to the Danbury Branch. A new train departs South Norwalk at 11:11 AM and arrives in Danbury at 11:58 AM, and a new train departs Danbury at 12:42 PM and arrives in South Norwalk at 1:29 PM, letting you connect with a 1:38 PM train to Grand Central. Adding this new service requires adjusting other midday train times by up to 60 minutes.

• Weekends on the Waterbury Branch, we have reconfigured our schedule, allowing us to increase service from four round-trips a day to five. This requires moving other weekend trains up to 87 minutes earlier or later, so check a timetable for details.

• The 11:18 PM train departing New Haven will now leave at 11:38 PM on weekdays and weekends. The 12:25 AM connection at Stamford will also depart later, at 12:41 AM. Finally, with the completion of concrete tie installation between Milford and New Haven, weekend and daytime off-peak train schedules will be adjusted back to their pre-April times.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: New Metro-North Schedule Effective October 5th

According to MTA, the money will reappear in your account if you were affected – riiggghhttt…..

I guess the MetroCard machines work similarly to the recent fare hikes – money in, nothing in return.

As usual, MTA doesn’t tell us about the problem until after they have fixed it.

In related incompetance, a broken-down New Haven Line car resulted in delays of a half hour or more during rush hour this morning.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Metrocard Machines Took Money, Gave No Cards – Systemwide – For 2 Days

Also please remember that on Memorial Day (Monday, May 26) Metro-North will operate a Holiday Schedule.

Use the MTA Schedule Form for accurate Friday and Monday changes!!

From MTA:

To help get your Memorial Day Weekend off to an early start, Metro-North offers the following extra outbound “getaway service” on Friday, May 23.

On the Hudson Line: Extra trains will depart Grand Central Terminal as follows:

Time Destination

1:45 PM Croton-Harmon Express
2:36 PM Poughkeepsie Express
3:25 PM Croton-Harmon Express
4:05 PM Poughkeepsie Express

To accommodate these extra trains, the 5:29 PM Poughkeepsie and the 5:32 PM Beacon train will be combined, departing Grand Central at 5:32 PM; and the 5:56 PM and 5:59 PM trains to Croton-Harmon will be combined, departing at 5:59 PM. The 6:20 PM train to Croton-Harmon will not operate.

On the Harlem Line: Extra trains will depart Grand Central Terminal as follows:

Time Destination

1:45 PM Southeast Express
3:12 PM North White Plain Express
3:33 PM Southeast Express
4:08 PM Southeast Express

To accommodate these extra trains, the 6:06 PM Brewster train and the 6:10 PM Mount Kisco train will be combined, departing Grand Central at 6:10 PM. The 5:25 PM train to Brewster will not operate.

On the New Haven Line: Extra trains will depart Grand Central Terminal as follows:

Time Destination

1:04 PM New Haven Express
2:00 PM New Haven Express
3:01 PM South Norwalk
3:04 PM Harrison
3:15 PM Danbury (Through) Express
3:26 PM New Haven Express
3:29 PM Harrison
4:06 PM New Haven Express

To accommodate these extra trains, the 5:14 PM Harrison and 5:20 PM New Rochelle train will be combined, departing Grand Central at 5:20 PM; and the 5:56 PM Harrison and 5:59 PM New Rochelle train will be combined, departing Grand Central at 5:59 PM. The 6:29 PM to New Haven, 6:38 PM and 7:11 PM trains to Harrison, and 8:04 PM to New Haven will not operate.

Check a timetable for details, or visit our schedules page at www.mta.info.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Metro-North Memorial Day Schedule – Metro-North Holiday Schedule

Some probable reasons:

1. Most Americans have never actually ridden the NYC subway recently.
2. New York City used to have a significant crime problem.
3. New York City is the most popular setting for fictional crime drama in television, books, and movies (e.g. the entire Law and Order franchise).
4. Modern news and media is fond of sensationalizing individual missing children cases for months surrounding a single incident, as this topic is very popular with ratings.
5. Consensus on child safety has arguably gotten extreme in our modern ultraconservative society.
6. Internet predators and their sensationalism (i.e. To Catch A Predator).
7. One of the greatest human fears, and most personally traumatic events, is the harm to one’s children.
8. Growth in litigation has insured that any official recommendation of safety err on the side of unreasonable caution.

Ironically, however, New York City is now one of the safest large cities in the world, approaching that of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The question is, do we as a population have the capability of recognizing when our world becomes safer, and do we have the will and intelligence to roll back overly conservative protection of our children towards improving their (and our) quality of life?

New York Sun Columnist Lenore Skenazy does – so much so that she did something which is the buzz of moms all over New York .

She let her 9 year old boy ride the subway home.

Alone.

And I think she’s a hero in some areas which are sorely lacking in modern society – rationality, perspective, respect for children, and intelligent self-thinking.

