Passengers who spent an hour trapped on a Metro North train with no air conditioning in triple-digit temperatures will get a chance to voice their complaints.
Metro North, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council are hosting a forum at the Westport Town Hall at 6 p.m. Thursday to discuss the July 22 incident.
With temperatures climbing to 102 degrees, the 1:34 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal to New Haven became stuck on downed wires between the Green's Farms and Westport stations. The disabled train sat on the tracks, power off, and with no air conditioning for about 50 minutes before finally moving to the Westport station to let people off.
Westport authorities received several 911 calls from passengers about people in distress on the train. But responding emergency crews were delayed in reaching them because Metro North dispatchers gave them wrong information about the train in question, first telling them it was empty, then telling rescuers the train had already begun moving again.
"It's the communication. We need to have clear-cut persons in charge that we can talk to and that we know we're getting good info because it's very dangerous. There are electrical wires, we have to worry about other trains," Westport Fire Chief Andrew Kingsbury said.
In a newly released 18-page report about the incident, Metro North apologized for the communication errors and vowed to make improvements.
Thursday's forum begins at 6 p.m. at the Westport Town Hall at 110 Myrtle Avenue.
