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the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Union City NJ, NJ TRANSIT apologizes to all of our rail customers impacted by Friday night’s incident affecting the Hudson River Tunnels.
“Fortunately, no one was injured and we remain in close contact with Amtrak as part of the ongoing investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Kevin Corbett.
Continue reading NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak continue to investigate Friday Train Incident
January 7,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Monday at Penn Station New York , the Amtrak Track Rehabilitation/Construction get underway. This will affect NJ TRANSIT’s NEC & NJCL Weekday Train Service ,beginning Monday, January 8, 2018.
Service will be adjusted in and out of New York, and NJT customers are advised to prepare for delays and crowded conditions.
Beginning Monday, January 8 and continuing through Monday, May 28, 2018, service on NJ TRANSIT’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) and North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) will be adjusted to accommodate Amtrak Track Rehabilitation work at Penn Station New York (PSNY).
During this time, NEC and NJCL schedules will be modified. Other train lines may have slight adjustments. New rail schedules will take effect on Sunday, January 7 on all rail lines except the Atlantic City Line. Please review the information below and refer to your schedule.
Train 3867 (5:17 p.m. from PSNY) will now depart PSNY at 5:21 p.m. It will NOT stop at Newark Airport.
Train 3122 (7:06 a.m. from New Brunswick) will now depart New Brunswick at 7:05 a.m. and terminate at Newark Penn Station. This train (renumbered as Train 5822) will no longer serve Secaucus or New York. Connecting service to New York will be available on Train 3124 (see below).
Train 3869 (5:32 p.m. from PSNY) will now depart New York at 5:37 p.m. and operate to Jersey Avenue only. This train (renumbered as Train 3727) will NOT stop at Newark Airport.
Train 3124 (7:16 a.m. from New Brunswick) will now depart New Brunswick at 7:11 a.m. It will no longer serve Newark Airport or Secaucus stations.
Train3171 (5:43 p.m. from PSNY) will no longer serve New York and Secaucus, but will originate at Newark Penn Station, departing there at 6:03 p.m. This train (renumbered as Train 5869) will add a Newark Airport stop, operate express to Rahway, and then make all stops to Trenton.
NEC/NJCL NEC/NJCL
Train 3502 will now arrive in New York at 8:18 a.m.
Train 3441 (6:51 p.m. from PSNY) will be CANCELLED.
Train 3875 (6:47 p.m. from PSNY) will make ALL local stops.
December 30,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, earlier this month Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced commitments to fund 100 percent of their respective share of the new Gateway tunnel. The agreement follows a 2015 framework agreement in which the federal government agreed to fund 50 percent of the project.
The agreement for a combined $5.5 billion states that the State of New York will contribute $1.75 billion with NJ Transit committing $1.9 billion and the Port Authority contributing $1.9 billion.
But the Trump administration through cold water on the idea on Friday . In a letter to New York and New Jersey officials, a top Federal Transit Administration Deputy Administrator Jane Williams signaled that the Trump administration would not recognize the agreement struck under former President Barack Obama that called for the federal government to pay half the cost of the project.
The letter stated that ,“There is no such agreement,” and “We consider it unhelpful to reference a nonexistent ‘agreement’ rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders,”
Two A.M. Peak and Three P.M. Peak Trains To Be Affected On NEC and NJCL Beginning January 8
November 14, 2017
Ridgewood NJ, Upcoming Amtrak track work at Penn Station New York (PSNY) will impact select NJ TRANSIT peak period train service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) and North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) with scheduled service adjustments to begin on January 8, 2018 through May 28, 2018.
The work will mainly affect a total of five trains per day which includes two in the a.m. peak and three in the p.m. peak periods. Of these five trains, one NJCL train in both the a.m. and p.m. will be diverted to Hoboken; one NEC train in both the a.m. and p.m. will terminate/originate at Newark Penn Station and another NJCL train in the p.m. will be cancelled. Other trains may have adjustments made to the timetable or station stops, and customers are advised to check the service timetables carefully.
“While this impact is far less than what we experienced this past summer, we encourage our Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line customers to do their homework and adjust their commuting plans if needed,” said Executive Director Steven H. Santoro. “I want to thank our customers in advance as we continue to support Amtrak’s efforts to renew critical infrastructure at Penn Station New York and avoid a repeat of the derailments we saw this past spring.”
