Passenger Trains > One tree falls twice, cuts power in Connecticut

A Tree Falls, Twice, Killing All the Power to Greenwich
New York Times
by PATRICK McGEEHAN
August 6, 2012


> Greenwich, Conn., may be one of the wealthiest towns in one of the
> wealthiest states in the country, but it is still vulnerable to the
> clout of a single tree.
>
> That reality crashed down on the affluent southwest corner of the
> state on Monday, leaving about 30,000 customers of the state’s
> largest utility without power for several hours and disrupting train
> service between New York City and New England. The power failure
> followed a windstorm that swept up the coast on Sunday night,
> toppling some of the towering trees that make the area so appealing.
>
> Ann Neary was home in the Riverside section of Greenwich about 8 p.m.
> when she heard one of them, an 85-foot tall black locust, collapse
> onto the transmission lines over the train tracks behind her house.
> “There were three huge explosions,” Ms. Neary said...
>
> The tree had ripped down the lines that made up one of two
> 115,000-volt circuits that carry electricity into Greenwich from
> power plants to the east, said Frank Poirot, a spokesman for the
> utility company. By 9 a.m. Monday, only about 1,000 customers had no
> power and Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad trains were running as
> usual.
>
> But then, around 10 a.m., the same tree, leaning across the Nearys’
> backyard, shifted, and one of its branches hit a line that was still
> energized, knocking out power on the second circuit, Mr. Poirot said.
> Suddenly, more than 12 hours after the storm, all of Greenwich and a
> small area of neighboring Stamford had no power.
>
> The failure halted the trains on Metro-North’s New Haven line and
> Amtrak’s Acela trains, all of which are powered by electricity. The
> railroads bridged the power gap with diesel-powered trains until
> power along the tracks was restored around 2:30 p.m., representatives
> of Metro-North and Amtrak said. Amtrak’s less-expensive regional
> service was unaffected because it uses diesel engines, said Cliff
> Cole, a spokesman for the railroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/nyregion/single-tree-kills-power-in-greenwich.html?ref=nyregion

======================================================


NOTE: Cliff Cole does not know what he is talking about. Regional trains through
Greenwich are electric, too.

It's the Shore Line East trains, east of New Haven and far from the affected area,
that are diesel-powered.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/12 10:31 by GenePoon.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NOTE: Cliff Cole does not know what he is talking
> about. Regional trains through
> Greenwich are electric, too.
>
> It's the Shore Line East trains, east of New Haven
> and far from the affected area,
> that are diesel-powered.

Also the New Haven-Springfield trains are diesel powered.

I am astounded that Cliff Cole would say that.

All Train service was affected by this disruption. Amtrak will not tow Acela Trainsets so they were turned at NHV until the disruption was repaired.

The MetroNorth spokesman was on TV last night, along with several angry Greenwich residents.

The MetroNorth guy said that some of their service was maintained using diesels, but Amtrak wasn't mentioned in that interview. Still, Mr Cole isn't a spokesman for MetroNorth, and this guy wasn't Cliff Cole.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> It's the Shore Line East trains, east of New Haven
> and far from the affected area,
> that are diesel-powered.

Don't some Shore Line East trains run to Stamford on week days?

Jishnu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > It's the Shore Line East trains, east of New
> Haven
> > and far from the affected area,
> > that are diesel-powered.
>
> Don't some Shore Line East trains run to Stamford
> on week days?

True, but Greenwich is west of Stamford....

To my knowledge, the only diesel-powered trains normally running through Greenwich are the through trains to Danbury and a handful of GCT-New Haven trips powered by Genesis/Bombardier trainsets instead of electric MUs.