Re: (erielack) Montclair Connection

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

- --- A Samostie <quahog_@_sprint.ca> wrote:
> Why is electrification only going to Great Notch?  Wouldn't it make
> sense to "close the loop" and electrify all the way to the connection
> with the M&E lines at Denville, as the Lackawanna had originally planned
> for the Boonton Line?  Is electrification to Denville in the works for
> the future, i.e. when additional funding becomes available?

Originally, the connection was not going to be electrified.  Diesel trains
were going to make all the stops to Bay Street, where the wire begins,
then run express to Broad Street Newark, and on to Hoboken.  Electric
trains for New York would have begun at Bay Street, picking up transfer
passengers from the diesels, and run local.

Long negotiations with the Town of Montclair resulted in the decision to
electrify through the town.  Great Notch was chosen as the terminal
because there is an existing yard site there, and it's the end of double
track.  A handful of short-turn trains have run to and from there for many
years.  Part of the agreement restricts the number of diesel trains which
can be run east of Great Notch.

The current plan is for frequent electric service to either New York or
Hoboken (hourly or better) on weekdays only.  Through diesel service for
points west of Great Notch will run express from Montclair Heights
(serving Montclair State University) to Newark, but the morning skip-stop
trains will be combined and make all stops between Dover and the college. 
Off-peak service will be provided by a connecting train which will run
only between Montclair Heights and Dover (or possibly Denville, depending
on how the connections work).  There is much less patronage west of Great
Notch, and NJT could not justify the cost of 20 track miles of
electrification.  I agree, since that amount of wire would finish the
North Jersey Coast Line between Long Branch and Bay Head, eliminating
diesels from that line entirely.  Since the line west of Dover is not
electrified (yet), diesel trains are still required for service to
Hackettstown, 17 miles, and will be needed for Scranton trains when that
service comes into operation in 3-4 years.

I think we will see the Raritan Valley line electrified also before the
gap on the Boonton Line is closed; you have to consider how much
electrification is needed, how many trains would benefit (and how many
riders), and then do the best ones first.  Another issue to be resolved
would be completing the Waterfront Connection, which gets a limited number
of trains from Newark Penn Station to Hoboken, and electrifying it.

=====
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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