If your capacity is given as 30 trains per day, it's not much of a trunk line. The existing signals in the tunnels support a rush-hour burst of 24 tph. What I'm talking about is increasing that to about 30 tph, which is feasible, and happens on the Berlin S-Bahn, Munich S-Bahn, and Paris RER, all of which are mainline systems.
There aren't enough people in Monmouth, Ocean, and the coastal parts of Middlesex working in New York and Newark to put 90,000-120,000 daily riders on a line. If everyone who currently takes the NEC and the North Jersey Coast Line switched then sure, but then what's the point? Direct train service to Toms River has some benefits, but they're far down the line. It is just not true that the alternative to ticket punchers is faregates. New Jersey isn't Tokyo and never will be; Swiss or German POP is going to work just fine for its rail ridership. Of course NJT does the worst of both worlds, with the internal faregates at Secaucus and the constrained vertical circulation... even the LIRR, not normally a very competent organization, does this better, with timed cross-platform transfers at Jamaica. Most reorganizations that Americans think are impossible or very difficult or will take a long time are actually easy when done by people who know what they're doing. SEPTA was going to complete them very quickly, until the workers rebelled (who are those stupid European immigrants to tell us how to run a railroad? What was good for my grandfather is good for me!). |
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The MOM Network will service a population of 1.5 Million , New Job Markets will be opened to Rail commuting from Central Jersey like New Brunswick , Princeton , Trenton , Edison , Metropark , Rahway , Elizabeth and the Amboys alll have an additional 250,000 jobs most commuters drive to those jobs and live in the MOM area. That part of NJ is the fastest growing section of the state why neglect it? I understand the Inner areas need investment , but these outer areas should not be neglected there starting to become dense aswell like everything in this state. The Inner Areas will be getting more Light Rail and Busway later this decade...which will better service them. |
NJT is incapable of serving diagonal commutes right now - the frequencies suck, the punctuality sucks, the idea of timed transfers is foreign to it, etc. Forget about it. It can't even do a transfer at Secaucus toward Manhattan right. Even with vastly better industry practices, MOM isn't going to serve any of those diagonal commutes, because at current driving and parking prices in Princeton, only eco-martyrs like me are going to try using the transit system. And eco-martyrs like me don't live in Ocean County. Maybe if Princeton Junction and New Brunswick looked like this then it would work.
The trains-per-day limit just shows you how screwed up American railroad practices are - they're lifted entirely from freight. Everywhere else in the world, including US transit systems that are not mainline rail, people think in tph. If for some reason you can only run 20 tph at rush hour, you could easily do 240 trains per day in each direction. Capacity limits are measured in terms of headways and schedule maintenance, and those work entirely in tph terms. Tpd matter only if your trains need to be stabled somewhere midday (i.e. your off-peak frequencies suck so much they won't just turn around and keep earning revenue) or if you can't punctually maintain your peak feasible capacity. Nowhere on NJT, or Metro-North, or the LIRR, is 30 tph done on a double-track line (one-way running doesn't count). Metro-North runs 50 tph into Grand Central, but insists on running trains 3-and-1 on the trunk instead of 2-and-2. I'm told that Amtrak is forced to single-track at rush hour because the LIRR thinks that its ~38 tph into Penn Station can't fit into a 2-and-2 situation. Peak traffic through the Hudson is 24 tph, and New Jersey thinks it can't add any trains. |
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They've improved there frequencies but have a long way to go...Northeastern systems are way ahead of the rest of the Country and Canada....in the commuter rail dept. Actually there are areas that get 30tph , not all trains are counted , some are deadheads and others are Express which don't always appear on the timetables....but listening to a scanner will show you there are more trains moved... As for Transfers there lined up on the LIRR , MNRR , and NJT with 5-10 minutes between with certain lines , but mostly cross platform or level change. Same with Light Rail , PATH and Subway everything is timed to line up and meet....no real issues there at least at Secaucus JCT , Jamaica , Woodside , Newark Penn , Stamford , Trenton , Rahway and a few other stations... Whens the last time you actually used our network? It sounds like you've never ridden anything except the NEC....and whens the last time you've driven around NJ? |
