More Montclair excuses
August 23rd 2007 10:14 am
The folks at Baristanet recently asked about weekend train service on the Montclair Line and got the following response from NJT. As you can see, the excuses continue:
There are a number of projects currently underway that affect our ability to introduce weekend service along the Montclair Line. The most significant of these is a major project at Newark Broad Street Station that includes the installation of new high-level platforms and elevators to make the station easier to use for all customers and fully accessible for customers with disabilities.
This work requires weekend track outages, limiting the number of trains that can operate through the station. We expect to have the project completed in spring 2008.
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In addition, we have the ongoing “Fire and Life Safety” project in the Hudson River tunnels that lead into Penn Station New York. Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT are jointly funding this work to improve access and egress in the event of an emergency, along with the installation of new lighting, emergency communication and standpipes.
The work necessitates that one of the two tunnels be taken out of service each weekend — meaning that all trains (in and out of PSNY) must single-track through the remaining tunnel, severely limiting the number of trains we can operate. Amtrak has the lead on this project, which is expected to continue into 2008.
As a result of these and other, smaller projects, the earliest we would be in a position to consider weekend service on the Montclair Line is the latter half of 2008. Of course, this is contingent on community support, as well as our financial ability to provide such service.
We explored some of NJT’s excuses last month. As Jishnu pointed-out, NJT recently cut the weekend Summit-Hoboken service in half, and the now-available slots could be used by Montclair-Hoboken trains, and provide a connection to the Midtown Direct trains to NY.
Joe Versaggi responded on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:56 pm #
Without increasing train volume through Broad Street nor through the Hudson River tunnels, they could make all Gladstone service to be hourly shuttles to Summit and run Montclair - Hoboken trains every 2 hours. But for a transit agency which can neither think out of the box nor think of themselves as anything but Metro West Commuter Railroad, that is too much to ask.
John Taylor Johnston responded on 24 Aug 2007 at 12:37 pm #
As a former NJT employee, I can assure you that you have no appreciation for the difficulties involved with running service while engaging in a large scale construction project like Broad Street, let alone just doing all the maintenance work which is necessary to these lines running. You organization is to be commended for all the work you do in influencing the decisions that NJT makes regarding future expansions, but you need to be more realistic about what NJT can do in terms of running service, building projects and maintaining the infrastructure.
Joe Versaggi responded on 24 Aug 2007 at 2:04 pm #
The Gladstone - Hoboken service slashing by over 50% due to low demand. NJT said as much in a newspaper article during the fare increase hearing period. It had nothing to do with the work at Broad Street station. To insert a bi-hourly Montclair - Hoboken service is a mere reallocation of existing resources with no increase in train volume through Broad Street, and would actually result in reduced train miles and increased passenger miles. That operation is perfectly realistic. Your reaction, on the other hand, reflects NJT’s unacceptable corporate culture and attitude as I commented on, which is that customers and advocates are amateurs by definition. Perhaps if NJT were more consumer-oriented, state legislators would do more than hit the snooze button when fare increases are proposed.
cfmrail responded on 27 Aug 2007 at 8:38 pm #
What is the current frequency of trains through Broad Street now on the weekends? I would guess an hourly Midtown - Dover service and the now every other hour service to Hoboken. If true an every other hour service Hoboken to Montclair should be feasible although I would extend it Dover and treat it as a bus for fare purposes.
Bob Scheurle responded on 28 Aug 2007 at 11:23 am #
There is a train to/from New York every hour, plus a train to/from Hoboken every 2 hours. It seems it would be easy to add a train from Montclair to Hoboken every 2 hours. This would be the same number of trains through Newark they were running before they cut service to Hoboken.
And running trains to Hoboken eliminates any problems related to Amtrak’s never-ending work between Newark and New York, so that’s no excuse.
Montclair State to Hoboken would probably be better to start with. It would allow the use of electric MU trains, which would reduce any objections regarding noise. Passengers could change trains at Newark to travel to/from New York. And only a single trainset would be needed to provide MSU-Hoboken service every 2 hours.
ABG responded on 01 Sep 2007 at 10:45 am #
I’ve been thinking about this, and I realized that there’s value even without going anywhere near Manhattan. How many weekend car trips are from one part of Montclair to another, or between Montclair and Bloomfield? Or, how many car trips could be easily converted to a train trip along the Montclair branch?
Let’s say that it’s impossible to run one more train through Broad Street. What if you had a one-car or two-car shuttle between Watsessing Avenue and Montclair State? It could even run every half hour, making it easy for residents and students to visit friends and family, or to go out for brunch, dinner, shopping or a movie. If you had two, you could have service every fifteen minutes, almost like the subway. If you were really concerned about access to Manhattan, you could probably get DeCamp or NJ Transit to run an express bus from the Montclair State station down Route 3 to the Port Authority.
Bob Scheurle responded on 03 Sep 2007 at 5:24 pm #
At a maximum fare of $2.75 round-trip, I don’t think there’d be enough revenue to make it worthwhile to provide local service in Little Falls, Montclair, Glen Ridge, and Bloomfield. They really need to provide service to Hoboken and/or New York.