The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
photos by Boyd Loving
May 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog has received complaint from a commuter that NJ Transit is doing very little to maintain the area surrounding the Ridge Road train station access point. The dumpster is theirs, weeds are sky high, and there is garbage strewn everywhere.
By The Editors • 05/17/16 7:30pm
Last week, the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. complained to the TSA that security lines at the region’s three main airports were unacceptable—hitting 55 minutes recently—and getting worse. Between March 15 and April 15 of this year, the average wait time was 21 minutes, up from 11.5 minutes a year earlier—an 82 percent increase. During that same month-long period a year ago, travelers at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark had to endure security-line waits of more than 20 minutes only 10 times. This year, it was a shocking 253 times.
Such delays are becoming commonplace. The Drudge Report, the country’s foremost authority on what’s angering America, has been detailing the spiraling crisis. Yesterday in Chicago, both airports began recommending that passengers arrive three hours early to allow for lengthening security lines. New York fared slightly better than Chicago, where delays exceeded two hours and thousands of people missed their flights.
In response, the TSA blamed passengers for bringing too many carry-on items. Seriously.
A day after this surreal exchange, we thought it might be prudent to actually sign up for the TSA’s PreCheck program. (We occasionally get diverted to the PreCheck line, though we’re not sure whether it is because we are already members of Global Entry—issued by the same federal agency—or because we shelled out a few bucks for more legroom and early boarding.)
https://observer.com/2016/05/hapless-tsa-symbolizes-a-cant-do-america/
Frustrated travelers are turning to the complaint box in growing numbers as long lines and delays getting through airport security result in missed flights.
Complaints filed on such topics as courtesy and processing time surged in March to the highest levels in the past year, according to the Department of Transportation’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report released Monday.
Reports filed over the time it took U.S. Transportation Security Administration to screen passengers grew more than 10-fold, to 513 this past March from 48 in March 2015. Concern about lack of courtesy by TSA screeners increased more than three-fold, to 1,012 in March from 294 a year ago.
Other categories of complaints on the screening process and travelers’ personal property were also at the highest levels recorded in the past year, according to DOT. A spokesman for the TSA didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment on Monday’s report.
May 15,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood commuters ,the Federal Railroad Administration and NJ TRANSIT are jointly preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the Hudson Tunnel Project. Two public meetings have been set up with will offer a presentation and take comments .
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and NJ TRANSIT are jointly preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the Hudson Tunnel Project. The Project is intended to preserve the current functionality of the Northeast Corridor’s (NEC) Hudson River rail crossing between New Jersey and New York and strengthen the resilience of the NEC. The Project would consist of construction of a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, including railroad infrastructure in New Jersey and New York connecting the new rail tunnel to the existing NEC, and rehabilitation of the existing NEC tunnel beneath the Hudson River, referred to as the North River Tunnel.
The North River Tunnel is used by Amtrak for intercity passenger rail service and by NJ TRANSIT for commuter rail service. The approach to the tunnel begins east of NJ TRANSIT’s Frank R. Lautenberg Station in Secaucus, NJ (which is 5 miles east of Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT’s Newark Penn Station). East of the Secaucus station, the NEC has two tracks that approach the tunnel on a raised embankment through the towns of Secaucus and North Bergen, NJ. Tracks enter a tunnel portal in North Bergen, passing beneath Union City and Weehawken, NJ and the Hudson River before emerging within the Penn Station New York (PSNY) rail complex in New York City. The tunnel has two separate tubes, each accommodating a single track for electrically powered trains, and extends approximately 2.5 miles from the tunnel portal in North Bergen to PSNY. The existing North River Tunnel is a critical NEC asset and is the only intercity passenger rail crossing into New York City from New Jersey and areas west and south.
Service reliability throughout the tunnel has been compromised because of the damage to tunnel components caused by Superstorm Sandy, which inundated both tubes in the North River Tunnel with seawater in October 2012, resulting in the cancellation of all Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT service into New York City for five days. While the tunnel was restored to service and is now safe for travel, chlorides from the seawater remain in the tunnel’s concrete liner and bench walls, causing ongoing damage to the bench walls, imbedded steel, track, and signaling and electrical components.
The damage caused by Superstorm Sandy is compounded by the tunnel’s age and the intensity of its current use (operating at capacity to meet current demands), resulting in frequent delays due to component failures within the tunnel.
Public Scoping Meetings
FRA and NJ TRANSIT will hold two public scoping meetings on the following dates:
May 17, 2016
Hotel Pennsylvania
Gold Ballroom, 3rd Floor
401 Seventh Avenue at West 33rd Street
New York, NY
May 19, 2016
Union City High School
2500 Kennedy Boulevard
Union City, NJ
Both days will include an afternoon session from 3 to 5 PM with a brief presentation about the Project at 4 PM, and an evening session from 6 to 8 PM with a brief presentation about the Project at 7 PM. The public will be able to review Project information, talk informally with members of the study staff, and formally submit comments to the FRA (to a stenographer or in writing). The meeting facilities will be accessible to persons with disabilities. Spanish language translators will be present. If special translation or signing services or other special accommodations are needed, please contact the Project team five days prior to the meeting at 973-261-8115, or email team@hudsontunnelproject.com.
