Metro-North Apologizes For Skipping Westport Stop

WESTPORT, Conn. – Westport passengers aboard the 8:04 p.m. Metro-North train out of Grand Central Wednesday said they were surprised and confused when the train did not stop at the Westport station — one of the scheduled stops.

“The train operator stopped at South Norwalk and then proceeded to blow past Westport and did not stop until Fairfield,” one of the train's passengers, who wishes to be anonymous, wrote in an email to The Westport Daily Voice Thursday morning.

The passenger said about 30 to 40 passengers were displaced and had to wait in Fairfield for the 9:46 p.m. train back to Westport. Some of passengers, she said, confronted the train operator “who did not apologize or acknowledge his mistake.” The operator did, however, tell a passenger that Westport was not a scheduled stop on his “sheet,” the passenger wrote.

Marjorie Anders, a spokesperson for Metro-North, said Westport was in fact a scheduled stop on the route, and that the incident is being investigated.

“It turns out this happens very infrequently, but it does happen. And we don’t like it,” Anders said. “We apologize very sincerely to our customers.”

Anders said it is not yet known why the engineer failed to stop in Westport, but said there are two “somewhat migrating factors in this case.” The first, she said, is that the engineer was filling in for another engineer who’s on vacation. As such, the route was not his “regular run.”

Anders also said that the engineer is still fairly new, having been certified in March.

“Of course, we expect all of our engineers to make all stops and, again, we do apologize to those people who had to get off in Fairfield and were delayed almost an hour.”

In the email, the passenger wondered why the train engineer didn’t stop at the Greens Farms station after realizing he missed the Westport station. Anders said it’s entirely possible the engineer didn’t realize he missed Westport until he got to Fairfield.  

The engineer, Anders said, will have to explain his actions at a discipline hearing. Depending on the outcome, he can be suspended without pay. “We take this very seriously,” Anders added.

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