Senator Richard Blumenthal to hold hearing on Metro-North Railroad power failure

 

BRIDGEPORT - U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn. will act as chairman for a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security on the recent Metro-North power outage at 10 a.m. Oct. 28 at Bridgeport’s City Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace, according to a release.

"The hearing will examine the causes of the outage, how to prevent such failures from reoccurring, and the economic impact of such a major service disruption," according to a release.

The hearing will be streamed live online at http://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/live, the release said.

 

"Among those testifying at the hearing include ConEdison President Craig Ivey, MTA Metro-North Railroad President Howard Permut, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker, John Hartwell of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman, and Otto Lynch from the American Society of Civil Engineers and Joseph McGee of the Business Council of Fairfield County."
 U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and U.S. Reps. Jim Himes, D-4 and Elizabeth Esty, D-5 also are to testify, the release said.

 

"Blumenthal has called the disruption unacceptable and inexcusable, and has demanded that New York-based utility ConEdison be held accountable for the lack of adequate contingency plans for such a power failure. He has joined Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in calling on the federal Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the New York Public Service Commission to conduct an investigation into the cable failure. Blumenthal has also advocated for increased investment in rail and transportation infrastructure."

 

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