Tag: floods

Christie Administration Announces Restoration of Limited Rail Service to Newark on Friday

Christie Administration Announces Restoration of Limited Rail Service to Newark on Friday

Northeast Corridor Service to Operation on a Special Schedule Between Trenton and Newark Penn Station

North Jersey Coast Line Service to Operate Between Woodbridge and Newark Penn Station

Raritan Valley Line Service to Operate Between Raritan and Newark

Trenton, NJ – The Christie Administration announced the restoration of limited rail service on three of NJ TRANSIT’s rail lines starting Friday, November 2, as part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to restore NJ TRANSIT service as soon as it becomes possible. This service restoration includes service along three lines:  Northeast Corridor service between Trenton Transit Center and Newark Penn Station, North Jersey Coast Line service between Woodbridge and Newark Penn Station, and Raritan Valley Line service between Raritan and Newark Penn Station.  A special schedule will be posted on njtransit.com by 7:00 p.m. this evening.

“As the backbone of the NJ TRANSIT rail system, the restoration of Northeast Corridor service is a significant step in providing a level of service to NJ TRANSIT’s customers,” said Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman James Simpson.  “Our work is far from done, as we still face a number of operational challenges, but we will continue working tirelessly to further restore service where we can safely do so.”

Service to Penn Station New York will resume following Amtrak’s restoration of the Hudson River Tunnels and it’s signal system is complete.On Thursday, November 1, NJ TRANSIT restored the majority of bus service throughout the state, operating full service on 68 bus routes in northern New Jersey and 18 bus routes in southern New Jersey, and restoring partial service on 58 bus routes in northern New Jersey and 17 routes in southern New Jersey.  Also on Thursday, River Line service was restored between the Trenton Transit Center and the Entertainment Center in Camden, operating on a Sunday schedule.  Limited Access Link paratransit service resumed operation as well.

NJ TRANSIT is advising customers of the following:

Rail Service:

Northeast Corridor:  On Friday, November 2, service will resume between Trenton Transit Center and Newark Penn Station, operating on a special schedule.
North Jersey Coast Line:  On Friday, November 2, service will resume between Woodbridge and Newark Penn Station, operating on a special schedule.  Rail service between Bay Head and Woodbridge remains suspended. An assessment of rail infrastructure has revealed significant damage across the system, including:
Morgan Drawbridge in South Amboy sustained damage from boats and a trailer that collided into the bridge.
There are wires and trees down, as well as rail washouts (no ballast under the tracks), between South Amboy and Bay Head.
Raritan Valley Line:  On Friday, November 2, service will resume between Raritan and Newark Penn Station only, operating on a special schedule.  Rail service between High Bridge and Raritan remains suspended.
Morris & Essex, Montclair-Boonton, Main/Bergen and Atlantic City Rail lines:  Service remains suspended.   An assessment of rail infrastructure has revealed significant damage across the system, including:
There is major damage due to downed trees between Summit and Millburn, as well as in Denville and Morristown.  There is also overhead wire damage, including signal wires, with support poles down in Lyons and Bernardsville.  In addition, rail washouts (no ballast under the tracks) occurred at Kearny Junction, where Midtown Direct service connects to the Northeast Corridor. Rail washouts also occurred at several tracks in Hoboken Terminal and at Netcong Station.
Elsewhere on the rail system, local power outages have prevented NJ TRANSIT rail operations from being able to further test crossing gates and operating signals.  In addition, hundreds of downed trees have fallen across the rail system, which have caused damage to overhead wires and signal wires.  Several rail stations have sustained flood damage, including Hoboken Terminal.

Bus Service:

Bus service is operating on 68 bus routes in northern New Jersey and 18 bus routes in southern New Jersey, providing service over the entire routes with no detours or truncations.   For a complete list, visit njtransit.com.
Partial service is operating on 58 bus routes in northern New Jersey and 17 routes in southern New Jersey, with detours or truncations due to ongoing impacts from Hurricane Sandy.  For details, visit njtransit.com
Bus service on routes not listed remains suspended until further notice.  Power outages in local communities have resulted in the loss of traffic control devices critical to safe operation in some areas.  Downed tree limbs and power lines continue to make many roads impassable.  Personnel are in the field reviewing and assessing these conditions in order to ensure that service is restored as soon as it becomes safe to do so.

Light Rail Service:

River Line is operating on a Sunday schedule between Trenton Transit Center and the Entertainment Center in Camden.
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail service will remain suspended until further notice.  There is currently no estimated time for resumption of service.   An assessment of rail infrastructure has revealed significant damage across the system, including:
Newark Light Rail sustained flooding in Newark Penn Station, as well as major debris damage between Newark Penn and Branch Brook Park stations.
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail experienced track washouts at Port Imperial and West Side Avenue stations, as well as trees in the overhead wire in Weehawken and flooding in Hoboken.

