Metro-North Failure Blamed on “Freezing” Work, Con Ed Says

Service is expected to be back up by Oct. 7 or Oct. 8

Con Edison expects to have full power restored to the heavily traveled Metro-North line that was crippled last week, and said a preliminary review shows the failure was related to work being done on a feeder cable.

Metro-North service was running Monday at about 50 percent capacity, days after it was disrupted when a circuit failed in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Service was expected to be restored by Oct. 7 or Oct. 8, earlier than the initial Oct. 14 prediction.

Con Edison said the problem stemmed from work being done to disconnect the feeder.

That work involves freezing insulating oil that houses the feeders in pipes. Con Edison said freezing is routine when working with such high-voltage lines, and is done numerous times a year.

This time, however, the ground around the work area was also frozen, and that likely contributed to the failure, Con Ed said.

The utility said it will review the entire freezing operation once service is restored

Metro-North service advisories can be seen on the MTA's website.        

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