February 25th 2008
PATH is giving free rides today from 6 AM to 11 PM to celebrate PATH’s 100 anniversary. They will also be distributing vouchers for free SmartLink cards. Train service started between 19th Street (yes, 19th St) and Hoboken on February 25, 1908, with two VIP trains. Revenue service started at midnight.
Here is a facinating history of the construction of the PATH tubes between Hoboken and New York City, which took 34 years:
February 23rd 2008
It would be an understatement to say that February’s NJT service has not been kind to its customers. When headed to work in the morning, there is nothing worse than being late for a planned meeting or job interview. When headed home in the evening, there is nothing worse than spending more time than anticipated on your train and being late for dinner, missing a meeting or just not being able to spend time with the kids.
I ride the M&E daily and take the MidTown Direct 7:28 A.M. express out of Chatham. Maybe it’s me; but, it seems like this train cannot make its run on time most of the time. When it runs well, it’s really good. When it doesn’t run well, it’s really not-so-good. There are a host of reasons for the delays: 1. The “check end doors” issue that seems to absolutely plague this railroad. When those doors malfunction, it holds things up. 2. When the train makes its stop at Newark Broad Street, as we’re passing Brick Church, the announcement gets made that only the first 4 cars will platform at Newark and folks should proceed to move to the 1st 4 cars. Why can’t there be a sign at stations–or why can’t the crew when they descend onto the platform announce BEFORE the person gets on that if they’re bound for Newark, they should go to the first 4 cars. I can’t tell you how many times someone on the last car (the car I always sit in) is trying to rush to the front of the train delaying the train. 3. When anything goes wrong, the train loses its slot on the Kearny Connection and can sit for minutes until it gets clearance to go onto Amtrak. 4. Many times, our train will get just past Secaucus Station and then crawl–sometimes stop–to allow another NJT train to whiz by. I have no idea why that is and it is NEVER explained by the crew.
This past Wednesday had the 7:28 AM express die in Morristown. That caused cancellation of that train. Unfortunately, for those already standing on the platform away from the small building that is the station, you could not hear any of the announcements. Speakers should be placed along the platform. Although I signed up for njt alerts, there wasn’t an njt alert until after 45 minutes had gone by. Fellow riders were calling home to ask their spouses to listen to the radio to see if any delays were being announced. The spouses reported the traffic reports were saying “NJT is running on or close to schedule”. Duh? I finally got on a Hoboken bound train that pulled into Chatham at 8:25 AM and got to New York the old fashioned way–via PATH. I made it to my desk at 10:05 A.M.
When it rains, it pours. On the way home that evening, chaos ruled Penn Station. There were tons of people standing staring at departure boards that had “stand by” for several trains. I was intending to catch the 5:47 PM train; however, seeing the crowd and hearing the announcement of a 15 to 20 minute delay due to signal problems, I decided to get to 6th Ave., get the PATH and made the 6:47 train to Hackettstown. I eventually got home.
Why are these things happening with more and more regularity? I have my theories and opinions:
1. Mixed consists (i.e. pairing different equipment) may cause incompatibilities that might explain the “end doors” plague. The consists should be alike (i.e. run all Comet V’s without mixing them with Comets III’s and IV’s).
2. Mixed consists also create another customer gripe–some cars are too cold while others are saunas. Some has PA systems the don’t function or you can barely hear while others will split your eardrums.
3. Mixed consists send a message to the riding public of a railroad in disarray that is being run on the fly by the seat of one’s pants.
4. Maintenance on the trains is suspect in my mind. If the outside of train cars are filthy, then I make the assumption the car hasn’t been in the shop much.
5. The spate of retirements of experienced train crews has left us with “crews in training” which will take a generation to get them up to speed. Retired crew members should be enticed out of retirement on a consulting basis to train new crews.
6. There is a culture of complacency with many crews. I can’t tell you how often the 7:28 A.M. express arrives in Chatham with the side destination signs on different cars reading “Long Branch”, “Trenton”, “Dover”, “Bay Head”. Can you imagine a new discretionary rider having to figure out just WHERE is their train going?