In 1999, the Justice Department did a survey which reported that there were only 115 ‘traditional’ child kidnappings in the United States that year – i.e., kidnappings where a stranger or semi-stranger abducted the a child. Out of those 115, about half were sexually abused and/or killed, or about 57.

Since the time of those statistics, violent crime in NYC has gone down about 25%.

Without taking anything away from the horrific aspect of that type of crime…it just isn’t a common crime.

A common fear? VERY. A common crime? Not at all.

Furthermore, about 60% of attempted child abductions were foiled simply by the child fighting back, or through adult intervention. So, teaching your child to kick, scream, and fight off strangers puts them in a much better statistic. Add a mobile phone, and I’m sure its even better. Oh, and then there’s the expansion of the Amber Alert system, which has been responsible for recovering over 135 abductees.

To put it in perspective, a child is 1500X more likely to be abused in the home. At least for some kids, the subway is probably safer then coming home for dinner.

Of course, abduction is a great fear in having your child ride the subway alone, but there are other, greater, risks, like crossing the street or being in some other sort of accident, which far eclipse the statistical rarity of stranger abduction – but teaching them to cross a street safely is probably something a NYC kid should have been trained to do properly by age 4-5 (whether they are alone or not).

Which brings up the question – when is too much protection too much?

Personally, I think we’re already there, and have been for some time.

Employers and experts alike have been reporting some observable adult personality traits which have come about because of our trend towards ‘structured activity / child safety / positive reinforcement’ child-rearing.

For example, employers have complained that young graduates are showing a lack of competitive spirit and qualitative evaluation of their work and the work of others. Some say this is related to our tendency to make sure we include all kids in structured activities and not measure them by skill or achievement but rather congratulate them all equally on their participation and sportsmanship. Similarly, a trend to de-emphasize testing and grading in schools has the same effect, as well as failing schools which seek to ‘bell curve’ the entire class rather then report failure.

Modern parents are judged much more by what their child does not experience - exclusion, inferiority, bullying, drugs, accidents, alcohol, bad grades, sex, violence, – than what their children do experience – which today is officially limited to chaperoned play dates and soccer (no wonder they spend most of their time in their bedrooms with videogames – even simulations of everyday life (Like The Sims) is far more adventurous than their daily lives).

On a peer review, parents are judged by how well they sheltered their children – how much they played it safe – sometimes at the expense of the child’s achievement and happiness in adulthood. As a parent, if you got them out of the house alive at 18, you win. If they grow up into an timid anti-social agoraphobic depressive, that’s their own doing – the statute of limitations expires when they hit 18, even if you planted the time bomb.

Skenzy suggests:

“The problem with this everything-is-dangerous outlook is that over-protectiveness is a danger in and of itself.

A child who thinks he can’t do anything on his own eventually can’t.”

Bravo.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Mom Sends 9-Year-Old Son Home On The Subway Alone, Both Live To Tell About It

UPDATE: A New Haven Line reader told me that her train was delayed over 15 minutes this morning because of 125th st shenanigans- so yes, the delays were incurred during rush hour, and yes, the MTA didnt sent out a service alert until AFTER rush hour. PFFT!!!

MTA WEBAdvisory:

“Train service is operating with 10-15 minute delays which are related to yesterday’s building collapse at 124^th Street and Park Avenue. “

Curiously, this was sent AFTER 9 AM, so it is unclear whether riders saw these delays during rush hour.

Let us know in the comments.

update: Trainjotting confirms this was a problem on Hudson Line as well.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: The Next Day, Metro-North Still Seeing Delays In Wake of Building Collapse

METRO-NORTH NEW HAVEN LINE COMMUTERS SLOWLY MAKE THEIR WAY HOME.

At 7 PM a New Haven Line StationStops.com reader sent this photo from their train, just prior to stopping in Port Chester:

7 PM: Harlem Building Collapse / Metro-North Grand Central Station Delays TIMELINE:

• Earlier today, a building at 124th st began to partially collapse
• At 3:09, MTA shutdown all service into and out of Grand Central, as the building was a block from the 125th St station, through which all Metro-North lines pass – New Haven, Hudson, and Harlem.
• At 3:10 PM, the building collapsed
• At 4:45 PM, MTA Reports that Metro-North service was ‘fully restored’ but reccommended Metro-North Passengers use the subway to circumvent Grand Central / 125th St
• At 5:10 PM, 1010 Wins reported the tracks at Grand Central Terminal were empty, and there had not yet been any arrivals or departures.
• Sometime between 5:10 and 6PM, Metro-North trains began to arrive and leave at Grand Central
• 6PM Service gradually resumes
• 7PM 101 Wins is still reporting delays of 1 hr- 90 min depending on your line

6:38 PM I am getting reports from New Haven Line passengers that they have been able to get their trains and are on their way home.