The affected trains are as follows:
A.M.
NJCL train 3216, the 6:11 a.m. eastbound Long Branch departure, will now depart at 6:23 a.m. and will be diverted to Hoboken renumbered as 2604
NEC train 3122, the 7:06 a.m. eastbound departure from New Brunswick will terminate at Newark Penn Station renumbered as 5822.
P.M.
NJCL train 3267, the 5:25 p.m. departure from PSNY, will originate from Hoboken at 5:22 p.m. renumbered as 2609
NEC train 3171, the 5:43 p.m. departure from PSNY, will originate at Newark Penn Station at 6:03 p.m. renumbered as 5869
NJCL train 3441, the 6:51 p.m. departure from PSNY, will be cancelled
Customers are advised that trains prior to or following the affected trains may experience crowded conditions.
JOHN REITMEYER | AUGUST 7, 2017
Upgrades right on schedule, agency says, but there might be more work needed after summer is over that could affect NJ Transit commuters
The major repairs at New York’s Penn Station that have pushed thousands of New Jersey Transit commuters off their normal routes into Manhattan this summer are right on-schedule after the first month of work.
The steady progress means service changes that have been in place since early July are still likely to end soon after Labor Day. But with the aging station and its heavily used infrastructure in need of even more fixing up once summer ends, additional track outages that could again impact NJ Transit may be looming.
According to the latest update from Amtrak, the agency that owns Penn Station and has been leading the ongoing repairs, workers will need roughly another month to finish fixing up Track 10 and a part of the facility that includes a very busy section known as “A Interlocking.” While the workers still have “considerable challenges ahead,” Gery Williams, Amtrak’s chief engineer, said they remain on course to complete those repairs by September 4.
“Really, overall, we’ve had a really, good week,” Williams told reporters on Friday as the project reached its official midway point. “From the project aspect, we’re 50 percent completed.”
“We’re very focused on delivering by Labor Day,” he said.
By DANA RUBINSTEIN
07/06/2017 02:06 PM EDT
A plan to build a new passenger rail tunnel — and repair the existing one that’s now falling apart — will cost nearly $13 billion and could, perhaps, be completed in late 2026, according to a draft environmental impact statement released Thursday.
That $13 billion represents an increase over the original estimate of the project, which was routinely pegged by officials as somewhere in the $8 to $10 billion range.
The new estimates might be conceptual too.
Ridgewood NJ, In advance of the upcoming Amtrak track work at Penn Station New York (PSNY) during July and August, NJ TRANSIT has published new weekday rail schedules to assist customers in navigating the service changes and making their travel plans.
Printable versions of the timetables can be found at a new dedicated information portal at njtransit.com/theupdate after 12 p.m. June 9, 2017. Weekend service will not be impacted.
To accommodate Amtrak’s track repairs in July and August at PSNY, NJ TRANSIT must implement service changes weekdays only between Monday, July 10th and Friday, September 1st.
NJ TRANSIT is strongly advising customers on all modes of transportation to remain aware of the status of the system by signing up for My Transit alerts, monitoring Twitter (@NJTRANSIT) and the website njtransit.com/theupdate.
Beginning at 7:00 a.m. through 10:00 a.m., NY Waterway Ferry will operate special service from Hoboken Terminal to W. 39th St. in Midtown Manhattan every 15 minutes. This special service will also operate in the afternoon peak hours between 4:00 p.m. (W. 39th St. Manhattan) and 8:00 p.m. All of these trips will accept NJ TRANSIT tickets and passes to/from Hoboken.
By Vince Calio, June 5, 2017 at 12:51 PM
Amtrak and NJ Transit would use a new Gateway tunnel under the Hudson River. – (AARON HOUSTON)
Private firms will be sought to help finance and construct the $20 billion rail tunnel connecting northern New Jersey and New York City.
During its June 1 board meeting, the Gateway Program Development Board approved a move to solicit private construction and finance companies to complete the project under a public-private partnership model. In a typical P3 procurement model, private financial institutions would raise part of the money for a public project through a combination of debt and direct equity infusions, and then hire outside construction firms to complete it.
If implemented, the procurement model could pump several billion dollars into both New York and New Jersey’s economy, said the board’s chairman, Richard Bagger, during the meeting.