7. Perhaps worst of all is the lack of communication. Executive Directors come and go; but, this one problem remains a stubborn one. The njt alerts are a great idea; however, they haven’t worked as well as they should have over the past two weeks. Also, not everyone has a crackberry to get the message. Incredibly, because the train crews do not have blackberries, passengers sometimes know about the problem BEFORE the crews!
I don’t want to belabor the point; but, I pay $227 for a monthly ticket. If asked if I’m getting my money’s worth, my honest answer is no. I contacted Rich Sarles, NJT’s Executive Director, and I suggested a focus group to discuss all these issues. To his credit, he is doing just that and I’ve been asked to join.
I believe everyone knows that with mechanical things, breakdowns will occur. However, the breakdowns are happening with increasing regularity which is of concern. The one thing; however, that drives riders nuts is lack of information.
NJT is capable of better. I know they are operating at capacity and I know money is practically non-existent as our state goes broke; but, many of the issues are operational and that is something over which NJT has control.
February 23rd 2008
According to a Marketwire article:
Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a contract for 27 ALP-46A electric locomotives by the New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT). The powerful new locomotives will help NJ TRANSIT expand capacity in its passenger rail operations, hauling specially designed Multilevel commuter rail cars Bombardier is currently delivering to the transit service provider. The firm order for 27 locomotives is valued at an estimated 155 million euros ($229 million US). The contract also includes options for an additional 33 locomotives.
The complete press release can be seen at http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=824402.
February 21st 2008
I wrote about the advantages of raising the state’s gas tax back in October. Now, Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) has proposed a combination of an increased gas tax, increased tolls, and selling the lottery as a way to pay down state debt and pay for transportation projects:
Wisniewski’s plan would not create the public, nonprofit corporation that Corzine has proposed for operating the toll roads. Instead, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority would continue to run the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, and also would take over the Atlantic City Expressway from the South Jersey Transportation Authority…
Wisniewski’s plan would boost tolls on the Turnpike by 25 percent three times between this year and 2016. Garden State Parkway tolls would be increased by 15 cents this year and 25 cents in 2014, and Atlantic City Expressway tolls would go up by 25 cents this year and again in 2014…
Wisniewski’s plan also would increase New Jersey’s gas tax by six cents a gallon in each of the next three years and by the cost of inflation every year afterward. The state taxes on a gallon of gas in New Jersey are 14.5 cents today. Only Wyoming and Alaska have lower rates…
Wisniewski’s plan would use neither toll nor gas tax revenues to reduce general state debt. Instead, he said, the sale or lease of the Lottery could raise up to $10 billion for that purpose. His plan also embraces a tax on water consumption of up to $8 per quarter to pay for open space preservation, freeing up other funds for debt reduction.
Of course there’s no magic bullet, but this plan sounds a lot more fair than Corzine’s scheme. (I pointed out how unfair Corzine’s scheme is in this post.) Wisniewski’s plan also avoids the overhead of an additional layer of bureaucracy. And the 18 cents/gallon gas tax increase will cost only $7.50 per month for driving 15,000 miles/year in a car that gets 30 miles/gallon.
February 19th 2008
I had an opportunity to read the Portal Bridge DEIS over the weekend. Leaving aside the broader issues of THE Tunnel and its relation to this project etc. and focusing on just this document, here are a few observations and comments. You can view the relevant document at Portal Bridge Alternatives in DEIS. See Figure 3-5 which appears between page 3-9 and page 3-10 of this document for a schematic of the track layout before THE Tunnel related infrastructure is built.
The document is well written and contains an enormous amount of detail. One gathers that in summary the project consists of replacing the current Portal Bridge with two bridges - a Northern Bridge North of the current Portal Bridge that will carry three tracks (tracks 2, 3, 4 the NEC or NYPS tracks) and a Southern Bridge which could be either at the location of the current Portal Bridge or a little South of it, carrying two tracks (tracks 5 and 6, the PSNYE or 34th St station tracks).
