PVL passing sidings/off-peak trains

Only a short time has gone by and the weekend daily ridership appears to be nearly the same as the weekday ridership. Am I reading that right? That's solid performance.

It is good that the ridership is increasing, but I still think the numbers are a bit small. There are a good 30 stations on NJT's system that have more ridership than the entire PVL right now. This line is still underused and has room to improve. If only there was a siding in Oradell...

Just saw 4111 running light, headed north through Emerson 11:15am

After depositing my check in river edge, i drove past north hackensack to geto hackensack ave. Noticed that the large lot of tree's across from the station is beeing cleared. Is this the start of the parking deck that was supposed to be built there to provide more parking?

Since the new service started, how has the ridership been doing, especially on the weekends.

I've had occasion to use it twice, when I've gone to the Bergen County courthouse in Hackensack. I wasn't the only "reverse commuter" but it seemed pretty lightly traveled.

One problem is that there is no early morning service from Hoboken. I sometimes have to go to Hackensack and be there at 9:00 a.m. The Pascack Valley line doesn't help me then. On occasions where I could make it later, I gladly leave the car at home and take the train. But I still have had to drive most of the time.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:Since the new service started, how has the ridership been doing, especially on the weekends.

Steadily increasing every weekend.

Any more news if passenger trains will go between Spring Valley and Suffern? I hear talk about it sometimes but have not heard about it recently.

I doubt it. Not in the near-term, at least. Last I checked, the rail (and in general, the right-of-way) would have to be significantly rehabiliated and the residents between Suffern and Spring Valley would put up a big fight (probably larger than the towns in NJ that sued about the passing sidings). The RoW also passes very close to residential areas now.

In some case, homes stand on the old ROW.

MTA and the State and Federal Government COULD step in and run eminent domain and kick everyone off that RoW that in some cases I'll bet was utilized by some without proper permission, but I don't think you'll see that section of track brought back unless the Tapan Zee Corridor actually becomes something other then a dream and paperwork.

this project is done..can we close this one up?

northjerseybuff wrote:this project is done..can we close this one up?

I'd say this thread was pretty much dead until you revived it.

Well i thought i'de just add a bit here about the wood-ridge station area work. I drove by the other day and noticed they seemed to have cut back on the pocket track that was supposedly going right up to the station. The end of track bumpers is now right at the crossing with a signal right next to it pointing at no track and lit up. Unless this is just temporary it kinda looks strange.

and the wye for the meadowlands spur is fully installed and ballasted. looks like they are also going to be installing an overhead signal mast at the union ave crossing on the east side.

I wonder if these are changes reflecting the new operating philosophy of the Meadowlands branch, namely the use of shuttle trains from Hoboken, instead of through running from the PVL. From my understanding, the original idea of the pocket track was to layover trains during events, so they can get them to the Meadowlands more quickly. Since it seems they'll be using shorter, dedicated consists, instead of PVL trains, they don't need as long of a pocket track.