In a press conference after the meeting, officials said full service is expected to be restored by Oct. 8. Con Edison has installed two transformers, which will allow Metro-North to operate 65 percent of regular service on Wednesday, Oct. 2, one week after the initial power outage occurred near Mount Vernon, officials said.
The plan will go toward future purchases for New Haven Line customers with weekly or monthly tickets valid for travel between Sept. 25 and the date of full service restoration, officials said. A plan to implement this is being developed and will be announced later in the week on the MTA website.
MTA officials said the agency will also seek reimbursement from Con Ed for the Oct. 25 power outage. Con Ed is investigating the cause of the outage, officials said.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy wrote a letter Tuesday addressed to MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast urging that the agency approve “a convenient, transparent and an easy-to-understand plan” to refund commuter fares. In the letter, Malloy suggested that Con Ed bear responsibility for underwriting customer refunds as a result of the service disruption.
“Con Ed should also be responsible for any and all additional costs related to the interim service plan and the ultimate restoration of service,” Malloy wrote. “Not only has Metro-North service been severely disrupted, this incident has also caused disruption in the critical Boston-New York Corridor served by Amtrak. This incident has had an enormous – and unacceptable – impact on the economies of Connecticut and New York.”
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