RE: (erielack) NJ Trip

["Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paul.tupaczewski_@_alcatel-lucent.com>]

Ed Montgomery wrote:

>  One thing
> that I can't get out of my mind is why NJT nearly doubled the time for
>locals to get from Mountain View to Hoboken.  The old Lackawanna did it in
>39 minutes with a GP7 and some Boonton coaches.  I realize there is the
>slow-order through Montclair, but NJT could speed things up a little.  They
>do have frequent electric trains from Montclair State so why couldn't the
>diesel trains miss most of these station stops?  In my mind, something
>should be done to improve running time but maybe I am one of the few who
>remember what it was like.  Maybe most of today's commuters don't remember
>how things used to be.

When I was going to school at Stevens in Hoboken, the train times seemed much faster. I am continually disappointed at the speeds at which NJT plods along the Morristown Line when even I remember those trains running considerably faster.

I think the issue is that the schedules are highly padded so that the "principal metric," on-time performance, can be kept high.  In EL days, employees worked their darndest to keep trains on-time, but today's crews don't need to work nearly as hard to maintain good on-time performance. I'm not demeaning today's crews by any means, but the people who put the padding into the schedules to artificially make performance look good.


>Speaking of that, here we are in 2011, and I'm
>wondering how many EL employees are actually left running trains?  How many
>employees remember the faster running?  EL left us 35 years ago - hard to
>believe!

There are still quite a number of EL vets still in train service... :)


>Hoboken terminal is really looking nice.  I can't wait for the ferries to
>start using the old ferry building.  This will improve the use of the
>waiting room.  Wouldn't it be nice if that led to the re-opening of the
>"Lunch Room" in the station?

Who knows! It's just a shame that the grand room at the top of the ferry slips will remain abandoned. Boo!


>I realize that NJ is in a budget crunch, and looking at the
>Montclair/Boonton Line timetable, the reduction of trains west of Montclair
>state is almost where train service was in the 70s.

By the way, the latest Railpace mentioned that NJT has signed a contract with a media firm to market advertising space on their locomotives (take a look at VIA Rail Canada to see how they did this) and to *SELL NAMING RIGHTS* to their stations. I, for one, am NOT looking forward to things like the "Preparation H - Hoboken Terminal!" :(

      - Paul
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