For N.J. Transit Rail Commuters, a Bad Situation Is About to Get Worse

[GojiMet86]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/nyregion/nj-transit-trains.html

 

Quote

 

For N.J. Transit Rail Commuters, a Bad Situation Is About to Get Worse

 

By Patrick McGeehan

Sept. 20, 2018

 

New Jersey Transit, which has been struggling for months to maintain its already reduced commuter train service, plans to take more trains off its schedule next month and to temporarily eliminate some routes, agency officials said Thursday.

The additional cancellations include 18 daily trains on five of its lines, as well as a suspension of all train service on a short rail segment in Princeton — fondly known as the Dinky — and weekend service on the Gladstone Branch of the Morris & Essex line, they said.

The statewide transit agency has been canceling trains on short notice, infuriating its customers as they have to scramble to get to work on time and keep appointments. New Jersey Transit, the country’s second-busiest commuter rail system, has blamed the failures on its rush to meet a Dec. 31 federal deadline to install an automatic braking system.

Officials have said that many of the agency’s locomotives and other equipment have been sidelined to complete the project. The equipment shortage has been compounded by a lack of engineers to drive the trains, they said. On some days this summer, New Jersey Transit canceled more than 20 trains.

Those cancellations came after the agency curtailed its service in the spring to accommodate the installation of the braking system, known as Positive Train Control. On Thursday, the agency’s executive director, Kevin Corbett, said the project was more than 65 percent complete and was on pace to be completed before the deadline.

Mr. Corbett said he expected to end the service reductions in mid-January. As a way to soften the blow, the agency will offer a 10 percent discount on all rail tickets in November, December and January.

Mr. Corbett said the additional curtailment of service, scheduled for mid-October, was an admission that the agency’s new management underestimated how detrimental the installation project would be to New Jersey Transit’s ability to maintain its service.

The trains being removed from the schedule include eight on the Morris & Essex line, four on the Main/Bergen County line, three on the Northeast Corridor, two on the North Jersey Coast Line and one on the Montclair-Boonton line.

 

 

[Lance]

To compensate for these massive service changes, NJ Transit is temporarily reducing fares by about ten percent between November and January.

WNBC has the details on the cancelled and rerouted trains.

[mfs NJT459]

I doubt NJT will be able to run early getaway trains day before before Thanksgiving as well as before Christmas break.

[Jsunflyguy]

Governor Murphy better get on PR for this. I know he's stuck holding the bag for the past few years but this is one of those political killers that the public will tar and feather a POL for.

[trainfan22]

Crazy how two of the biggest transit operators in the Tri State (MTA and NJT) went to crap at the same time.

 

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 9/20/2018 at 4:16 PM, Lance said:

To compensate for these massive service changes, NJ Transit is temporarily reducing fares by about ten percent between November and January.

WNBC has the details on the cancelled and rerouted trains.

A drop in the bucket considering the aggravation. One disaster and an Uber ride eats that right up. lol

[Lance]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 3:48 PM, trainfan22 said:

Crazy how two of the biggest transit operators in the Tri State (MTA and NJT) went to crap at the same time.

Not really. Both agencies have been punting their problems down the road for many years and it just led to its most obvious conclusion. Just as the MTA knew that kicking the maintenance issue down the road would significantly hurt service in the long run, so has the always planned implementation of PTC along the NJ Transit rails. They kept deciding to do it later and well, here we are.

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 4:42 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

A drop in the bucket considering the aggravation. One disaster and an Uber ride eats that right up. lol

I'm actually surprised. I thought they'd just keep the fares as they are, but that would've probably led to riots.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

39 minutes ago, Lance said:

I'm actually surprised. I thought they'd just keep the fares as they are, but that would've probably led to riots.

Yes. I follow the riders over there, and they are just as pissed as riders if not more. In fact in my office we had one person who simply refused to work in our NY office anymore. They had enough of the commute even though it was only a few days a week. Another co-worker quit as well, but has since come back, but they were complaining to me about it taking two hours one way from Montclair. They spend a good chunk of change for the service, and then you have trains cancelled left and right. It makes it very hard to get in. Our former manager also lived in Montclair and he was usually an hour late to the office and he lived right by the station, but it is so easy for the commute to be delayed with so many cancellations. Luckily in our office the owner is understanding as they too commute with public transit from the Upper East Side, but I would imagine that in offices where lateness isn't tolerated, people either spend crazy amounts of money getting to and from work or more for baby-sitters or they risk being fired.

Murphy has to show something because one of the big things that he ran on was fixing NJ Transit. Problem is that even though he's only been in office a short time, service has deteriorated so bad that people are ready to go on the attack. They just want to see their trains come instead of having last minute cancellations, some of which apparently aren't even being announced which makes it even worse. You stand around wondering where your train is only to find out later that it was cancelled.