The Atlantic City Line Thread

Everyone:

As a long time visitor to this topic I have noticed the debate about changing the Atlantic City Rail Line from an AC
commuter line to one that primarily serves Philadelphia instead because of AC's struggling economy.

Jason Laughlin at the Philadelphia Inquirer asks this question and adds an opinion about serving directly University
City and the Philadelphia International Airport. This was mentioned in a South Jersey opinion blog recently.
That author is Joseph Russell of Collingswood.

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https://southjerseyist.wordpress.com/20 ... city-line/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This writer does not know about or understand the physical constraints of changing the NJT Atlantic City Line route
to serve either University City or PHL - and suggests added station stops at Woodcrest and points in between to the
Cherry Hill Station - that alone will be redundant with PATCO there or nearby. Right now there is no physical direct
connection between 30th Street Station's lower level and SEPTA's University City Station - to serve UC a train would
have to reverse direction at 30th Street Upper Level and then operate to UC. There is an intact unused tunnel that
would allow trains to bypass 30th Street Upper Level and go straight down to UC and then PHL (visible from SEPTA
trains using tracks 5/6 between UC and 30th) which would need to have tracks relaid into it and switches installed
to make this option useable-bypassing 30th Street Upper Level in the process.

In short none of these options are practical without operational problems and what is currently there is sufficient.

Running a Philadelphia-oriented instead of AC service may be a good change that could benefit more commuters.

Anybody have any opinions? MACTRAXX
P.S. This should be linked into the SEPTA/PATCO Forum for more visibility...

From the article:

"NJ Transit has exclusive rights to its tracks, meaning it doesn’t have to coordinate its schedules with freight lines or Amtrak, something that causes delays in SEPTA service."

Is this true?

If so, why is the train schedule so random?
:37, :31, :59, : 23, : 45, etc from Philly
:33, :40, :53, :18, :29, :46 etc from AC.

Why not clockface?

Also, why are the trips scheduled for different lengths of time? What causes the 5 minute delay on some trains?

i think we need to come at this from a completely different angle and should consider it sooner then later. We have 3 incompatible modes of passenger rail transportation that feed into the Philadelphia Market from south jersey. Number 1 you have patco which is the most convenient route into center city but stops short at 16th street. Parking is limited during week and the peak trains are at capacity. Then you have the river line which feeds into Camden and connects with patco and AC trains but is not attractive due to the lack of matching timetables. Now let's get to the Atlantic city line. Absolutely underutilized but probably for good reason. The slow roundabout run that it takes from where it splits off in westmont. Runs up into cherry hill and pennsauken. Then runs at a snails pace across the delair bridge where it can be delayed for a bridge opening and then stopped short of the NEC where it needs clearance to cross over several active tracks on the busiest passenger rail line in the country. Then to run through north philly and back around zoo finally arriving at 30th. We have essentially piecemealed together 3 rail lines out of what is left from the prsl where things seemed to actually make more sense. Let's face it. Our highways are at capacity and Philadelphia is growing. South Jersey is growing just as rapidly and if we are not careful in how we plan our transportation grid for the future we will be faced with even crazier commutes.

My pipe dream solution.. Build a rail tunnel from Camden into and under center city Philadelphia where it could be connected and expanded at 8th and market to stop and continue through the cct to 30th st upper concourse. On the Jersey side all passenger rail should become standard which means what runs to Trenton runs to lindenwold runs to ac. 4 tracks from lindenwold straight into the city which means the AC trains express from lindenwold on the inner 2 tracks and the lindenwold trains take the outer tracks to make local stops. Some may say then what do we do with cherry hill and pennsauken. My thought is this. River line feeds directly into 4 track mainline before making main stop in Camden. The 42 corridor line which is desperately needed does the same. Then what also desperately needs to be done is a complete rebuilding of the Mt. Holly line through to route 206 following the original route through merchantville over 130 where it connects at pavonia where it would follow the river line down into Camden. We need a major investment in our transportation infrastructure now. I've been working in Camden and Philadelphia for over 20 years and I can say that I am fairly certain this whole area is about to explode with jobs and new development. We need to stop throwing good money after bad. It's time to go hard or go home.

I have a vested interest in this topic as I own a house near Atlantic City and commute to New York and/or Philly during the summer. The AC line as it currently exists is useless as it is set up to bring workers/customers to/from AC. I will leave it to others to comment on how well it does that. IMHO the line would be more useful if it was reoriented into a commuter line to Philly. The equipment can still "live" in AC and hang out in/around Philly during the day and then head home at night. I agree that the station at Woodcrest should be built. Lindenwold is the middle of nowhere and Woodcrest has a huge park and ride right off 295. There is no easy solution to the slow crawl to Philly. The practical alternative is to transfer to PATCO. An act of political will can enable some sort of joint ticketing between NJT and PATCO.

If this could get done in my lifetime it would be a lot!

NJT should rebrand and promote the line to advertising "Service to Philadelphia"
*More frequent runs
*Cutback particular trips at some points

But I have to ask this , does the fact that the line is pretty much one track have reason for its infrequent service ?
I'm sure if these adjustments was made, more people would ride the line.

The fact that the line is single track with passing sidings certainly affects capacity. One of my the expansion proposals also includes additional/expanded sidings.
You could also run a train from AC to Cherry Hill, then deadhead the equipment to say Atco for another inbound trip.

The other thing to hear in mind is more trips create a greater expense. If you run the line with little reverse peak traffic you can keep costs down.

The Delair bridge is out of service again for major electrical upgrade. The train with GP40PH-2B 4209 was laying over at 9 AM SAturday while train 4669, which departed at 9:19, was on the other track.

I was informed that the work on the bridge is replacement of the cables that operate the lift span.

The AC Line ran five-car trains Wednesday because of the AC AirShow.

Spotted a 45dp zipping along southbound early this afternoon pulling a V cab in Hammonton. Wish I could have gotten a camera shot off.

The AC Line is back to three-car trains now that the summer vacation season os over.

Per KYW news, rail service suspended on the ACL between 30th St Station and Pennsauken due to a power outage.
Ben

Is it finally time to shift the Atlantic City Line's service toward a different market?

Declining Atlantic City Train Draws Loyal Commuter Crowd

Elinor Comlay, Route 40 News wrote:More people than you might guess get up every weekday at the crack of dawn and drive, walk or take a bus to the Atlantic City rail terminal to wait for the 6:40 am train to Philadelphia. At the station, they greet fellow commuters and ask them about their weekend plans or chat about what they watched last night. On the train, they welcome kindred commuters who board at Absecon or Egg Harbor City and share their day-in, day-out slog to work and back.

Ridership on the Atlantic City-Philadelphia train line – one of the nation’s oldest – has been steadily declining in line with casino closures in Atlantic City that mean fewer visitors are coming to the faded resort town. But passenger numbers on the rail line are not down as much as bus-passenger numbers, according to South Jersey Transportation Authority data, and that may reflect the small but loyal commuter train crowd. Train passenger numbers have fallen 5.1 percent through August this year, compared to a decline of 10.4 percent in bus passengers, according to SJTA’s numbers.

The biggest problem for the commuters is the lack of train frequency, particularly in the morning. [...] The commuters and others have argued that adding more trains would boost passenger numbers. In fact, a $735,000 report commissioned by NJ Transit and published in 2013 agreed and proposed adding trains to provide service at least once an hour.

At least three Geeps were working the line on Friday.
4211 pushing train 4623
train 4628 with 4201
4202 pushing train 4631

Anyone know the history behind the Cherry Hill train station?

Did NJ Transit have no comment on the strip mall development hiding the station from modern society?