June 3,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, its coming ,the modified Service Plan Due to Amtrak’s Summer Track Repair Work in Effect Monday, July 10 through Friday, September 1, 2017
NJ TRANSIT rail customers have been forced to deal with delays, derailments and unreliable service because Amtrak, which owns the tracks our service relies upon, has neglected the maintenance of its critical infrastructure for years. For three-quarters of NJ TRANSIT rail customers travel patterns will not be modified, including the Trenton to New York Northeast Corridor Line. However, delays on all rail lines, except for the Atlantic City Rail line, are inevitable.
Long overdue Amtrak track repair work will significantly disrupt travel this summer for customers who normally travel on the Morris & Essex Midtown Direct service to and from Penn Station New York. As a result, for their inconvenience, Morris & Essex Lines customers will receive about a 50 percent discount off the regular Hoboken ticket cost, in addition to cross-honoring with ferry and PATH service at Hoboken Terminal.
Below is the overall rail service plan for customers who will be traveling into Penn Station New York and Hoboken Terminal this summer.
NJ TRANSIT Service Plan for July 10th – September 1st
The following weekday rail service plan will be in place continuously from July 10th through September 1st.
Midtown Direct trains on the Morristown Line will be diverted to Hoboken.
Midtown Direct trains on the Gladstone Branch will be diverted to Hoboken.
All Midtown Direct trains on the Montclair-Boonton Line will operate on regular weekday schedules with minor time changes to/from PSNY.
All Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line trains will operate on regular weekday schedules with minor time changes to/from PSNY.
Raritan Valley Line will operate on regular weekday schedules with adjustments to PSNY schedules.
Main/Bergen, Pascack Valley and Port Jervis Lines will operate on regular weekday schedules however customers may need to adjust their connections to New York at Secaucus.
June 1,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi shares a commuter update from New Jersey Transit.
COMMUTER UPDATE from NJ Transit:
NJ TRANSIT has heard from our customers that their lives have been turned upside down by the almost daily delays resulting from Amtrak’s emergency repair work that is going on at Penn Station New York (PSNY). This is before the continuous summer work that Amtrak will perform in July and August.
Amtrak has acknowledged that it must do extensive and disruptive work to its tracks and infrastructure at PSNY this summer due to years of its neglect. NJ TRANSIT has challenged Amtrak to make the necessary repairs and Amtrak maintains this work must be done now.
Amtrak’s summer repair and renewal work will reduce the number of trains that NJ TRANSIT can send in-and-out-of PSNY, particularly during peak periods. With Amtrak taking out multiple tracks that NJ TRANSIT uses every single day, NJ TRANSIT developed a modified summer rail schedule that will be in effect from July 10th through September 1st. The location and extent of Amtrak’s work means that instead of being able to send 21 trains into New York during the busiest hours of the morning rush, NJ TRANSIT will send 15.
Even under these constraints, NJ TRANSIT’s experienced transportation service planners were able to develop a service plan that allows three-quarters of our customers to continue to experience their regular travel pattern into New York. Nearly all customers traveling on the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line, Raritan Valley, Montclair-Boonton, Pascack Valley, Main/Bergen and the Port Jervis Lines will continue their same travel pattern as they do today.
However, there is an impact to having fewer trains per-hour into New York during this two-month period; some of NJ TRANSIT’s customers will move to a two-seat ride into-and out-of Manhattan each weekday.
Recognizing the inconvenience of the affected customers on the Morris & Essex Lines, they will be charge much lower fares – 50 to 63 percent less than the price they usually pay for tickets and passes. To provide the maximum number of travel options, we are also developing a strategic increase to bus service in affected areas; light rail service will be adjusted and NJ TRANSIT will offer free cross-honoring with PATH and the ferries.
Customers will see a robust communication campaign in concert with the release of schedules and travel alternatives the first full week of June through all traditional and social media outlets available to us. NJ TRANSIT employee ambassadors will be out at key terminals including Penn Station, Hoboken, Newark and other locations beginning next month, to answer questions and hand out information to help prepare customers for the continuous Amtrak outages that will impact them this summer.
For the summer, NJ TRANSIT has insisted on having a Joint Station Operations Center at PSNY for better crowd management and customer communication. NJ TRANSIT has also insisted Amtrak have rescue engines crewed and ready to respond if there is a breakdown or disruption this summer, to keep one delayed train from creating a cascade of misery for the customers on many other trains.
