MOM Rail Service

Wooden Poles are cheaper up front, but last approx 20 years down in septa land.

nomis wrote:Wooden Poles are cheaper up front, but last approx 20 years down in septa land.

Do they wind up changing a pole or two here and there like a utility company would or do they wind up having to rebuild whole sections every 20 years?

Do they get cockeyed poles like the power company has at times- you know the ones you drive past and wonder that since they are so crooked how do they stay up? Or does septa have to be more careful than a power utility and get right on those?

Ha. ving grown up in matawan and regularly ridden njclyyears and years back north to nec i just assumed the heavey duty prr was THE way it was done. When i first saw that ME section over 287 years and years ago i assumed it temporary due to construction or something. Then later I figured out that was just another way to do it.

Good to see a little interest in here again.

I had always said that establishing passenger service from the old Ciba-Geigy plant in Toms River (a sizable yard and room for parking already exists) and then north (RR east) would take a lot of pressure off the Parkway and Route 9. Whether you go to Red Bank or turn at Farmingdale to Freehold and onward, just get service started at the southern end. Development in Brick, Toms River, Lakewood, Manchester, etc. has gone on unchecked like a wildfire, and now all those people need a way to get to work up north.

Study done. Look how much $$ we just saved?

michaelk wrote:

nomis wrote:Wooden Poles are cheaper up front, but last approx 20 years down in septa land.

Do they wind up changing a pole or two here and there like a utility company would or do they wind up having to rebuild whole sections every 20 years?

Do they get cockeyed poles like the power company has at times- you know the ones you drive past and wonder that since they are so crooked how do they stay up? Or does septa have to be more careful than a power utility and get right on those?

Ha. ving grown up in matawan and regularly ridden njclyyears and years back north to nec i just assumed the heavey duty prr was THE way it was done. When i first saw that ME section over 287 years and years ago i assumed it temporary due to construction or something. Then later I figured out that was just another way to do it.

IIRC, the M&E's wooden poles are from the re-electrification in the 1980s. They are slowly being replaced in spots. For example, I believe last summer, NJT replaced a bunch of wooden poles near a grade crossing just west of Lyons. The poles that were replaced had started to look like question marks. It's not uncommon to see the wooden poles substantially bent, but I think that is from the constant weight of the hangers and wires, not their original shape.

What is up these days with the status of the MOM (Monmouth/Ocean/Middlesex) DEIS and does anyone know on when the DEIS document is finally going to be released for public comment.

The state's broke and the tunnel is on hold, so it isn't going anywhere.

If the state was really broke , which it is and isn't then we wouldn't be dumping hundreds of Millions into Urban Jersey or repairing roads and bridges. I think we have the $$$ for the MOM project.... We could always raise Tolls on the Turnpike and GSP....or Raise the gas tax like so many states have done to pay for there Rail projects.... The Tunnel is killed at least in ARC format , the Gateway Tunnel seems to be slowly moving...

Nexis4Jersey wrote:If the state was really broke , which it is and isn't then we wouldn't be dumping hundreds of Millions into Urban Jersey or repairing roads and bridges. I think we have the $$$ for the MOM project.... We could always raise Tolls on the Turnpike and GSP....or Raise the gas tax like so many states have done to pay for there Rail projects.... The Tunnel is killed at least in ARC format , the Gateway Tunnel seems to be slowly moving...

i dont think raising prices on an already broke NJ will keep people quiet.

also glad to see the little if any progress on the Gateway Tunnel

Well, I am just posting to see if anyone out there might know on what's going on with the MOM Rail project or has this project been cancelled or will not proceeed as scheduled.

braves wrote:Well, I am just posting to see if anyone out there might know on what's going on with the MOM Rail project or has this project been cancelled or will not proceeed as scheduled.

It is not funded at this time.

There obviously just isn't enough demand. If more people were like me, and would actually refuse to move to a place that lacked a rail option, then the real estate developers and local governments would probably see that it got built asap. But I'm apparently an aberration! As long as they can sell McMansions to people willing to sit in traffic in their SUV every day living the American dream, there's no impetus to get this done.

They haven't decided which of the 3 alignments should be built(Matawan, Red Bank, Monmouth Junction).

morris&essex4ever wrote:They haven't decided which of the 3 alignments should be built(Matawan, Red Bank, Monmouth Junction).

Yeah, they've only been debating that for the last 20 years. At this rate, I suspect they might have the project done by the time my great grandchildren are nearing retirement age!

There is plenty of demand, just not enough political willpower to get it to the next step. Middlesex County, in particular South Brunswick, but also Jamesburg and Monroe were totally against it, and the Democratic strongholds that control those areas as well as Middlesex County politics were able to keep the project squashed when money was there (before the economy took a poop). Now that there are some Republicans in power in State Gov't, which should help Monmouth and Ocean counties cause as they are generally Republican areas, the economy is terrible, there money isn't flowing like it was (it was far from "shovel ready" to qualify for any stimulus funds - maybe it got some for some little planning projects or something like that, i don't know, but no major cash infusions) and Gov Christie has kind of sent mix signals on system expansion. NJT said for years that all other expansion projects were tied into ARC and that ARC must be completed to create capacity for these worthwhile expansion projects.....well now what?

Not to mention Amtrak is a problem too, as it needs to be figured out what to do at Monmouth Junction....Flyover/tunnel/at grade, seperate track with a transfer station, what is going to be done there....BTW, lets be realistic, the South Brunswick route is the most viable, although the Red Bank route should be built at well. Matawan was just added to try to keep the project alive what, 10 years ago or so when there was opposition against both South Brunswick and Red Bank routes. There is no chance in h-e-double hockey sticks of seeing the Freehold Branch rebuilt....

Hopefully something gets built in 3 decades before I retire........