Ive decided too add NJT's Light Rail Proposals along with streetcar and Busway crap to show that they are committed to the Urban areas. I think it will meet your needs and then some , the Busways are underway , the LRT and Heavy Rail have stalled due to crap....but pressure down the road will set them back on track. Newark , Harrison , Kearny , Bloomfield , The Oranges and Monticlair all have some sort of large or mid sized TOD underway with TOD plans. So I expect the LRT to start up later this decade...NJT upgraded the system and bought some ROW in prep. The Newark Extension into the Oranges should go first seeing there's alot of support for that and then the Newark - Paterson line. The Infill stations should be built by 2025. This is just the Newark Division , although its the best plan , the NJ Gold Coast plan is messy and disappointing...but what else is new...:P
Newark Divison Newark Light Rail Main line Newark Penn station Military Park Washington Street Warren Street Norfolk Street Orange Street Park Ave Bloomfield Ave Davenport Ave Branch Brook Park Silver Lake Grove Street Wateseeing Ave Transit Center Glenwood Ave Thomas Boulevard High Street Thomas Edison Historic Site / Lakeside Ave Park Ave Board Street Branch Newark Penn station NJPAC / centre street Atlantic Street / Washington Park Newark Board Street Newark - Paterson Light Rail Newark Penn station NJPAC / centre street Atlantic Street / Washington Park Newark Board Street Clay Street 3rd Ave Grafton Ave Forest Hill Interchange Rutgers Street Joralemon Street Greylock Washington Ave Passaic Ave North Franklin Ave Kingsland Street Allwood Van Houten Ave US 46 Park & Ride Main Street - St. Joesph's Hospital 21St Ave Paterson Transit Center Main Street - Downtown Spruce Street Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park Cross Essex Light Rail Main Street Thomas Edison Historic Site / Lakeside Ave Thomas Boulevard Glenwood Ave Wateseeing Transit Center Grove Street Silver Lake Branch Brook North Mount Prospect Ave Forest Hill Interchange Passaic Road Kearny Ave Schuyler Ave Kearny Transit Center Bloomfield Branch Bay Street Ridgewood Ave Broad Street Willow Street South Franklin Ave Mount Prospect Ave Forest Hill Interchange Passaic Road Kearny Ave Schuyler Ave Kearny Transit Center Heavy Rail PATH Newark Line World Trade Center Exchange Place Grove Street Journal SQ West Side Ave Harrison Newark Penn Station South Street Newark Interchange Terminal C Terminal A Jersey Gardens Mall Elizabethport Divison Street Jackson Ave Midtown Elizabeth Chilton Street Elmora Ave Linden Boulevard Locust Street Core Regional Rail lines Raritan Valley line Raritan Somerville Bridgewater Bound Brook Dunellen Plainfield Netherwood Fanwood Westfield Garwood Cranford Roselle Park Union Hillside Meeker Ave Newark Penn station Hoboken (Peak Hours only) Northeast Corridor line Jersey Ave New Brunswick Edison Metchun Metropark Rahway Linden Midtown Elizabeth North Elizabeth Newark Airport Newark Penn station Secaucus JCT New York Penn Morristown Core line Summit Short Hills Millburn Maplewood South Orange Mountain Station Orange Brick Church East Orange Newark Board Street Harrison Hoboken Kingsland Branch Hillburn Suffern Mahwah Ramsey Route 17 Ramsey Main Street Allendale Waldwick Ho-Ho-Kus Ridgewood Glenrock Hawthrone North Paterson Paterson Clifton Passaic Delawanna Lyndhurst Kingsland Kearny Harrison East Secaucus JCT New York Penn Station https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...53165,0.837021 |
I don't drive.
I last used the New York-area network 3 months ago. Commuted from New Haven to New York every day for a week. Before then I'd complained about the low frequency all the time, but this time I'd had so much experience with the MBTA's passenger-hate that I cherished the sometimes-half-hourly frequency. Tyranny of low expectations, I guess. Relative to other regions with unusably bad mainline rail, the New York area does swell, and it's not as if they ever bother to compare themselves with Paris or Tokyo or Munich or London or Berlin or Madrid or Seoul or Milan. I counted all trains on the NJT and Amtrak timetables passing through the North River Tunnels. I wasn't just looking up station-to-station timetables. It's 24-25 tph, depending on the month. I'm going to just guess they don't deadhead anything in the peak hour in the peak direction, but maybe they do and they're just crying capacity to extort more money. It's certainly not necessary to deadhead in the daytime - just go to Grand Central and count trains on the subway and see how many are in service. PATH comes too frequently for timed transfers. Ditto light rail. Secaucus isn't just a level change - it's two level changes, with faregates in between. Ask yourself why people transfer at Jamaica while around the Erie lines most people drive or take a bus instead of transferring at Secaucus. There are several really bad transfer penalties involved at Secaucus, and NJT is maximizing them instead of minimizing them. When I did take NJT, I didn't once hear anything about connecting trains at Secaucus - unlike on the LIRR, where there would be frequent announcements about changing across the platform at Jamaica for another destination. Not relevant to me since I was riding to JFK but it was there. In New Jersey, nothing that I remember. |
Hey Nexis. I'm treating my wife to a weekend in the Big Apple the weekend of October 19, and we're taking NJ Transit from Hamilton Station. Any chance of us taking a double-decker train in the afternoon? I'm sorry if this is somewhat off topic.