Access Link:

Access Link service is operating in the following regions:
Region 2, which includes Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.
Region 3, which includes Atlantic, Cape May and Southern Ocean County.

PSE&G storm update – Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 11:30 a.m.
November 1 2012

–Outage update: At this time approximately 950,000 PSE&G customers have had their power restored following Hurricane Sandy. About 781,000 customers are currently without power.  The storm impacted 1.7 million of PSE&G’s 2.2 million electric customers.

— Our best forecast as of now is that we will have virtually all of our impacted customers restored to service within the next seven to 10 days. The majority of customers will be restored before then.  There may still be isolated pockets of customers who have individual flooding or downed line issues that may take slightly longer.

— The storm surge flooded a large number of substations along the Passaic, Hackensack and Hudson rivers, and the Arthur Kill, disrupting service to customers in Hudson, Essex and Middlesex counties. The magnitude of the flooding in contiguous areas is unprecedented. PSE&G had to take these stations out of service, wait for the flood waters to recede to assess the damage, dry out the equipment, replace equipment when necessary and re-energize the system to restore service. We continue to make progress on the substations affected by flood waters from the tidal surge.  This is a painstaking process to thoroughly clean the equipment so theta it can be safely re-energized.

— PSE&G has assembled a “virtual army” of over 1,730 technicians – 600 PSE&G workers and 1,050 workers from across the country — plus an additional 600 contractors to cut and remove trees. We continue to secure whatever resources become available to us from other  utilities; additional crews from the Midwest are arriving this afternoon.

— Many of the outages were caused by falling trees and limbs, which bring down power lines. Downed wires should always be considered “live.” STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOWNED LINES. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything that it might be in contact with. To report a downed wire and other visible equipment damage, call 1-800-436-PSEG and tell PSE&G the nearest cross street.

— To report a power outage, call PSE&G’s Customer Service line: 1-800-436-PSEG.

PSE&G is distributing free ice and water to customers without power at the following locations on a first come, first served basis between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm:

Elizabeth Customer Service Center, 550 N. Broad Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07202
West Orange Customer Service Center, 59 Main Street, West Orange, NJ 07052
Paramus Park Mall 700 Paramus Park Paramus, NJ 07652 Next To Macy’s behind the Crown Plaza
Burlington Customer Service Center (PSE&G lot across the street from CSC), 501 High Street, Burlington, NJ 08016

— Customers with wells are advised to have a supply of bottled drinking water on hand, and should fill the bathtub with water for sanitary purposes.

— Crews work around the clock to repair equipment and restore power. The utility’s call center also has been fully staffed on a 24-hour basis to handle calls from customers. Other employees are assisting with assessing storm damage, keeping the public away from any downed power lines and other functions that support restoration efforts.

— Electric crews work to restore power to the largest numbers of customers first, taking into account “priority” customers, such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and sewer facilities, communications facilities (TV, radio, and telephone), and customers on life-sustaining medical equipment. At the same time, the utility restores power to homes and businesses, starting with the circuits serving the largest number of customers.

NJ TRANSIT Restores Majority of Bus and Access Link Routes in New Jersey

Customers advised to prepare for delays and detours on many routes.

After the devastating destruction left behind by Hurricane Sandy, NJ TRANSIT will resumed the majority of Bus and Access Link service starting Thursday, November 1.

Thursday’s restoration of service comes on the heels of the Governor Christie’s  earlier announcement that River Line light rail service resumed operations Wednesday afternoon, making trips every 30 minutes between the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden and Trenton Transit Center.

Bus Service:

Starting today, November 1, NJ TRANSIT will restore bus service on 68 bus routes in northern and central New Jersey and 18 bus routes in southern New Jersey, providing service over the entire routes with no detours or truncations.

Also today, NJ TRANSIT will restore partial service on 58 bus routes in northern and central New Jersey and 17 routes in southern New Jersey that will operate with detours or truncations due to ongoing impacts from Hurricane Sandy.

Northern and Central

The following routes will all operate over the entire route, with no detours and no truncations:

Nos. 1, 5, 6, 11, 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, 37, 39, 41, 48, 52, 62, 63, 64, 70, 71, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 86, 94, 99, 107,108, 111, 113, 122, 124, 125, 127, 129, 136, 144, 145, 148, 151, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 175, 181, 182, 186, 190, 191, 192, 193, 198, 250,258,320, 321,324, 704, 712, 871, 872, 873, 875 and 880.

