Power upgrade completed on Metro-North's New Haven Line

A $10 million power upgrade to MTA Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line is now completed, providing full back-up power redundancy for the east- and westbound lines, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced earlier this week.

The project's finale phase was completed on time and put into service on March 9. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) installed new transformers to replace four aging transformers in Greenwich, Conn., to ensure reliability and safe operation of the electric supply that keeps New Haven Line trains moving, state officials said in a press release issued by Malloy's office.

"This project was designed to prevent the type of catastrophic power failure that occurred last fall in Mount Vernon, N.Y., seriously disrupting New Haven Line service,” said Malloy. "In addition, it will allow us to add more service on the New Haven Line as we move forward."

The project increased the capacity of the two west transformers from 16 megawatts to 30 megawatts, which matches the capacity of the two east transformers that were previously replaced. The project also involved the upgrade and relocation of supply feeder cables servicing the substation and construction and installation of duct banks to contain and protect the cables, manholes, foundations and equipment pads, and other equipment.
 
Metro-North operates the New Haven Line under a contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT).

"The execution of this project demonstrated the strong partnership among [CDOT], Metro-North and CL&P and the benefits of a comprehensive plan for executing the projects with extensive planning and contingency plans that ensured successful delivery of the project on schedule," said CDOT Commissioner James Redeker.