NJ Gold Coast plan. What is that exactly? |
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I rode with ALP45dp today ...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8169/7...79d39f56_b.jpg 004 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7...362a5772_b.jpg 005 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr Pascack Valley line Train # 1620 departing Secaucus JCT with ALP45DP # 4515 |
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they put the bilevels on longer-distance express trains, and the Arrows on shorter-distance local trains? That's at least what the commenters on my told me is already done when I suggested it. So probably most if not all trains serving Hamilton are bilevels.
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I doubt all of the MOM extensions will get done. The one
that goes through Monmouth Junc. down through Lakehurst is the likely candidate, although the Red Bank line down to Forked River might have a chance. To bad Pennington is opting out of a station for the West Trenton Line. The two extensions to Phillipsburg will most likely come down to one. I'm guessing the Raritan Valley (High Bridge terminus) will win out. There is mention in this thread that that line would go into PA. I suppose it would be extended on to Allentown. As for Connecticut, that extension to New Milford is sorely needed. Surprised that there is really no discussion of extending the Waterbury branch up to Torrington or Winsted. Fingers crossed.. |
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I think both lines of the Philpsburg Network will go through the Morristown line extension requires nothing compared to High Bridge. They also want to throw in Flemington which might be a tough sell. The PA part is on hold due to corbett scrapping funding for studies... Maybe into Easton , but who knows. Its a shame they left Pennington & Manville out , both towns would benefit from having stations. More so for commutes to Philly then NY , or both. Along with Trenton bound commuters. This Project might get lumped in with the Light Rail Extension. There will be a station at I-95 , so kinda near Pennington.... The Busway seems to have slowed upgrades to the Danbury line and Electrification which would have come later this decade along with 2 Infill Stations in Georgetown and Downtown Norwalk at Wall Street. For the Cost of the Busway , Fairfield Metro & West Haven Stations you could Electrify the Danbury & Waterbury Branches , Extend Service up to New Milford , Extend Service to Torrington , Restore the Maybrook line , Electrify the Knowledge Corridor and restore the Bristol Branch. About 1.8 Billion in Waste if you ask me , not that I don't mind the Infill stations the cost is inflated beyond ridiculous... The Busway is a waste and huge boondoggle....and down the road when the Knowledge corridor will need to be 3 or 4 tracked that space will be taken by a busway that most people are against. They wanted Rail...which was only priced at 50 Million if i'm not mistaken... But I do see all the Connecticut & New England Rail Projects in general moving forward unlike other states. Most of thier projects should be done by 2030....the question is when will Electrification start? Electrifying each line would only cost between 40-60 Million depending on where the line ran , some lines are very remote...others go through dense areas.... |
Some poles & wires are still intact in some areas along the Danbury Branch...they even part trains there overnight and on weekends...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7...57134795_b.jpg MNRR : Danbury Branch by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3227/2...35902b3c_o.jpg Pine Island Cemetery Norwalk CT by caboose_rodeo, on Flickr http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1278/4...80b3d710_b.jpg Mutt on the Branch! by caboose_rodeo, on Flickr |
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I'm surprised there are not many Philly commuters down there , maybe thats just on the PA side. Isn't the old station still intact in Pennington? |
:previous: Corbett is cutting funding for all transit studies? Um, transit needs to be funded. Having our transit network upgraded will only lead to increased vibrancy for our urban areas, more and better jobs, better access to jobs as well as to healthcare and education, etc...
Great, I guess it will be a while before PA sees funding for transit... |
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$250 million??? That's all?!! What is it now, double that, at least?! I guess that's similar to charging a buck for lemonade and then tossing in another $1 charge for the fricking cup to pour it into! :hell: If I was in office, I wouldn't be pulling this monkey shit... |
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