MTA Board meets to discuss Metro-North mudslide repairs and resiliency; Plus, delays rolling out new subway cars
NEW YORK -- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a board meeting this week, providing new information about the mudslide that impacted Metro-North service and how to make sure it never happens again.
CBS New York's Elijah Westbrook joined the meeting and reports on all the details.
Metro-North mudslide: What happens next?
Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said Hudson Line service is essentially back to normal, but two tracks are still not in service while work continues to clear the remaining debris.
Heavy rain set off the mudslide early Saturday morning, causing a huge chunk of a homeowner's property to buckle and ultimately fall onto the tracks.
Officials said work is being done to further stabilize the slope near the out-of-service rails. In addition, the MTA says the Hudson Line is a topic of their 20-year needs assessment. Their goal is to rollout some resiliency plans to avoid this from happening.
The Hudson Line is no stranger to these issues, because of the geographic location where the trains operate. The tracks are feet from the Hudson River -- which, during some storms, water levels could rise and flood certain areas. One of the often problem spots on the line is at Riverdale and Tarrytown.
Now, there's a big emphasis on making sure the line is able to safely operate in the years ahead, given some of the climate-related challenges. Overall, the MTA says these are issues they're not just seeing on Metro-North but systemwide on their other trains and even the subway.
New subway cars behind schedule
From Metro-North to the subway, Westbrook also has new information about how the MTA is spending straphangers' money.
Early in the year, the MTA rolled out its newest subway cars, called the R211. The rollout has been quite slow in getting them into service, and we're finally learning why.
The new subway cars are being made by Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki. They're meant to replace the aging R46 cars that run on the A, C, N, Q, W and Staten Island Railway lines.
MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber is putting the blame on shipping delays and supply chain issues stemming from the COVID pandemic. Also, a few years ago, Congress passed a law that requires mass transit agencies to stop purchasing trains and buses from Chinese companies, which limits the number of options the MTA is allowed to buy trains from.
The MTA wanted the majority of these subway cars in full service by the end of the year, but clearly that's not happening. The agency says riders will start seeing more of them on tracks some time in the first quarter of 2024.