The Northern Bridge will be a fixed structure with 50 feet clearance below it. The Southern Bridge will be a lift bridge with 40 feet clearance below it in the lowered position and 50 feet in the raised position. Study suggests that the 40 feet clearance will be enough to limit the need for opening it to less than once a month on an average.
Continue Reading »
February 17th 2008
A friend of mine recently had to make a trip from Hoboken to Chatham, on the Morris & Essex Line, on a Saturday morning. He complained that the trip took over an hour. That sounded way too long for a 23.5 mile trip, so I checked the schedule. My friend was right, the trip is scheduled for 64 minutes, an average speed of 22.0 mph.
So I checked a couple old schedules, and I saw that the trip was much faster in the past. In 1985, the trip took 35 minutes, an average speed of 40.3 mph. And in 1946, a local train, including stops at Harrison, Roseville Ave, and Grove St (none of which have service anymore), took 46 minutes, an average speed of 30.7 mph.
To summarize:
1946: 46 minutes, 30.7 mph.
1985: 35 minutes, 40.3 mph.
2008: 64 minutes, 22.0 mph.
So our modern, high-tech equipment can’t even match the times of the old trains of 62 years ago.
While I was at it, I took a look at the Northeast Corridor schedules from Trenton to New York Penn Station on a Saturday morning:
1979: 73 minutes, 47.8 mph (local).
2008: 80 minutes, 43.6 mph (express).
2008: 94 minutes, 37.1 mph (local).
Note that today’s express trains are slower than 1979’s local trains. And the local trains take over 20 minutes longer than 1979’s trains.
How can NJ Transit justify schedules which are so much slower than in the past?
February 15th 2008
On Sunday, Governor Corzine announced that the MOM line will not go through Middlesex County. “It will be the MO line, not the MOM line,” Corzine said. Today, in a letter in the Home News Tribune, NJ Transit announced they will ignore the results of the MOM DEIS:
Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri and NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles said at an NJ Transit board meeting last week that NJ Transit will complete the DEIS process including all three alternatives as required to avoid jeopardizing future federal funding or triggering a requirement to start the process over.
They also reiterated that Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s direction sets a clear path forward after the completion of the DEIS.
Lynn Bowersox
Assistant executive director, Corporate communications and external affairs
NJ TRANSIT
So after spending millions of dollars and close to a decade studying MOM, NJT is going to ignore the study and cave-in to Middlesex County Democrats, to the detriment of the traveling public, just because the Governor says so. And then politicians wonder why people have lost faith in our government.
February 13th 2008
Update: The Rail Passenger Conference has been postponed entirely. DVARP, which is in charge of both the conference and the NARP Region 3 meeting, just released the following:
Due to problems with speaker availability and the illness of one of our committee members, we have elected to postpone the Northeast Rail Passenger Conference to a later date this year. The new date will be announced as soon as we have confirmation.
The NARP Region 3 meeting WILL PROCEED AS SCHEDULED Saturday, February 16, at Logan Hall on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania (36th and Spruce Sts., Philadelphia) beginning at 10:00 and ending mid-afternoon.
Persons who have pre-registered for the full conference will be offered the opportunity to attend on the rescheduled dates or a full refund of conference fees. We hope everyone will still come to the Region 3 meeting Saturday.
DVARP regrets any inconvenience this may cause.
February 6th 2008
NJ-ARP Hotline #616 is now online. When you’re finished reading the Hotline, you can come back here and leave your comments in this thread.
January 31st 2008
Last summer, NJ Transit said the earliest weekend service could start on the Montclair Line was “the latter half of 2008″. Now, weekend service has been delayed to at least the fall of 2009.
The most recent in a line of excuses is construction work by NJDOT on the Bloomfield Avenue bridge over the railroad tracks. Note that the construction contract hasn’t been awarded yet, so the September 2009 estimate for completion of the project is exactly that - an estimate.
As the saying goes: there’s no time like the present for postponing what you don’t want to do.
The only good news is that the township is in favor of weekend service:
Mayor Ed Remsen said NJ Transit had informed Montclair of the delay. “It’s disappointing but understandable,” he said. “We’re all looking forward to it. … We’re just going to have to wait a little longer.”
