Hmmm... Con Ed admits that the Metro North shut down last week just "may" have been the big electric utility's fault. geez ya think? This is a first... Unprecedented in fact! It's usually an act of Gawd, or somebody else who's at fault, never Con Ed.

Con Edison May Have Caused Metro-North Lines Power Loss

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and PATRICK McGEEHAN

Published: September 30, 2013

Con Edison called the determination a preliminary review and said a more thorough analysis would not begin until after work to restore power was finished. The utility said it expected to reconnect the feeder by Oct. 7, which would allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to return full service to the line shortly after. Officials believe that disconnecting the feeder cable inadvertently caused a second feeder cable to fail on Wednesday, which prompted the power loss. But Con Edison was unsure exactly how the failure occurred.

Currently, the transportation authority is relying on a patchwork of diesel trains, shuttle buses and limited electric train service to serve the tens of thousands of New Haven line commuters.

The financial fallout from the service loss remains uncertain. On Tuesday, the authority was to hold a special board meeting in which a credit for affected passengers was expected to be approved. It was unclear if the authority might eventually try to bill Con Edison for rider reimbursements.

Since the failure of the feeder cable, which supplies electricity to the railroads overhead power lines, elected officials have speculated about the relative culpability of the utility and the railroad.

The authoritys request to take one feeder cable out of service intentionally, for instance, had been the subject of early scrutiny. The request came after tests showed that a single feeder could carry enough power to operate effectively, the authority said.

On Monday, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York repeated calls for a federal investigation into the episode. The State Public Service Commission has also said it would conduct a review of the power loss, asking that Con Ed retain damaged equipment and other materials for inspection.

Timothy P. Cawley, a senior vice president at Con Edison, said in an interview on Monday that the utility had asked the railroad how it could cope if the second feeder failed after the first was disconnected. The plan, he said, resembled the hodgepodge of recent days, including the use of some bus service and diesel trains. Theyre the customer, he said, and they know what they need, and they know what they would lose.

An authority spokesman said that while he could not confirm or deny any of the agencys discussions about contingency planning, Metro-North had no illusions that buses and diesel trains could replace regular service.