6:33 PM reminder: MTA Service metro-North ALERTS (not to be confused with METRO-NORTH SERVICE ADVISORIES)

6:27 PM UPDATE: 1010 Wins reports that Grand Central is a mass of very confused people. It seems that since trains are not running at their regular times, and some trains have been *combined* behind the scenes, that some passengers are just staring at the boards in utter confusion and the information booth is packed.

6:15 PM: RECAP: Metro-North is back online with 30-60-minute residual delays after a vacant building collapsed in East Harlem near the 125th St station which caused MTA to shutdown Metro-North for about 2 hours. Grand Central Terminal is packed, MTA has suggested rerouting via subway, which will honor your metro north ticket.

On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance

Hilariously, when you go to MTA’s website and select ‘Service Advisories’ and then ‘Metro-North Railroad’, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that anything has gone wrong on Metro-North today!

It is only by going to the home page and clicking on the service alert icon that you get the latest service alert – gah!

photo: Gothamist WCBS880

Update 6PM: New MTA Service Advisory Reports delays are now reduced to 30-60 minutes from 90 minutes.

“Service on the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines has been restored into and out of Grand Central Terminal.
Customers should expect delays of 30 to 60 minutes and crowded conditions on trains. Please be sure to listen for announcements in Grand Central Terminal and at outlying stations in the event of service changes.”

UPDATE 6PM: GRAND CENTRAL STATION IS A “SARDINE CAN” reports 1010 Wins…

photo: Sonia Rincon1010 Wins

UPDATED 5:06 PM: Kathleen Maloney of 1010 Wins reports people standing at tracks at Grand Central waiting for trains to arrive, there are no trains at the station and none have departed. At this point most people are suggesting you use the subway instructions in the previous MTA alert to get north of 125th St and skip Grand Central altogether, ignoring the last MTA service advisory:

• On the Hudson Line: Take the #1 subway to 225th Street to access Marble Hill Station.

• On the Harlem Line: Take the #2 subway to 241st Street to access Wakefield Station.

• On the New Haven Line: Take the #5 subway to 233rd Street to access Woodlawn Station.

UPDATED 5PM: GRAND CENTRAL STATION TERMINAL IS RESTORED, EXPECT HORRIFIC DELAYS:

MTA:

“Service on the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines has been restored into and out of Grand Central Terminal.

Customers should expect extensive delays (of up to 90 minutes) and crowded conditions on trains as we resume service. Please be sure to listen for announcements in Grand Central Terminal and at outlying stations in the event of service changes. “

For the latest updates from your web browser, we reccommend you tune into 1010Wins on the Internet!

Just to be clear – there is absolutely no indication of any injuries or terrorism – just a decayed vacant building collapse and a bad commuting nightmare! 1010Wins reports neighbors have been complaining about he buildings decay for a while.

4:30 PM MTA Service Advisory Update:

Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Line train service continues to be suspended into and out of Grand Central Terminal.

Customers are advised to use the following subways to reach Metro-North stations in the Bronx, where they can take trains providing local service to outlying stations:

• On the Hudson Line: Take the #1 subway to 225th Street to access Marble Hill Station.

• On the Harlem Line: Take the #2 subway to 241st Street to access Wakefield Station.

• On the New Haven Line: Take the #5 subway to 233rd Street to access Woodlawn Station.

MTA New York City Transit will honor all Metro-North tickets for travel between Grand Central and these stations, and at 125th Street and Fordham stations.

UPDATE: The building was in East Harlem near the intersection of 124th st and park avenue. MTA has suspended all Metro-North service out of Grand Central Station – MSNBC reports that there was no service as of 3:09 PM, StationStops.com received its Metro-North Service advisory at 3:25 PM.

• The building was unoccupied
• There are no known injuries
• Most of the building is still standing, about 1/3 has collapsed
• 124th St is shutdown between Madison and Lex due to debris
• Park Avenue is closed between 122nd and 125th Sts due to debris

Its 4:36 PM on a Tuesday and Metro-North is completely shut down people – HAVE A GREAT COMMUTE HOME EVERYONE

MTA Service Advisory:

“Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Line train service has been temporarily suspended into and out of Grand Central Terminal because of a building collapse in the vicinity of 124 Street and Park Avenue.

We will continue to update you as the situation changes.”

I’m looking into it for more info…

UPDATE: I just scanned all the local news channels – nothing but Obama. Nothing on CNN or NYC paper sites…

reminder: Top Google results for Harlem building collapse is an OLD STORY – no one was reported injured today!

UPDATE: WNBC is on it:

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: BREAKING NEWS: Harlem Building Collapse Shuts Down Grand Central Terminal – UPDATES