Re: (erielack) Newark Airport rail service - Bergen Record

[Ken <lackawanna_@_iname.com>]

Mike,
It's under construction as we speak, and it will allow riders from several 
former E-L lines to transfer to Corridor trains into Penn Station.  It will 
be a platform-to-platform transfer, and it appears that the first platform 
finished will be the Main Line (former Lackawanna Boonton Line).  It will 
operate much like Manhattan Transfer did years ago, except that the trains 
will be on different levels.


Ken B.

At 09:40 PM 5/4/01 -0400, mike1144_@_frontiernet.net wrote:
>Hi Gary,
>I have been reading in the local paper (I live in Orange County New York) 
>about the Secacus Transfer and how it will relate to the Port Jervis line.
>
>Does anyone have the details about the station and where it will go in 
>mid-town?  I've heard that it will not be open until end of next year and 
>I've heard early next year - does anyone know which is right?
>
>Thanks
>Mike
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Gary R. Kazin
>   To: RAILROAD ; EL List
>   Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 8:52 AM
>   Subject: (erielack) Newark Airport rail service - Bergen Record
>
>
>   All aboard for the airport
>   Monday, April 30, 2001
>
>   By DANIEL SFORZA, Staff Writer
>
>   Newark International Airport opened in 1928.
>
>   You'll be able to take a train there in September.
>
>   For the first time, one of the nation's busiest airports will be linked to
>   state and national rail lines.  Service will be provided from Manhattan in
>   September and from North Jersey in about a year.  Making such a
>   transportation network possible is a one-mile airport monorail extension
>   to a new rail station on Amtrak's and NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor.
>
>   "If you were building a new airport, you would bring trains to it," said
>   James Blackmore, director of the project for the Port Authority of New
>   York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.  "The airport was only
>   accessible by vehicles.  This takes public train transportation and
>   connects it to the airport."
>
>   Only sporadic service from North Jersey through Hoboken will be provided
>   by NJ Transit to the monorai link this year.  That will change once the
>   Secaucus Transfer Station opens next spring.  North Jersey travelers will
>   then avoid the Hoboken station altogether, making a quick transfer in
>   Secaucus for a 10- to 15-minute ride to the airport.
>
>   Passengers on NJ Transit's Main, Bergen, Morris, Essex, Gladstone,
>   Montclair, Port Jervis, and Pascack Valley lines will be able to ride to
>   Secaucus and hop a train to the monorail.
>
>   With this $415 million project, funded largely by a $3 federal airline
>   passenger surcharge, Newark will join the ranks of Atlanta, Washington,
>   D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston.  All have rail transportation
>   to their airports.
>
>   Officials are counting on many airline passengers to leave their cars at
>   home. They forecast 6,300 train trips a day, or 2.1 million a year, to the
>   airport by 2003.  By 2010, they hope that will climb to 9,100 trips a day
>   and 3.1 million a year.
>
>   But will it be worth it?
>
>   A typical car trip from North Jersey to the airport takes anywhere from 20
>   to 50 minutes, depending on the starting point.  New Jersey Turnpike tolls
>   to Newark are $1.45 from Exit 18 and parking at the airport is $8 a day in
>   long-term lots and $24 a day in daily lots, which are within walking
>   distance of the terminals.
>
>   A train trip from North Jersey will take between 50 and 65 minutes,
>   including transfers in Secaucus, to get to the new airport monorail
>   station. Then it's another transfer and a seven-minute ride to Terminal C.
>
>
>   Doug Bowen, president of the New Jersey Rail Passengers Association, a
>   rail advocacy group, said the double transfer will discourage some people
>   from trying the service. And, noting construction of two airport parking
>   decks with 6,600 spaces, Bowen says he believes the train service is not
>   intended to relieve congestion.  "The Port Authority is still so heavily
>   weighted toward highways and parking, it's in their best interest to keep
>   Newark Airport congested," he said, adding that more cars means more
>   money. "They are not going to undercut their revenue stream. You don't
>   relieve congestion by building huge parking decks on airport property."
>
>   Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco dismissed Bowen's concerns,
>   saying not everyone will use the train and the airport must be ready to
>   handle more cars.  "It's incumbent on the Port Authority to not only
>   anticipate future growth, but to improve access" in all areas, DiFulco
>   said.
>
>   Making the transfers more difficult will be moving luggage from train to
>   train. NJ Transit rail cars aren't equipped to handle the vacationing
>   family and all its bags.  "We are typically not going to see the family of
