Metro-North to resume full service on New Haven Line tomorrow

MTA Metro-North Railroad officials expect to resume regular train service on the New Haven Line in time for the morning rush hour tomorrow, they announced late yesterday.

Crews have been working around the clock since Saturday night to reconstruct track damaged by a derailment and collision that occurred in Connecticut last Friday, injuring about 72 passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board completed its initial accident investigation on Saturday and allowed the railroad to begin removing the two, eight-car trains, Metro-North officials said in a press release.

"We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday," said Metro-North President Howard Permut.

A shuttle train operating from New Haven to Bridgeport that includes a bus connection to Stamford, where riders can board a train for New York City, will continue running today.

Yesterday, about 750 people rode the shuttle trains and boarded buses at Bridgeport to Stamford — about 20 percent of the 4,000 people who typically board trains at New Haven, Milford and Stratford during the morning peak ridership. However, overall morning peak ridership on the entire New Haven Line was down just 20 percent, which means many people drove to other stations to catch a train, Metro-North officials said. A 6 percent increase in ridership was counted on the Harlem Line.