Re: (erielack) Improvements?

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

Today I was out with a friend to look at the construction at Morristown,
Madison, South Orange and East Orange.  We intended to do more, but the
weather got to my friend, and he was driving.  We were to meet his wife at
Newark Penn (coming from Phila on Amtrak) and he didn't want to be late. 
It took 45 minutes to drive from East Orange to NWK, and we were there
well over an hour early, so we took the City Subway out to Grove St and
back, then watched trains until his wife's train arrived (40 minutes
late).

We then headed for Broad St so I could go home while they drove to
Columbia University.  After waiting for two cycles of the light at Raymond
Blvd, I elected to walk!  I passed three busses on Broad St and made it in
15 minutes, better than normal due to fewer people on the street.

NJT was off schedule; the first train posted was the 4:09 to Montclair -
at 4:15.  I figured I would get 853, the 4:13 express to Summit, then
local to Dover.  No, it had gone on time!  The Montclair train was
followed by a Summit local, then a long wait.  The next train posted was
6641 from NYP to Dover, but the screen went dark and 1005 showed up at
4:47, two minutes late.  I rode it since I was going to Dover.  First stop
- - Bay St.  Second stop - transfer platform, then local.  We were one
minute late at Denville and would have beaten schedule into Dover but
someone forgot to set the crossover switch and we waited four minutes at
South Salem St (wish I could have gotten out there, was walking toward
K-Mart) for it, arriving at 5:51, FOUR minutes late.

When I got home, I found several alert messages from NJT indicating 30-45
minute delays, especially on trains from NYP where there were switch
problems...

1005 is scheduled to take 78 minutes from Hoboken to Dover.

One reason for longer schedules is that the trains don't rocket through
the fan at Hoboken as they once did; someone decided that a 15 mph turnout
shouldn't be run at any higher speed...  Ditto the bridges.  One section f
the viaduct on the west end of the Passaic River Bridge was replaced last
month and is probably still settling, causing a speed restriction. 
Another 'trouble' bridge was on the westbound track about milepost 22
between Summit and Chatham; the 25 mph speed restriction there cost a
minute on the schedule.  Thankfully, it was replaced a few months ago and
the schedules were adjusted.

Another is that many more people ride than did over 30 years ago, and not
just in rush hours.  It takes more time for people to get off and on at
major stops - I saw several trains take 3 minutes or more at Broad St
while people got off.  There is much more local ridership - someone
boarded 1005 at Lincoln Park to go to NYP!  They had to go via Denville,
but at least it could be done.  They may have tried to ride Lakeland
Bus...

- --- MONTGOMERY| ED <emontgom_@_LAN.TJHSST.EDU> wrote:
> Last Friday, November 28th my family and I took the Boonton Line 
> from Mountain View to Hoboken to visit Macys and Times Square.  
> As we rode in I started to wonder if all the improvements were 
> worth all that NJT talked about.  We left Mountain View on train 
> 1006 at 8:29.  There was the extra stop at the transfer station east 
> of Great Notch and then the 25 mph stretch between Walnut and 
> Bay Street.  After that there was a prolonged stop at the old 
> Roseville Ave station waiting for clearance to enter the M&E line.  
> After that we crossed the Passaic River at a walking pace to stop 
> again at the old Harrison station site for signals to clear.  After that
> 
> there was an employee stop at the Kearny shops.  The train arrived 
> at Hoboken at 9:23 or some time close to that.
> 
> Now let's go back to the EL in 1969.  Train 1016 was a local 
> making all stops but Denville between Netcong and Hoboken.  It 
> departed Mountain View 8:29 and arrived in Hoboken at 9:12.  With 
> the old Stillwells, Boonton cars, E's, RS's and Geeps the train was 
> 13 minutes faster.  Why is that.
> 
> Looking at the return trip.  We used train 1001 leaving Hoboken at 
> 3:22PM arriving in Mountain View at 4:27.  The same trip on an all 
> stop local with the same number - 1001 in 1969 left Hoboken at 
> 4:30PM and arrived at Mountain View at 5:19PM.  49 minutes in 
> 1969; 1 hour and 5 minutes now.  This is not an improvement.  NJT 
> should consider eliminating a number of stops east of Montclair 
> Heights for trains heading west of Great Notch.  I suggest stops 
> only at Newark, Bay Street, and then stops west of Walnut Street 
> to restore travel time to what it once was.
> 
> The equipment is better but the travel time has become longer.  To 
> get more people on trains, the schedule needs to be speeded up.
> 
> Ed Montgomery
>  


=====
Gary R. Kazin
DL&W Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

http://www.geocities.com/gkazin/index.html

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