NJ TRANSIT also insisted on a number of other steps to benefit New Jersey customers this summer, including:
· That the west end concourse at PSNY be opened for NJ TRANSIT customers.
· That the blanket 10 mph speed restriction now in place near PSNY be lifted prior to July 10.
· That NJ TRANSIT is allowed to perform field inspections of the renewal work.
· That Amtrak provide daily written progress reports.
· And that an NJ TRANSIT representative be involved in day-to-day dispatching decisions.
Longer term, NJ TRANSIT will demand that New Jersey have more input on Amtrak’s priorities for repair and replacement of infrastructure, to ensure that state of good repair efforts – those projects most directly tied to the safe and reliable service, are being advanced where they are needed most, so that NJ TRANSIT’s customers can have safe, reliable service, day in and day out.
By Michael Gartland
May 21, 2017 | 5:00pm
Governor Cuomo turned to President Trump on Sunday to help bail New Yorkers out of a looming mass transit crisis at Penn Station, a situation he likened to a natural disaster.
In a letter to Trump dated May 21, Cuomo requested “the federal government treat this as an emergency situation” and asked Trump to provide funding for construction and transportation alternatives, as well as for a long-term solution.
“While this is not a hurricane or flood it will affect as many people and businesses with dire consequences,” Cuomo continues. “Like a natural disaster, we didn’t create it but our public offices require we address it.”
https://nypost.com/2017/05/21/cuomo-asks-trump-for-help-with-disastrous-penn-station/
file photo fatal Hoboken train crash
New Jersey’s next governor stands to inherit a still-stalled plan to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, a transit system racked recently by maintenance and safety issues. and a driving public unhappy about recent gas tax increases.
| April 29, 2017, at 9:22 a.m.
By MICHAEL CATALINI, Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s next governor stands to inherit a still-stalled plan to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, a transit system racked by recent maintenance and safety issues, and a driving public unhappy about gas tax increases.
The issues were highlighted this week after Amtrak announced repair work at New York’s Penn Station that would stretch rail delays into the summer and after state transportation officials hailed an eight-year funding plan financed by a gas tax hike during a hearing before New Jersey’s Democrat-led Legislature.
New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states with governor races this year.
Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is term limited and can’t seek re-election, has remained on the defensive over his 2010 decision to scrap a trans-Hudson rail project. That project’s successor, called Gateway, has broad support but an uncertain funding source.
But Christie has gone on the offense against Amtrak and all but declared victory, saying that Amtrak’s plans to repair tracks satisfied his demands that the railway certify its tracks before the state resumes making nearly $200 million monthly maintenance payments.
Christie’s ultimatum came after recent derailments at the station.
file photo
April 26,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, ,Due to ongoing Amtrak track maintenance work and track inspections leading to speed restrictions, effective immediately and continuing until further notice, NJT customers traveling to and from New York Penn Station will experience estimated delays of 15 minutes on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends.
Another horrible commute to Penn this morning. Train conductor said over the weekend service was even worse. The frequency with which these incidents and slow downs in service are happening tells me there’s something fishy. I wouldn’t bet against conspiracies that NJT and Amtrak and others are trying to justify another fare increase for “capital improvements”. As long as people do not display their anger for not getting the service they paid for this situation will continue.
file photo by ArtChick
by Elise Young
April 17, 2017, 4:39 PM EDT
Power loss follows two derailments, taxing regional railroads
Despite governor’s comment, cause of weekend incident unclear
Governor Chris Christie blamed Amtrak for a holiday-weekend travel meltdown on New Jersey’s commuter train line, though the federal passenger railroad said it was the state’s fault this time.
As many as 1,200 New Jersey Transit passengers were stranded on April 14 in a tunnel beneath the Hudson River aboard a train that had lost power. A statement emailed by Christie’s office on Monday attributed the incident to Amtrak, which owns the tracks, calling it an example of the railroad’s “failure to adequately maintain its facilities.’’
The investigation so far, though, was “inconclusive’’ about a cause, according to Steve Santoro, New Jersey Transit’s executive director, who spoke to reporters in Hoboken on Monday. Santoro was there to show lawmakers damage caused by a fatal New Jersey Transit crash in September.
Mike Tolbert, an Amtrak spokesman, said its infrastructure wasn’t at fault and “the preliminary cause appears to be a NJ Transit mechanical problem involving the train’s pantograph,” or power collector.