Two rail workers unions that recently rejected tentative contracts with New Jersey Transit are resuming efforts to reach new deals. Associated Press Read more
If the Gateway project to dig a new tunnel under the Hudson River proceeds like other big projects, the permitting process alone could take seven years and cost taxpayers $13 billion. That’s before the first shovel of dirt is even moved, according to a report released Monday by Common Good, a nonprofit group. Christopher Maag, The Record Read more
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, now two unions representing New Jersey Transit’s conductors and locomotive engineers have voted against ratifying recently negotiated labor agreements.The United Transportation Union’s C&T division and the NJ Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are the two unions that rejected the contracts.
The new contract reached March 13th ,averted a strike that would have shut down the agency’s commuter-rail system.The tentative agreements have both failed ratifications by narrow margins. Despite two rejections, 14 other unions ratified their contracts by significant majorities,and the 14 contracts have been approved by the board of NJ Transit and are now in effect
The two dissenting unions have the right, under the Federal Railway Labor Act, to request the resumption of negotiations, earlier agreements, have instituted an additional 60-day “cooling off” period currently in effect now that precludes strikes or lockouts. So it looks like for the time being that Ridgewood rail commuters are safe to assume trains will still be ariving at the station for the time being.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Members of a union representing some New Jersey Transit rail workers have decided not ratify the new contract with the agency.
The New Jersey Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced its decision to say No in a statement posted Friday on its website.The Vote tally was undisclosed.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen was part of an 11-member coalition that reached deals with New Jersey Transit in March averting a strike . Eight other unions have ratified their deals, while the two remaining unions planned to vote Saturday.
April 26,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, from the “take back Ridgewood ” Facebook group ,Glen Rock is removing ‘non resident parking’ from the train station and moving non residents a block away. In Ridgewood, our Mayor and his team want to add more non resident commuter parking near the train station for political gains. We need to be informed and vote against his team on May 10th. We can’t afford 4 more years of this.
Glen Rock’s Borough Hall station parking lot to be designated for local commuters beginning May 1
BY RICHARD DE SANTA
STAFF WRITER |
GLEN ROCK GAZETTE
April 18,2016
Ridgewood NJ, NJT Authorities say a man lying between the railroad tracks was not injured after a New Jersey Transit Main Line train passed over him.
The Suffern bond train departed from Hoboken on Saturday. There were no reported injuries , but the train was delayed for nearly an hour while the incident was investigated in Elmwood Parked .
The man who’s name has not been released is now facing a charge of interfering with transportation following the incident .
It’s not clear why the man was lying between the tracks or how long he had been there before the train went over him. But authorities say he appeared to be drunk and he was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
New Jersey’s transportation funding system is in disarray, and neither the governor nor state legislators has a plan for how to plug a financing gap that tops $2 billion, administration officials and Assembly members said Wednesday at the first budget hearing of the season. Christopher Maag, The Record Read more
New Jersey Transit’s director defended the use of audio surveillance systems on some of its trains Tuesday, as some questioned the monitoring’s legal and ethical underpinnings. Associated Press, Read more
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Just weeks since a potential strike was adverted and less than a year after NJ Transit closed a $56 million budget gap by raising passenger fares 9 percent, NJT now finds itself another $57 million in the hole. Slower ridership growth leading to lower-than-projected revenues leaves the agency 128 days to close the budget gap.
The biggest single hit “surprise “was a new contract for unionized bus workers, which cost the agency $46.6 million in additional salaries and benefits. NJ Transit also spent $18 million more than it expected on services by outside companies, including a program to overhaul the agency’s double-decker train cars, plus another $13 million on materials and supplies, to renovate facilities . Federal money partially offset some of these expenses , and NJ Transit expects more federal reimbursements to help off set budget gap.
The agency authorized spending $35 million ,which would be matched by $35 million from Amtrak to fund the preliminary planning and environmental review for the project, known as the Gateway tunnel.
The new rail connection known as the Bergen Loop would connect NJ Transit’s Main-Bergen and Pascack Valley train lines directly to the Northeast Corridor line, bypassing Secaucus Junction and delivering commuters to New York Penn Station.
That means no more ferry rides, PATH trains or transfers in Hoboken or Secaucus. Proponents claim direct train service will increase the value of North Jersey real estate by billions of dollars.
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
After years of discussion and months of only preliminary progress, the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River took a big step forward Wednesday when officials announced $70 million in new funding for preliminary engineering work, plus a framework establishing who has decision-making power over the project.
