General Comments and Gripes

[jerzgrl630]

I got a second response that says kind of what you did, Yellowbird. It also says they are doing some planning to increase capacity for next Thanksgiving and Christmas periods. Which begs the question: was this something they should have planned for for this year?
 

No they shouldn't have planned for it this year.  Clearly this was the first time in the history of NJT that people went into NYC on a day they didn't have to work and these were completely unforseen circumstances 

[mhnj]

I can sense your dripping sarcasm jerzgrl.

Actually, it's also the first time in history that large numbers of non-commuters have decided to go into NYC. Maybe there was something special going on in the city that week?

[ThirdRail]

I just sent this message to the Comments page on the NJ Transit web site. Let's see if I get a non-standard reply.


"Yesterday (12/30) my wife took NEC #3936 at 9:29AM from Princeton Junction. The train was already full when it got to PJC. Not only did she have to stand all the way to New York, but she had to stand outside in the vestibule, right next to where the two cars join together, while holding on to one handrail and freezing the whole way. Not only is this uncomfortable, but potentially dangerous as well. Needless to say, no one could get on at New Brunswick, and no tickets were collected. 
From what I've read on Transithell.com, the same situation happened with that exact same train on the day after Thanksgiving.
Does no one at NJT ever ride the trains to see what's going on, or anticipate that off-peak traffic may be extra heavy on some days? Would it have been so difficult to use a double-decker consist for that train on days when there is bound to be heavy tourist traffic to NY? I usually take the 7:28 train from PJC and all this week it's been pretty empty. Does it take an Act of Congress to switch one set of cars from one train run to another? And when management complains that revenues are down, think about all the revenue lost when tickets on overcrowded trains can not be collected. I for one am getting tired of subsidizing free-riders with my $331 monthly."

There are a few things you aren't taking into account.

The infallible double deckers DID have standees. I was on a 10 car double decker train that was full by the time it got to Metuchen. They had to refuse riders at Metropark. It ended up behind the Coast Line train (with 9 double deckers) and BOTH trains had to refuse passengers at NWK and Secaucus.

This happened all week as tourists besieged the trains.

One of the main reasons? NJT runs the vast majority of its trains to benefit commuters. During long breaks commuter ridership is historically down so, most railroads routinely cut train consist for maintenance.

Amcrap cut most of the Acelas for the week and put them in the shop.

Seriously, when do you think these trains get fixed? Do you think they do all the preventative work during the few hours at night the trains aren't running? If they don't take some of the cars out for PM work, you'll complain about your commuter trains being "short two cars" and "I had to stand" and "where's the equipment."

Another thing you're not taking into account is something that didn't even exist until earlier this year.

Need a hint?

Someone else is paying for them, you don't usually see them, and they just cut a bunch of them.

That's right....the ACES trains

While they have their own dedicated fleet of cars, they SHARE the engines. Some of the ACES trains (which usually start up Friday nights and end Sunday night) were up and running...which means less engine power....which means less push pull trains. Being short 8 engines means 8 train sets are benched somewhere.

The only thing I want to know is why they didn't deploy the County MU fleet on weekends this year? They did it for the last three years. They ran them as "peak hour" extra service on the corridor. As a result, you had 3 NEC trains to Trenton at the top of the hour, 1 Rahway local, 1 Coast Line and the Dover trains.

What happened to that?   

[ThirdRail]

Just a question this time.

Recently I have noticed that they are cutting down all the trees along the NEC between the Raritan river and just beyond Edison on the NY bound side.  Last night I noticed for the first time that they appear to be doing the same thing in North Brunswick on the Trenton bound side.  Is this some new project to murder trees? or some new security effort?

I'm hearing some credible stories about the Edison Tree project. Apparently, it has something to do with Homeland Security as well. The area is allegedly going to be an evacuation point.

[mhnj]

TR: I accept your point about maintenance. But...How many cars can they work on at one time? If you cut off two cars from a lot of consists at the same time, you can't tell me they are all getting work done on them at the same time. And why not just cut cars off the commuter runs but keep the off-peak runs at full strength? Maybe what needs to be done next year is cut/combine a couple of early AM commuter runs just for Black Friday and the week between Christmas and New Year, and then add a few extra off-peak trains with that equipment, like what you mentioned they did on weekends in past years. You also keep harping about the DDs not being able to carry the load, but the train my wife was on was old cars, and it was full after only Trenton and Hamilton!! Surely a DD consist would have done better.
As for ACES, I thought they reduced the number of runs. And anyway, the train I complained about was on a Wednesday, so the ACES excuse didn't apply.

[mhnj]

This month's issue of Trains magazine has a nice article about Penn Station and the complexity involved in moving trains in and out. There are also some great diagrams that show why certain tracks can or can't be used by certain trains. Kudos to the team of dispatchers who keep it all running, even when we complain that our NJT train arrives on Track 12 at the same time a train is loading on Track 11.

[PJrider]

Nice clusterf*ck last evening at Penn Station.  The 5:41 New Brunswick train was canceled...and then combined with the 5:43 Trenton express (thereby screwing those of us farther out).  Apparently nobody told the crew of 3969 (the 5:43) though, as evidenced by several announcements.  The best: "We don't know where this train is going" then telling us it was a LOCAL (NOT supposed to be)...and then, about 5:51 the best of all..."We don't have an engineer, so you might want to get off and take another train.

BRILLIANT!!! 

[yellowbird]

hey moe! 

nyuk nyuk nyuk!

[ThirdRail]

Nice clusterf*ck last evening at Penn Station.  The 5:41 New Brunswick train was canceled...and then combined with the 5:43 Trenton express (thereby screwing those of us farther out).  Apparently nobody told the crew of 3969 (the 5:43) though, as evidenced by several announcements.  The best: "We don't know where this train is going" then telling us it was a LOCAL (NOT supposed to be)...and then, about 5:51 the best of all..."We don't have an engineer, so you might want to get off and take another train.

