by DutchRailnut
Commuters and workers helped NJ Transit design the next generation
Friday, June 11, 2004
BY JOE MALINCONICO,
Star-Ledger Staff
LA POCATIERE, Quebec -- From sizzling welding torches amid the smell of melting metal, NJ Transit's next generation of trains is taking shape in this remote Canadian village near the St. Lawrence River.
So far, only a few pieces of the frames are built -- steel skeletons that hardly reflect the significance of the project. New Jersey transportation officials are counting on these new cars to prevent a rail capacity crisis during the next decade by carrying scores more passengers on trains into Manhattan. For years, they were called bilevels or double-deckers. But the 100 cars due in 2006 will be more than that.
In fact, there are three distinct levels -- entry vestibules at the two ends of the trains that will have a few flip-down seats and ample standing room, a lower area of 60 seats and top level with 60 more seats. It's pretty much like a split-level home, with five stairs up and five stairs down.
Never before has a train anything like this worked New Jersey's rails.
"I think it will be an enjoyable train to commute on," said Matt Collins, who rides the Raritan Valley line.
"They did a really good job accommodating the different needs of their passengers," said Jill Pozarek, a commuter on the Gladstone line.
How do Collins and Pozarek know so much about the multilevel cars? They were among 14 customers whom NJ Transit sent to the Bombardier Transportation manufacturing plant in Canada last year for input on a preliminary model.
That focus group and the preliminary models are some of the unprecedented steps the agency has taken to try to make the debut of the multilevel trains a smooth one for commuters. Officials are especially wary after problems plagued the new Comet V cars, the state's most recent new rail equipment, when they hit the tracks in the fall of 2002.
"There was always a tendency to push new equipment out as fast as we could," said Richard Sarles, NJ Transit's assistant executive director. "Reality eventually catches up with you. It's important for us to get this right."
By next summer, the first six multilevel cars will be ready to go to the Federal Railroad Administration's test tracks in Pueblo, Colo., where they will undergo six months of evaluation. In spring of 2006, officials expect multilevel trains to begin carrying commuters, with the full shipment of 100 cars in operation in spring 2007.
NJ Transit is paying Bombardier $243 million for the first 100 multilevel cars, and next year, transit officials will decide whether to buy another 100 cars for $193 million.
Some of the main features commuters will notice include:
- No three-seat combinations, a design that eliminates the unpopular middle seats. The rows mainly are composed of two sets of two seats.
- Individualized bucket-style seats, with 1.5 inches of space separating each pair. That will put to rest the question of whether someone is taking up more than his share space on vinyl cushions that do not mark where one seat ends and the next begins.
- Vestibule areas will have "perches," or lean bars, against which folks who are standing can slouch down and rest.
- Bathrooms will be twice as large as the current ones. They will have dispensers that hold two rolls of toilet paper and stronger exhaust systems that officials say will do a better job of getting rid of the odors that sometimes make sitting near a train rest room a test of nasal endurance.
"Many of these features are a direct result of feedback from customer focus groups," said NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington.
The commuters who went to Canada to review the model of the multilevel cars helped NJ Transit decide what color to make the seats (Bayfield Navy with Imperial Blue trim), what type of material to use (a textured vinyl that's comfortable but easier to clean than real cloth would be) and where the bathroom coat-hanger should be placed (higher on the door so a trench coat won't drag on the floor).
"They're using public funds, so they should be getting the public involved in the decisions," said Everett Samms, a Raritan Valley line commuter who was in the focus group. "I though it was a hoax when they called me about it."
Members of the engineers, conductors and mechanics unions also have reviewed the model, part of a process designed to incorporate improvements in the design before full-scale production of the trains begins.
But not everyone has jumped on the new trains' bandwagon.
"Painting the bilevels as the panacea is a big mistake," said Doug Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.
Bowen warns that the multilevel cars -- by carrying more people than the current models -- will cause schedule-busting delays while riders take longer to discharge and to board at major stations. For example, passenger bottlenecks are pretty much routine for morning rush-hour trains arriving at New York Penn Station. The new cars will make those delays worse, Bowen said.
The new cars will have four doors -- two at each end of the train -- that will open at the high-level station platforms that predominate NJ Transit's rail lines. There will be no door in the middle of the cars, something that is common on many NJ Transit trains now in service. Some members of the customer focus group were concerned that the absence of the middle doors would cause delays getting on and off the trains.
But transit officials said the middle doors would not fit with the multilevel cars' design. They acknowledged that passengers would go through "learning curve" getting used to locations of the doors on the new trains.
Bowen also pointed out that many people have the misperception that the new cars will carry twice as many passengers as the current ones do. In fact, depending on the type of car, the multilevels will have anywhere from 17 to 25 more seats than do comparable versions of the Comet Vs. There will be significantly more standing room on the multilevels -- but transit officials are hoping not to need the extra space right away.
One of Bowen's other qualms about the multilevel trains is that NJ Transit's locomotives will not be able to pull as many of them as they can Comet V cars, which he said would offset some of the benefit of the extra seats.
Transit officials said that their strongest locomotives can carry 10 multilevel cars, compared with 12 Comet V cars.
New Jersey transportation officials see the multilevel cars as crucial to their ability to provide enough capacity on trains to New York for the next decade until a second rail tunnel gets built under the Hudson River to Midtown Manhattan.
Boston and Baltimore have been using multilevel trains for years. NJ Transit's version will be most similar to those running on the Long Island Rail Road, largely because both models had to be built to fit through the tight tunnels leading to New York Penn Station, officials said.
"These new trains aren't going to solve all of NJ Transit's problems, but they're a step in the right direction," said Collins, the commuter from the focus group.
If Conductors are in charge, why are they promoted to be Engineer???
Retired Triebfahrzeugführer. I am not a moderator.
Retired Triebfahrzeugführer. I am not a moderator.
