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Last Saturdays rail service shutdown in Greenwich was caused by overhead power line failure, says Metro-North Railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders. The cause of the failure remains unknown.
It was a failure of the component of the overhead wire structure, she said. How the hangers became dislodged we do not know. It hasnt happened in a long time and Im not sure whether it was heat related, metal fatigue or another mechanical failure.
New Haven line passengers were left waiting from 3:30 PM to 10:30 PM while Metro-North restrung and properly aligned wires. It takes a lot of manpower, which we threw at it effectively, said Anders.
It was in a section where the wires from 1913 are still in place. Since 1998 a project to replace the old overhead wires has been under way. A total of 217 miles of wire had to be restrung between Greenwich and New Haven. According to Anders its halfway finished.
We cant do it all and once and still run trains so its being done in phases, Anders said adding she was unsure when the section where outages occurred on Saturday would be replaced.
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