The following bus routes will resume service with detours or truncations due to ongoing impacts from Hurricane Sandy:

·        No. 13 – Minor detour on 13N and 13C at Kingsland Rd at Washington St

·        No. 25 – Maplewood to Newark Penn Station

·        No. 30 – Minor detour in N. Arlington; Ridge Roadd, Sealy Street and Passaic Street

·        No. 34 – Service to Penn Station only

·        No. 40 – Minor detour in North Arlington on Ridge Road, Sealy Street, and Passaic Street

·        No. 56 – Minor detour on Wood Avenue in Linden

·        No. 58 – Minor detour on Michigan Avenue in Cranford

·        No. 59 – Minor detour on Jersey Avenue in Elizabeth

·        No. 65 – Minor detour on Mountain Avenue in Scotch Plains

·        No. 66 – Minor detour on Mountain Avenue in Scotch Plains

·        No. 67 – There will be no 67 Express trips.  All local trips will start at Lakewood instead of Toms River.  There will no service from Toms River to Lakewood.

·        No. 68 – No service on Route 516.  All service will start at Routes 18 and 9.

·        No. 72 – Detour in Clifton

·        No. 73 – Minor detour in Florham Park due to closure of Peach Tree Rd

·        No. 74 – Detour in Passaic

·        No. 76 – Minor detour in Belleville along Belleville Turnpike and Kearney Ave

·        No. 83 – Major detour at Westside Industrial

·        No. 85 – Access to Hoboken uncertain and service may end at Congress, Jersey City

·        No. 87 – Short trips from Gates Avenue to Journal Square – no service to Hoboken

·        No. 89 – Access to Hoboken questionable. Service can end at 19th St

·        No. 90 – Minor detour on Washington Street in Bloomfield

·        No. 112 – Minor detour on Jersey Ave in Elizabeth

·        No. 115 – Regular service only, Elizabeth Ave service not operational

·        No. 117 – Service will run parallel to Route 22 to compensate for Bus No. 114 ridership

·        No. 121 – Trips terminate at 69th Street

·        No. 123 – Major detour at Palisades Ave. Trip may end at Congress Street, Jersey City

·        No. 126 – Willow/Clinton Service & Hamilton Park Eliminated – Customers can board at Washington Street and 14th Street in Hoboken for service into New York.

·        No. 128 – Trips operating outside Park

·        No. 130 – No service to Covered Bridge, morning peak service will start from Union Hill.

·        No. 132 – No service to Jackson

·        No. 133 – Service will start at Route 516 and Route9. No service on Ticetown Road and Crotell Road.

·        No. 135 – Regular service from Main and Route 34. Detour on Route 34 to Lloyd Road.

·        No. 137 – Express tripswill run as scheduled. 137 Local trips will start at Lakewood.

·        No. 138 – Trips will start at Route 18 and Route 9. There will be no service to Spotswood.

·        No. 139 – Regular service from Lakewood to New York on Route 9. There will be no service to Englishtown, Covered Bridge or Stone Harbor.

·        No. 153 – No service to Linwood Park Loop – Service starts outside the park

·        No. 158 – Major detour of north of Route 5 – Service traveling along Palisade Avenue

·        No. 163 – Major detour in Upper Ridgewood

·        No. 165 – Service starts at New Bridge Rail Station

·        No. 166 – No service to Merrit Gardens- Service starts at Madison & Washington avenues

·        No. 167 – No service north of Chestnut Bend or Harrington Park Service

·        No. 168 – No service north of Bergen Mall.No Paramus Park Service

·        No. 171 – Minor detour in Paterson

·        No. 177 – No service north of Chestnut Bend, no service to Harrington Park

·        No. 178 – Detour on Forest Avenue

·        No. 188 – Major detour of north of Route 5

·        No. 194 – No service toStockholm – Service begins at New Foundland

·        No. 195 – No access to Allwood Park & Ride

·        No. 196 – No service north of West Milford, No Skyline Drive

·        No. 197 – No service north of West Milford, No Skyline Drive

·        No. 199 – Operating with detours through Lyndhurst and Nutley

·        No. 319 – Terminates at Toms River

·        No. 703 – Haledon service discontinued. Service starts at Broadway Terminal

·        No. 770 -Minor detour in Paterson

·        No. 874 – Minor detour; E. Halsey Rd to Parsippany Rd

Southern New Jersey

The following bus routes will resume full service with no detours or truncations:  Nos. 313, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 410, 412, 413, 414, 417, 418, 450, 451, 452, 453, 459, 455, 460 and 463.

The following bus routes will resume service with detours or truncations due to ongoing impacts from Hurricane Sandy:

·        No. 315 – No service to Stone Harbor, Avalon and Sea Isle City due to the closure of Stone Harbor Bridge.