>   four going to Disney World for a week," said NJ Transit Executive Director
>   Jeff Warsh.  "We are going to see the business travelers who will not have
>   a problem accommodating luggage in overhead racks."  Warsh said if it
>   becomes necessary to retrofit trains with luggage racks, the agency will
>   do so.   "We do have the ability to retrofit trains quickly," he said.
>
>   The new service will cost NJ Transit $20 million to $30 million a year to
>   run, Warsh said.  A special fare will be charged for the airport run.  But
>   that has not been determined, he said, making it difficult to predict
>   revenue.  "It's going to be an extraordinary improvement in terms of
>   people's mobility options from points in New Jersey to Newark Airport,"
>   Warsh said.
>
>   Travelers already seem to agree.
>
>   "I think I would use it," said Kathleen Morley, a train commuter from
>   Ho-Ho-Kus.  "If it means not paying for parking, people are certainly
>   going to do it.  The parking fees at airports are exorbitant."
>
>   David Berger, a daily NJ Transit commuter who lives in Glen Rock, thinks
>   the service will work if it is efficient.  "If it ran frequently and I
>   could depend on getting there at a certain time, I would probably use it,"
>   said Berger, who routinely takes a taxi to and from the airport at a cost
>   of $85.  "I ride mass transit every day.  I take it where I think it's
>   appropriate.  If the Main Line and all the other lines get there, it would
>   be a plus."
>
>   Others worry about their baggage making it to the plane.
>
>   "I think the big test will be if it runs efficiently," said Tom Smith of
>   Rutherford, who commutes by train to Manhattan. "If you are schlepping a
>   lot of luggage and they actually get it right, meaning you get to the
>   monorail and the luggage makes it to the plane when you get to the plane,
>   then I definitely think it will have an impact on how people travel."
>
>   Airport-bound passengers will exit onto one of two, 1,050-foot-long
>   platforms and enter a climate-controlled station.  Escalators, elevators,
>   and stairs will take them up to an enclosed concourse, where they can
>   check their luggage, purchase tickets, and catch the monorail for the
>   seven to 11-minute ride to one of the airport's three terminals.
>
>   The train station is largely enclosed by glass, giving travelers a glimpse
>   of planes taking off and landing.  Below, Amtrak and NJ Transit trains
>   will race through.  Electronic message boards will display flight arrival
>   and departure times.  Monorail trains are expected to pass through the new
>   station every two minutes, and NJ Transit expects to run four trains from
>   the Secaucus Transfer Station to the airport every hour.  Baggage will be
>   checked at the station and travel by conveyor belt to transport trucks,
>   which will drive the luggage to planes, Blackmore said.
>
>   Newark isn't the only airport getting new rail service.
>
>   The Port Authority is working to link Kennedy International Airport with a
>   train.  AirTrain, scheduled to begin in about two years, will let
>   passengers transfer at the Long Island Rail Road's Jamaica station and the
>   Howard Beach subway station and ride the rails to Kennedy, bringing the
>   airport within 40 minutes of New York City's Penn Station.
>
>   ____
>
>   My comments:
>
>   Although the story (and most planners) prominently mentions business
>   travellers, I doubt that they will be seen in the rail station.  The vast
>   majority of the users will be airport workers, who will have a special
>   fare arrangement.  There are thousands of them, and they go every day.
>   Next on the list will be budget-minded people, including car-less
>   Manhattan residents, European tourists (who are already used to taking
>   transit to airports), and college students.  Also among the users will be
>   transit proponents (hopefully) like myself.
>
>   Business travelers, who often have NO luggage - they make a lot of one-day
>   trips, leaving Newark by 7:30am and returning late at night - will stick
>   to the limos they currently ride...  When I travel for work, sometimes I
>   do that; I do ride NJT to Newark and take the current Airlink bus as well.
>    It takes SUBSTANTIALLY longer to do that, and it will still take longer
>   to ride the train from here to Secaucus than the limo ride to the airport
>   takes.
>
>   For everyone else, the upper concourse is the key to this station.  Once
>   you leave the train, you go up and check in - and shed your luggage.  The
>   upper concourse is equivalent to Newark airport's departures level!  Ride
>   the monorail, go through security, and out to the gate, bypassing the
>   often-jammed front end of the airport.
>
>   =====
>   Gary R. Kazin
>   DL&W Milepost R35.7
>   Rockaway, New Jersey
>
>   New Jersey Transit - THE WAY TO GO!!!
>
>   (I have no affiliation with New Jersey Transit.)

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