MTA CEO Janno Lieber Talks NYC Blizzard
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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News. I made a joke earlier to Paul Sweeney. How are you getting home on Tuesday? How do you get back to work? And I got silence from Paul. You don't really know right now, do you?
No, I don't. I mean, New Jersey Transit will wait on that, but I suspect I'll be spending another evening in the metropolis.
We will get an update now from a gentleman with experience of this, with legit major storm experience. Jenna Lieber joins us now with the MTA. Jenna, what's your biggest headache right now?
Listen, we got service running. The challenges are well known. We got to keep our snow fighting equipment. We got jet engine snow blowers operating on the subways, literally clearing the tracks, especially in the outdoor areas. The challenge of buses moving around is the same as any vehicle. But we are meeting the challenge, Tom, Paul. We're running full subway service, albeit on a little reduced frequencies. We got buses out there. Metro North is operating on a reduced schedule. The one piece of our system that is on suspension is the Long Island Railroad. It's no secret that Long Island's getting hammered, and that wasn't the same place to operate. But otherwise, subways, buses, commuter rail operating.
How does the wind play into it? I mean, I'm calling it a snowy cane. I get the temperature. Snow is snow.
What is the impact of the NYC blizzard on public transport?
But like the wind on the various trunks that you have, I mean, underground, it doesn't affect it. But how do you adapt to the wind, Jenna Lieber?
The issue with wind mostly is actually the impact it has on drifting. For example, we have some areas of the subway system that are what we call an open cut. That's like a little valley, a depressed area below grade, but it's still open to the sky. And snow tends to accumulate, and the wind pushes the snow into those areas. The drifting on the commuter railroads sometimes will cover the third rail, our source of power. So that is and obviously for for people who are driving buses and even trains, the visibility issues associated with wind, that wind is the dominant factor in determining when we can bring back Long Island Railroad service at the east end of our system.
So what is the latest thinking, Jono, about the Long Island Railroad here? Because, again, as you've mentioned and we've heard from the weather folks, that's really bearing the brunt of this storm.
Yeah, well, we did an orderly shutdown last night at about 1 a.m. The goal is always to get everybody home. We did that last night with some extra service late, late. And now we're going to be focused on orderly resumption of service, hopefully in time to operate tomorrow when the world will be getting a little bit back to normal. So that's the approach that we take. Safety first, you know, and taking account of where the snow accumulations and the drifting may have impacted on service. You know, one thing to bear in mind is in our big train yards, that's where we tend to get the biggest drifting issues.
How is the MTA preparing for the blizzard's challenges?
And sometimes that inhibits your ability to put cars into the system, into service. So we'll be digging out from in the yards and making sure that, again, the third rail and the tracks themselves are clear of snow.
We continue with Jenna Lieber, MTA chair. Quality time from his crisis center. Paul Sweeney with Jenna Lieber.
Jenna, so all your personnel, the critical personnel of the MTA, how do you manage getting those folks to where they need to be? Because, boy, they have to get there just like the rest of us.
It's part of the deal when you sign up to work for the MTA that you may have to come in under extreme circumstances.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:57
2
What is the impact of the NYC blizzard on public transport?
1:57–3:43
3
How is the MTA preparing for the blizzard's challenges?
3:43–4:35
4
What measures are in place for snow removal on subways?
4:35–7:25
5
How does wind affect subway operations during a blizzard?
7:25–9:30
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Bloomberg Talks
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