·        No.  317 – No service beyond Fort Dix

·        No. 319 – No service to Atlantic City

·        No. 409 – No service from Burlington to Trenton

·        No. 419 – No service on York Drive and Woodland Road in Beverly

·        No. 455 – Minor detour on Kingstown Drive

·        No. 457 – Minor detour on Church Road between Fellowship Road and Route 38 in Cherry Hill

·        No. 502 – No service to/from Atlantic City

·        No. 507 – No service to/from Atlantic City and Ocean City

·        No. 508 – No service to/from Atlantic City

·        No. 509 – Service between Pleasantville to Somers Point only

·        No. 551 – No service from Avandale to Atlantic City

·        No. 552 – No service to/from Atlantic City

·        No. 553 – No service to/from Atlantic City

·        No. 554 – No service to/from Atlantic City

·        No. 559 – No service to/from Atlantic City

Bus service on routes not listed remains suspended until further notice.  Power outages in local communities have resulted in the loss of traffic control devices critical to safe operation in some areas.  Downed tree limbs and power lines continue to make many roads impassable.  Personnel are in the field reviewing and assessing these conditions in order to ensure that service is restored as soonas it becomes safe to do so.

Due to significant damage to theState’s public transportation network, NJ TRANSIT rail service will remain suspended until further notice.  Newark Light Rail and Hudson Bergen Light Rail service alsoremain suspended until further notice.

Rail Service:

·        There is no estimated time for the resumption of service.  Service will remain suspended until further notice.

·        Crews continue to inspect the rail infrastructure to get a full assessment of damage:

·        NJ TRANSIT’s Rail Operations Center—the central nervous system of the railroad—was engulfed in water, which damaged backup power supply systems, the emergency generator, and the computer system that controls the movement of trains and power supply.

·        Local power outages have prevented NJ TRANSIT rail operations from being able to further test crossing gates and operating signals.

·        Hundreds of downed trees have fallen across the rail system, which have caused damage to overhead wires and signal wires.

·        There are rail washouts across the system, including on the North Jersey Coast Line, Atlantic City Rail Line as well as at Kearny Junction, the critical link which enables MidTOWN Direct service to access the Northeast Corridor.

·        Several rail stations have sustained flood damage, including Hoboken Terminal.

·        Morgan Drawbridge on the North Jersey Coast Line in South Amboy sustained damage from boats and a trailer that collided into the bridge.

Light Rail Service:

·        River Line resumed full service starting at 3 p.m. Wednesday, operating on a Sunday schedule, every 30 minutesr Rand Transportation Center in Camden and Trenton Transit Center.

·        Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark Light Rail service will remain suspended until further notice.  There is currently no estimated time for resumption of service.   Hudson-Bergen Light Rail experienced track washouts at Port Imperial and West Side Avenue stations, as well as trees in the overhead wire in Weehawken and flooding in Hoboken.

·        Crews continue to inspect the light rail infrastructure to get a full assessment of damage.

·        Newark Light Rail sustained flooding in Newark Penn Station, as well as major debris damage between Newark Penn and Branch Brook Park stations.

Access Link:

·        Access Link service will resume today, November 1, in the following regions:

·        Region 2, which includes Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.

·        Region 3, which includes Atlantic, Cape May and Southern Ocean County.

Service Updates:

For the latest travel information, customers should listen to broadcast traffic reports, visit or access NJ TRANSIT’s Twitter feed at @NJ_TRANSIT. Additionally, NJ TRANSIT will provide the most current service information via the My Transit alert system (www.njtransit.com/mytransit), which delivers travel advisories for your specific trip to your cell phone, PDA or pager. Service information is also available by calling (973) 275-5555

NJ Office of Emergency Management

A MESSAGE ABOUT DISASTERS AND DRIVING

Regarding travel on the road, please keep these points in mind:

– Don’t go on the roads unless you are essential to the disaster response.

– There is no ban on driving, BUT there are travel restrictions in many counties e.g., Atlantic, Cumberland, Camden. The Parkway is closed from Exit 38 South and there is the possibility of expanding the closure.

– Regardless of current rain conditions, drive slower to avoid losing control when you drive into ponding and standing water that is already on every roadway.

– Never drive through standing water, even if you think your vehicle can clear the depth. Even if you have an SUV. You could stall and block access for emergency workers

– Expect that flash flooding can turn a stream under a roadway into a river, capable of washing vehicles right off the road. This resulted in a tragic death during Irene.

– If you don’t have to be on the road, stay home. This is no time to venture out for sightseeing or taking photographs and videos.