BRILLIANT!!! 

Well don't just sit there PJRider! Tell us the rest of this tale!

What was the end result? Did they run the combo? Was it local or express? Did they cancel the both trains? Did you get off and take something else?

Details!! Details!!

On a related note, I have a suggestion for you and the rest of the commuters. Take matters into your own hands!!! 

Bucks County College offering Locomotive Engineer classes for NJT and Septa
http://www.transithell.com/forum/index.php?topic=914.msg6654#msg6654


Don't get caught without an engineer for your train again! 

[mhnj]

So that must have been the 5:43 that arrived in PJT a few minutes after the 6:03. Hence, it took about 15 minutes just to get out of the parking lot, even with the short-cut to 571 (they really need to adjust the timing of that light at Alexander Road).

[Irene]

Nice clusterf*ck last evening at Penn Station.  The 5:41 New Brunswick train was canceled...and then combined with the 5:43 Trenton express (thereby screwing those of us farther out).  Apparently nobody told the crew of 3969 (the 5:43) though, as evidenced by several announcements.  The best: "We don't know where this train is going" then telling us it was a LOCAL (NOT supposed to be)...and then, about 5:51 the best of all..."We don't have an engineer, so you might want to get off and take another train.

BRILLIANT!!! 

We saw 2 of the conductors from the 5:41 while we were waiting to board our NJCL 6whatever (it says 6:01 on the schedule, but that's another topic). They weren't even sure what track they were on.  I think originally one was scheduled to be on track 6, the other on track 9 & then they got switched.  The conductors were more confused than usual.

[CrudeBoy]

Time to get the GO Team working again.

[PJrider]

Well don't just sit there PJRider! Tell us the rest of this tale!

What was the end result? Did they run the combo? Was it local or express? Did they cancel the both trains? Did you get off and take something else?

Details!! Details!!

I don't know what happened to 3969 (the 5:43) - I got off and got on the 6:03 after dealing with the mob scene back upstairs.  I can't imagine the 5:43 was right behind the 6:03 though if they made all those extra stops and had no engineer as of 5:51.

[ThirdRail]

Just a question this time.

Recently I have noticed that they are cutting down all the trees along the NEC between the Raritan river and just beyond Edison on the NY bound side.  Last night I noticed for the first time that they appear to be doing the same thing in North Brunswick on the Trenton bound side.  Is this some new project to murder trees? or some new security effort?

Neither...it's a plan to save the catenary. This is a long overdue project that started in 2000 when tree branches shut down the NEC for 24 miles after they knocked out the signal lines.

The 5 years project calls for clear cutting the right of way. Personally, I think they're going a little too far, but at least they are finally taking the action that's needed.

The trees are into the transmission lines between Elizabeth/North Elizabeth and the curve west of Menlo.

Not good!

Perhaps I'm not the only only that thinks it's going too far. The railroad is being exposed in places where it was previously hidden. This can bring trouble and trespassers, looking for a shortcut.



http://nbs.gmnews.com/news/2010-01-05/Front_Page/Amtrak_building_fence_as_blockade_to_exposed_track.html

Amtrak building fence as blockade to exposed tracks
BY JENNIFER BOOTON

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Residents’ concerns about child safety were answered last month after Amtrak agreed to build a fence that would cover exposed railroad tracks near a township neighborhood.

Nearly three months ago Amtrak cut back on its right of way because of maintenance concerns. In doing so, large trees adjacent to Black Horse Lane were cut down, township spokesman Ron Schmalz said, and the tree cutback caused about a half-mile of tracks to be exposed near local developments.

Residents said the exposed tracks were dangerous to children who may want to play near or on the tracks.

“Those trees were a wonderful natural buffer,” Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray said. “You do have a safety concern with kids coming down, or just in general, and you can just access the railroad way too easily.”

After several residents informed township officials of their concerns, the officials, particularly Schmalz and Township Manager Matthew Watkins, contacted the passenger rail company to see what could be done to address the health and safety issues.

Amtrak agreed to address the problem and for the last three weeks has been constructing a half-mile fence that stretches from Deans Lane to the bend in Black Horse Lane. It built a new guard rail along the tracks and placed fencing on top of the rail, Killmurray said.

Amtrak is almost finished installing the fence, Schmalz said.

“It’s probably not completely inaccessible, it probably wasn’t before, either, but it puts a visible barrier up and lets people know it’s not an area you should be going to,” Killmurray said. “It effectively replaces that natural barrier.”

Amtrak officials were unable to be reached for a comment by press time.

[PJrider]

I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate NJ Transit on their week of stunning ineptitude.  Five days of commuting and not one without some problem.   Between blaming Amtrak (I think that was Tuesday morning when you said Amtrak wire problems, but Amtrak said it was a NJ Transit train that caused the problem) to tonight, when the 10:11 train out of NYP stopped short of New Brunswick allegedly because a train ahead had someone with a medical emergency.....that suddenly became some equipment problem.  If there was a gold medal for excuses, NJ Transit would win hands down.  It is almost astounding how they don't even keep their excuses straight.  But never fear...the news stories are already out about the looming budget problems, so expect a healthy side of fare increase to go with that plate of bullshit excuses they serve.  Got to pay for the chief's 25 sick days.

The best part was the announcement by the head conductor this morning saying this was the FIRST TIME THIS WEEK WE WERE ON TIME (and mind you, anything under 6 minutes late is on time)...so you just KNEW i'd have a problem coming home...it's the NJ Transit way.  With tonight's 20 minute delay NJ Transit stole well over 2 hours of my time this week in delays.