Senator McKinney’s Statement on Metro-North

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) released the following statement today in response to the latest problem, which caused a two hour delay in service last night: “Confidence in the Metro-North railroad is at an all-time low and we need to take serious steps to fix all of its problems and restore peace of mind to the riders who depend on it every day. There are both immediate and long-term problems that need to be addressed and, while nobody really wants to talk about it, everyone knows it’s going to cost money to implement the changes that need to be made. That’s one of the reasons why I cringe every year when Governor Malloy sweeps money out of our special transportation fund that we could otherwise use to help this rail system. He’s about to present a budget for 2014 and we cannot let him get away with it again this year. This rail system is vital to our state economy and, more importantly, to the family economies of all the commuters who rely on it. We need to start treating it that way. A delay in addressing these problems now, will only cost us more in the long-run.”