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(erielack) Re: Modern day running times

- --- On Sat, 7/30/11, Bill Sheppard <sheprail_@_aol.com> wrote:
> It was recently observed that commuter trains operated by NJT
> over former EL territory take longer to cover the distance as
> before. This is a result of several factors. For example, in
> order to improve the consistency of service, NJT has padded
> their train schedules, particularly as they approach their
> final destination, where on-time performance is measured.

Agreed.  I DO want the schedule to provide a reasonable estimate of when the train will arrive; it's important so I can take a train that will get me where I want to go when I want to get there.  A train that's always 10-15 minutes late is a problem, especially for infrequent riders.  I personally would rather arrive five minutes 'early' 80% of the time on a schedule padded by 10 minutes than ten minutes late 20% of the time.

> As a result, this service metric may not be representative of
> service that NJT provides to intermediate points, such as
> Newark, NJ.

If the schedule has time added at every station, it will slow things down: the train can't leave until its scheduled time (unless the schedule has an L, allowing it to leave early.  I would rather have ten minutes added at the end (as NJT usually does) than a minute or two at many places on the line.  That way, a train running without delay can keep going and a late train is 'blessed' with extra time.  Of course, I'd rather it didn't need the extra time just to improve a metric.

During recent track work on the Morristown Line, three minutes were added inbound at Morristown to reflect the need for inbound trains to wait west of BAKER for outbound trains coming out of a single-track area.  When the work was done, the three minutes came off the schedule.

> Politics probably plays a part in service design nowadays,
> especially because NJT is a state agency. As a result, the
> smart "skip-stop" express train service designed by John Drake
> for long-distance Morristown Line commuters Line would not be
> well received by towns along the line that faced a reduction of
> trains stopping at their stations. For this reason, I suspect
> that more NJT trains are scheduled to stop than necessary.

Skip-stop trains only ran inbound during the weekday morning peak.  Pairs of trains were merged when the re-electrification was completed in 1983.  Arrow MU's can maintain a faster schedule than that run by the Edison electrics while making all stops between Dover and Summit.  Skip-stop was a hardship some local riders who had to change trains to reach their destinations.

When Midtown Direct service began in 1994, ridership grew quickly.  That service began with six car trains in peak and four car trains off-peak; now they are routinely eight to ten cars and no New York trains have fewer than eight cars.  They are longer than the platforms at many stations, so passengers must walk through one or two cars to get off the train, which can delay things even though this is announced often.

With more people in a car, it takes more time for them to get on and off, and multilevel cars have more people than Comets.  Some peak hour trains have actual dwell times of three to five minutes at busy stations like Maplewood and South Orange.  That has to be in the schedule.  Summit benefits from its high level platforms, allowing more doors to be used.

Another factor is safety; the old MU's ran with the doors open all the time.  Passengers could get on or off as soon as the train stopped, even before it did (I sometimes did so with LIRR MP54DC's).

Original Comet cars were designed so the doors would be closed between stations, but they couldn't be used at high platforms; about half were rebuilt with conventional traps.  The rebuilt Comet I and newly built Comet II cars could not run with the doors closed (the traps got in the way) so they too ran with open doors.  Otherwise, a crew member would have to open each trap after the door opened, which was just impractical during peak hours.  It was a nuisance off-peak as well.

After several serious accidents, including fatalities, NJT decided it could no longer do so.  Later model cars have a different trap design so they can stay up while the doors are closed; Comet II's were rebuilt that way some years ago.  Passengers can't get on or off the train until the doors open and that doesn't always happen instantly when a train stops at a station.  A few seconds for a crew member to open the doors at each station adds up.

And, of course, push-pull trains don't accelerate as quickly as do Arrow MU's, so the schedules do need to be longer to reflect this.

It's a far cry from the days when an all-stops local could run between Broad Street and Summit and pause at each station for only a few seconds, especially off-peak.  How many people got on or off a noon train at Highland Ave?

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

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