Railroad Forums 

  • Reviving passenger service between West Trenton & Bound Brook

  • Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.
Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.

Moderators: lensovet, Kaback9, nick11a

 #1272151  by 25Hz
 
Steampowered wrote:i think they should just throw away that plan, and go with a link to the airport and then to Hamilton.

West Trenton/ Trenton mercer airport/ Hamilton station.
Hamilton...... nothing connects the two areas.

There are plans to extend RiverLine from TTC to west trenton then to KTTN.

The idea is to eventually, at some future time, have service between newark/hoboken & 30th via west trenton line, bypassing the limitations of NYP and the "only have 20 years left" river tunnels.

For that you'd need another aldene track and a second waterfront connection, but you'd also need a solid aldene-west trenton plan, which is one of those listed in the PDF.

I just really hope they get this line up and running. It seems more feasible than the cutoff and it would serve a pent up demand PLUS offer alternate if NEC has issues.
 #1272369  by Kaback9
 
pumpers wrote: In any case, I think the real problem would be CSX (unless business completely collapses). I don't believe they were ever in favor of this, and I hear the line has a lot more traffic (nearly 2X?) now compared to roughly 10 years or so ago. Including 1 or 2 Daily oil already and more coming. They have been trying like crazy to stop sharing with SEPTA further down the line and separating them and SEPTA onto different tracks, so I don't see how they would go for this, even assuming that NJ paid for some sidings...
JS
Perhaps if NJT built their own line on the ROW all the way to West Trenton,beyond what is already there, but from Pennington to West Trenton I don't know if there were ever more than 2 tracks and if the ROW would be wide enough.

I tend to agree with you. I'm not sure how on board CSX is with this plan. I know there were issues early on with how exactly they planned to access the Trenton Sub. There were talks of fly overs and even restoring the diamond with the Lehigh Line ( which no one was for).
 #1272440  by 25Hz
 
I think a bridge would work. They have the space for it on both sides and for the piers.

http://prntscr.com/3mcqli" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1272540  by 25Hz
 
I believe part of the lot is actually an automobile dealer storage center for used vehicles. Yes, it is pretty titanic.
 #1272563  by Ken W2KB
 
pumpers wrote:
Ken W2KB wrote: Somerville and Raritan passengers would have fewer trains from which to chose.
Why's that? Because trains that stop there now would bypass those stations for some kind of semi-express, or the equipment would be tied up going to West Trenton so they couldn't get as many runs per day out of it?
In any case, I think the real problem would be CSX (unless business completely collapses). I don't believe they were ever in favor of this, and I hear the line has a lot more traffic (nearly 2X?) now compared to roughly 10 years or so ago. Including 1 or 2 Daily oil already and more coming. They have been trying like crazy to stop sharing with SEPTA further down the line and separating them and SEPTA onto different tracks, so I don't see how they would go for this, even assuming that NJ paid for some sidings...
JS
Perhaps if NJT built their own line on the ROW all the way to West Trenton,beyond what is already there, but from Pennington to West Trenton I don't know if there were ever more than 2 tracks and if the ROW would be wide enough.
The latter, trains that now go to/from Raritan would go via the old Reading route connection to/from West Trenton, thus not adding congestion Aldene-Newark. The trains that originate/terminate at Raritan have plenty of seating west of Bridgewater so fewer trains impact would be mitigated to that extent. It would remain somewhat more frequent than west of Raritan service to High Bridge.
 #1272687  by Kaback9
 
25Hz wrote:I think a bridge would work. They have the space for it on both sides and for the piers.

http://prntscr.com/3mcqli" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You realize a bridge would have to be double stack compliant right? It's not as easy as it seems.
 #1272894  by sullivan1985
 
25Hz wrote:I think a bridge would work. They have the space for it on both sides and for the piers.

http://prntscr.com/3mcqli" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even though the idea of diamonds is not the favorable one, they would be the better choice over a bridge any day. Why separate the grades if NJT would be running over CSX west of there anyway?
 #1272933  by Kaback9
 
sullivan1985 wrote:
25Hz wrote:I think a bridge would work. They have the space for it on both sides and for the piers.

http://prntscr.com/3mcqli" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even though the idea of diamonds is not the favorable one, they would be the better choice over a bridge any day. Why separate the grades if NJT would be running over CSX west of there anyway?
In the long run both options really are not great. Diamonds are a pain to maintain as well as the operational headaches for all railroads now involved. A bridge while the most ideal would need quite a bit of land. Why not just route trains bound for West Trenton over a reconfigured BROOK? I would think that would be of less interference to all parties involved. Rebuild Bound Brook so as to have trains bound for WT use a reconstructed platform by the EB station building.
 #1273075  by 25Hz
 
So basically leave bridgeport out of the plan?
 #1273339  by Ken W2KB
 
Kaback9 wrote:
sullivan1985 wrote:
25Hz wrote:I think a bridge would work. They have the space for it on both sides and for the piers.

http://prntscr.com/3mcqli" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even though the idea of diamonds is not the favorable one, they would be the better choice over a bridge any day. Why separate the grades if NJT would be running over CSX west of there anyway?
In the long run both options really are not great. Diamonds are a pain to maintain as well as the operational headaches for all railroads now involved. A bridge while the most ideal would need quite a bit of land. Why not just route trains bound for West Trenton over a reconfigured BROOK? I would think that would be of less interference to all parties involved. Rebuild Bound Brook so as to have trains bound for WT use a reconstructed platform by the EB station building.
NJT wants to be able to use the huge Bridgewater stadium parking lots for expected increases in passengers over time. Diverting trains at Brook bypasses the only place where parking capacity is not exhausted.
 #1273589  by 25Hz
 
Ehhh, after looking at the interlocking by the station in bound brook, i'm gonna say i vote bridge farther west.
 #1273714  by pumpers
 
Ken W2KB wrote:
pumpers wrote:
Ken W2KB wrote: Somerville and Raritan passengers would have fewer trains from which to chose.
Why's that? Because trains that stop there now would bypass those stations for some kind of semi-express, or the equipment would be tied up going to West Trenton so they couldn't get as many runs per day out of it?...
JS
The latter, trains that now go to/from Raritan would go via the old Reading route connection to/from West Trenton, thus not adding congestion Aldene-Newark. The trains that originate/terminate at Raritan have plenty of seating west of Bridgewater so fewer trains impact would be mitigated to that extent. It would remain somewhat more frequent than west of Raritan service to High Bridge.
Duh!!! I'm getting old. Of course. The Reading route to West Trenton (and right past my old house) diverges south just west of Bridgewater from what is now the Raritan line before reaching Raritan and Somerville.
Regarding the diamond or bridge to cross the Lehigh Line vs going direct from Manville to Bound Brook (a stretch about 1-1/2 miles?), east of Manville the Lehigh Line is Conrail, not CSX, making the politics yet more complicated. And to get to NJT in Bound Brook a train from West Trenton would have to cross both tracks of the busy double track main. So operationally it probably is just about as bad as a diamond.
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