October 25, 2013

GOV. MALLOY REQUESTS NY STATE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE CON EDISON POWER FAILURE ON NEW HAVEN LINE

(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy today wrote a letter to Audrey Zibelman, Chair of the New York State Public Service Commission, requesting the commission conduct a thorough investigation into the loss of power last month on Metro North's New Haven Line due to the failure of the Con Edison substation in Mt. Vernon, New York.

"It is in the long-term interest of our region to have a safe and reliable New Haven Line. A thorough investigation of this incident is critical to identifying the underlying causes of the failures and in ultimately implementing actions to prevent such an incident from being repeated," Governor Malloy wrote.

The Governor said the corridor has a critical economic impact. By conservative estimates, the recent disruption caused a loss of $62 million to Connecticut's economy.

"The investigation should, at a minimum, determine the cause of the failure and identify all practices that need to be modified to prevent such a failure from recurring at this or other similar facilities on the New Haven Line," Governor Malloy wrote. "It should determine the overall responsibilities for project management and project delivery that were in place for this substation project as well as recommendations for improving those practices. It should also investigate the practices for restoring the failed feeder cable in terms of the resources and schedule for that process. Finally, it should evaluate Con Edison's response to the incident in terms of its obligations to its customers."

Earlier this month, Governor Malloy appealed for Con Edison to reimburse the MTA and the State of Connecticut for the costs associated with the service outage, including service expenses, lost revenue and customer refunds.

** Download : Governor Malloy's letter to the New York State Public Service Commission

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For Immediate Release: October 25, 2013

Facebook: Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy