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When amtrak screws up....


metsfan

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Towards the end (after the train starts going towards NY again) there's some strong language coming from an unruly passenger so keep the volume down & you shouldnt be able to hear it. Normally i wouldnt post a video with that in it, but this was just too rare.

 

There were a pair of vermonters being hauled by HHP8, one that somehow got disabled and blocked the NY bound metropark platform. Normally if a train gets stuck to get passengers moving on the train behind you can do a low level stop, but some trains are so long they block the low level walkway. We ended up skipping metropark and letting passengers on at rahway then letting people off at the back cars so people didn't stay on the train who should have been off at metropark. Now, some of you on here have been to or seen metropark station might be wondering why train length would be an issue. Currently half the platform is under construction and the low level walkway isn't where it normally would be. The restriction on the other side is even worse. When construction completes it will have a fully enclosed platform that can fit 12 85 foot cars. :(

 

At rahway there was an AEM-7 from sunnyside sitting by itself waiting to switch out or move the affected train if needed

 

 

 

- A

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The guy swearing put an empty bottle or something on the floor. Doing that is totally against the rules & is why NJT is avoided by some folks.

 

As for metropark being the busiest... Newark is the busiest by far. Express trains don't stop at metropark unless they are partial express.

 

In order of # of people i'd have to say it goes new york, newark, hoboken, long branch, princeton junction. New york doesn't really count though since its the only NJT stop in nyc which itself is the busiest rail station in north america.

 

But yea, if it happened during peak hours in peak direction all hell would assuredly break loose causing cascading delays along several lines as dispatchers tried to fix it. Thankfully there has been rail service in NJ for a -really- long time & they have most of the options figured out for things we probably dont even think can happen. I am sure they will be more careful when pulling into metropark from now on making it a point to leave the low level walkway clear in crappy weather.

 

- A

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The guy swearing put an empty bottle or something on the floor. Doing that is totally against the rules & is why NJT is avoided by some folks.

 

As for metropark being the busiest... Newark is the busiest by far. Express trains don't stop at metropark unless they are partial express.

 

In order of # of people i'd have to say it goes new york, newark, hoboken, long branch, princeton junction. New york doesn't really count though since its the only NJT stop in nyc which itself is the busiest rail station in north america.

 

But yea, if it happened during peak hours in peak direction all hell would assuredly break loose causing cascading delays along several lines as dispatchers tried to fix it. Thankfully there has been rail service in NJ for a -really- long time & they have most of the options figured out for things we probably dont even think can happen. I am sure they will be more careful when pulling into metropark from now on making it a point to leave the low level walkway clear in crappy weather.

 

- A

 

 

Newark is counted as a Terminal stop or a city stop....being that its a station where all the trains from the NWK division stop at, and where RVL trains terminate..and where ppl get off to either change trains or go to work(in the city of downtown Newark).....Hoboken and NY Penn don't count either because they are also considered terminal stops

 

Metropark does have Exp trains...there are trains the run exp from Newark to Metropark and vice versa....from Metropark exp to Newark

 

In the order of busy SUBURBAN stops (where most ppl are getting on in the AM and getting off in the PM)

 

1) Metropark (7,620 weekday boardings)

2) Princeton Junction (7,355)

3) Trenton(6,045)

4) New Brunswick (5,787)

 

Long Branch doesn't even come close to most stations on the NEC its avg. weekday boarding is (1,456)....the busiest station on the NJCL is Matawan with (3,310)

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This is just from my personal experience on peak hours actually being on the train, not via a chart. If i'm wrong i'm wrong, but the trains that i see not stopping at metropark are usually standing room only by the time its leaving newark coming from new york, most of the people get off at princeton junction and the train is basically empty after that stop a lot of the time, with the remaining folks going to hamilton or trenton obviously. I am sure local trains have heavy traffic for the local stops skipped by the 2 other types of express, but i never get on those so i wouldnt know. Maybe next time i'll get a local back to see what the pattern is. :P

 

The reason i don't count new york and do count newark, is because RVL trains are diesel and cant run from NYP. If it was electric it most likely would run from new york to allow people to get on at sec and save a bit of time. Another reason is that nyp is a national transit hub, newark is a main stop. that only the atlantic city trains would bypass. I wonder if anyone thought about gennies running into nyp via 3rd rail since LIRR has it at nyp.

 

All things being equal, the express trains that bypass metropark are stuffed full of people going to princeton. The partial express trains add more people to the local total, and because they are usually EMU they have the longer 12 car consist vs 8-10 push/pull. Then you got the multilevel cars on the expresses which is like having 18+ cars worth of passengers.

 

I'll do some more observing for sure! B)

 

- A

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