W Trenton project

They should of never took the local tracks off the CNJ, then there would not be any capacity trouble with the West Trenton trains. O well just bring back the Communipaw terminal, all problems solved

Its not really the CNJ tracks that are the problem...its the Leigh line and the single connection track at Hunter and capacity at Newark Penn. RVL trains are sometimes held for 5 plus minutes to either get on the NEC or on the Lehigh. The connection at Hunter is tough because eastbounds have to cross all the tracks to get to track 1, and clog up the NEC. "Cliff" interlocking helps this a little bit, because it allows trains to cross over to track 1 further east, and lets them get up to speed faster adn therefore get out of the way faster.

Dave76 wrote:O well just bring back the Communipaw terminal, all problems solved

For the money spent on elevating the Lehigh Line as part of the Aldene Project, the original CNJ main line could have been upgraded and could still be in service today.

Merck&Somerset wrote:Maybe they could revive the interurban and just make it a Ewing-Bound Brook light rail

That is basically what NJT wanted to do with the West Trenton resurrection, but as FRA commuter rail. (Has the "light rail" buzzword died down just yet?)

Well unless if commuters from the West Trenton area towns along with the polticians and NJT want those type of commuting times then they had better demand that NJT and Trenton does something that for once make some common sense. It doesn't take some over priced board room full of suits on a blue ribbon comission on a power trip to realize that 3 transfers in one journey will not get passengers.

This is also detrimental to area highways like 287. People will look at these orrendous transfer tiems and on how many transfers they have to make and say "To hell with that, I'm driving all the way or to the station on the NEC or RVL." With NEC you don't have to make a transfer depending on where you're going and with RVL one or 2 at max. I have yet to hear of a commuter line where passenger have to switch 3 trains twice a day just to get to work,school and going back home. Even If I'm taking the Boonton Line from NYP to Dover or beyond I only have to make 1 transfer.

There is a blurb on the NJT website where they discuss the Harrison pocket track and how it will ease the movement of RVL trains and future West Trenton line trains, also I thought I remembered seeing something discussing the work in the Bergen tunnels (before it started) and the work in Hoboken yard and how the improvements would allow for possible future service for the MOM, and W. Trenton Lines, along with other possible rail expansion projects, NYSW, etc.

I have NEVER seen anything in print or heard anything about a termination of W. Trenton line trains at Bound Brook anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I don't think NJT is even that stupid.......

That's my recollection, too. I had forgotten about the pocket track project; Hopefully that will keep us off of Track A given the queue that forms to get downstairs there. <g>

New article in the Trenton Times today:

By TOM HESTER JR.
Staff Writer
NJ Transit is looking to complete by early next year the environmental assessment on the proposed West Trenton rail line that would restore passenger rail service through Ewing and the Hopewells for the first time since 1982.

The mass transit agency had said it hoped to complete the assessment this year, but spokesman Ken Hitchner said the analysis should now be ready by early next year.

"We expect to hold public open houses at the end of 2004 to share some environmental findings," Hitchner said.

The open houses, he said, haven't been scheduled.

But no matter when the environmental assessment is complete, NJ Transit officials have said expansion projects such as restoring service along the West Trenton line won't prove helpful unless access to New York City is improved.

The West Trenton project proposes restoring passenger service along the railroad that runs from SEPTA's West Trenton station in Ewing through Hopewell Township and Hopewell Borough and into Somerset County. At Bridgewater, the line would merge with the Raritan Valley Line into Newark's Penn Station. From there, passengers could transfer to trains to New York.

Stations have been proposed for Hopewell Township off Interstate 95 near Merrill Lynch, in Hopewell Borough and in Montgomery near Route 206. A stop is also proposed for Hillsborough before the line merges with the Raritan Valley tracks.

NJ Transit has estimated restoring service for 21 miles between Ewing and Bridgewater could cost as much as $15 million. The state hasn't budgeted money for the work, which would involve track and signal improvements, new stations, parking facilities, a train storage yard and buying rail vehicles.

But NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington and Gov. James E. McGreevey have said a priority, before expanding rail service, is building a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. According to NJ Transit, the two single-track tunnels under the river will reach capacity within 10 years.

A project that could cost as much as $5 billion proposes a new two-track tunnel, along with other rail station and track improvements, into New York's Pennsylvania Station. A draft environmental impact statement on the project is slated to be completed in June 2005.

The state's Capital Investment Strategy for fiscal years 2005-09 stated proposed projects such as the West Trenton line "fulfill their potential only if capacity is added to the Northeast Corridor, a new tunnel is built under the Hudson River, and station capacity is added in New York City."

The proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line, which could operate from the Northeast Corridor in South Brunswick to the Red Bank area in Monmouth County, is another line affected by whether access to New York City is expanded.

The West Trenton rail station at Grand and Railroad avenues is operated by SEPTA, which uses it for its R3 line into Philadelphia. SEPTA said on average 224 passengers use the R3 station each weekday.

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/bas ... ?times?nxs

Indeed Irish Chieftain....

The Aldene Plan (sic) has never been an effective soloution for the Jersey Central.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

Dave76 wrote:O well just bring back the Communipaw terminal, all problems solved

For the money spent on elevating the Lehigh Line as part of the Aldene Project, the original CNJ main line could have been upgraded and could still be in service today.

Merck&Somerset wrote:Maybe they could revive the interurban and just make it a Ewing-Bound Brook light rail

That is basically what NJT wanted to do with the West Trenton resurrection, but as FRA commuter rail. (Has the "light rail" buzzword died down just yet?)

How about diesel service West Trenton to Bound Brook, then express via CNJ to Elizabeth, with a new enclosed transfer (elevators, escalators etc) to the NEC. store equipment at/east of Elizabeth during the day.

Sure there would be a transfer at Eliz, but there would have been one at Newark anyway so its a wash. As for the transfer at West Trenton, how many people are we talking about? Not enough to worry about IMO. IIRC not many ride the clockers Philthy to NY. No idea how many transfer between septic/njt in trenton.

BTW, where is Olog-hai to shoot down my ideas?! Haven't seen him since rr.net changed its look. I miss that guy!

Your ideas are in line with NJ-ARP's ideas. Personally, I don't see how it could work, especially if it means sharing the Broad Street station in Elizabeth between FRA commuter trains and light-rail. There's no yard space at Broad Street; that was designed to be a through station. LRT and FRA rail cannot share platforms.

Now if that tunnel under Newark Bay that Jeffrey Warsh was talking about before he left NJT ever got built, then you could run West Trenton trains through Bayonne, and onto Hoboken if you couldn't get them back into the old CNJ terminal (which the powers that be seem to be against at this time). As it stands, the best way to do it assuming that you want to run through Elizabeth is to rehab the line through to the Mosquito Line, run over the PRR/LVRR bridge between Oak Island and Greenville, then run northwards to Hoboken (where a new connecting track may need to be built). I cannot see Elizabeth Broad Street as a terminal, however.

Also, you're talking about the clockers? That's at Trenton, not West Trenton. I don't believe we're talking former Reading Clocker service? SEPTA has a yard at West Trenton for its Silverliners. West Trenton platforms are quite long, so a same-platform transfer can be done there. Don't know how feasible it would be for NJT West Trenton trains to share the yard...

(As for Olog-hai, I last saw him at Subtalk and the NJ.com Transit forum, places I sometimes lurk. Bob Scheurle is often at the latter site, too.)

But, what would really be cool is the Crusader, again. Observation cars on both ends, ran over 90 mph on the Trenton Line, dining and beverage service. Round trip twice a day.

Only one problem with resurrecting a "Crusader"—no more Reading Terminal. To run into Center City would require either full electrification from Hunter to West Trenton Station, so that trains can run into 30th Street via the Center City Tunnel (and Market East and Suburban Stations of course) or a new dual-mode diesel that can operate in E-mode off catenary wire.