BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – There is a growing tension among riders on NJTransit and Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains through Newark Penn Station over disruptions that have affected them and other local and regional riders on adjacent lines since the advent of the first heatwave of the summer June 17.
That week’s train disruptions on three of the five weekdays not only affected some 100,000 daily NJTransit NEC riders but tens of thousands of others on all but one of its other commuter rail lines.
Those who normally take Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton Midtown Direct service, for example, frequently found themselves being diverted to Hoboken Terminal. Some of those trains were moving after being halted up to an hour in their tracks.
At least some riders’ trains got to their destination after a fashion. Some trains of the above lines and those on the Raritan Valley and North Jersey Coast lines were canceled.
The problems, on June 21, affected Amtrak’s NEC out to New Haven and Philadelphia. Its Empire Service from Buffalo, that afternoon, was halted at Yonkers, where riders transferred to MTA Metro North trains to Grand Central Station – and not their intended New York Penn Station destination.
The so far eight days of delays has prompted some riders to plan alternate means of commuting. Some of those alternatives may have been brought up in a “Zoom community meeting” scheduled by South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum for June 26 at 8 p.m.
“I made it virtual just in case you’re stuck on a train,” deadpanned Collum June 21 before getting serious. “I’m sorry that things have been so miserable. I’ve been paying attention and I hear you loud and clear.”
Collum’s meeting is meant to discuss “how the local governing body can better advocate for our commuters.” The village has an NJTransit station at its center and Mountain Station in the Montrose section. Both stations also serve riders from Orange, West Orange and Livingston.
South Orange, pending that meeting’s results, may join the Millburn-based Lackawanna Coalition rail advocacy group plus other local and state officials who are asking NJTransit and Amtrak to better cooperate with each other and the public. Some of the said officials are also calling upon their Congressional colleagues – Amtrak’s overseers and funders – to intervene.
Officials and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union – between operating the system and assisting in its repairs – had scheduled a press conference here at Newark Penn after 10 a.m. June 25 to push state legislators in Trenton to pass the $1 billion Corporate Fare Tax as part of the 2024-25 state budget that is due on June 30. Its members have been handing out advocacy handbills to commuters here and at Menlo Park and New Brunswick stations.
Gov. Phil Murphy (D-Rumson) has proposed taxing corporations above a set revenue threshold to generate $1 billion for NJTransit’s operations and capital projects. The CFT, if or when it passes, will become the state’s first dedicated tax for the nation’s largest statewide passenger transit carrier. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and other business interests are opposing the CFT.
It appears as of this writing, 10 a.m. June 25, that June 21’s morning rush hour was the worst of the mishaps.
Train No. 3924, the 7:11 a.m. Trenton to NYPS express, had lost power some 10 feet short of its destination at 8:27 a.m.; it was scheduled to arrive at 8:23. A rider took a cell phone video of him and other riders leaving their electric double decker train set and, with train and station crew help, walked the last 10 feet to the platform.
That train effectively took one of the two North River Tunnels under the Hudson out of service. NJTransit began diverting Midtown Direct trains to Hoboken, Amtrak halted its NEC service between New Haven and Philadelphia, halted its Empire Service at Yonkers and restricted its Keystone Service trains to or from Pittsburgh.
Both carriers canceled some of their trains and asked PATH, NJTransit bus drivers and private bus companies to cross-honor rail tickets and passes into midafternoon.
“Local Talk” took Train No.2504 Rahway local from Newark to New York and returned on the scheduled No. 3831 9:37 a.m. Trenton local that actually left at 9:41 a.m.
Many riders may have already taken alternative means, given that Newark Penn’s platform volume was lighter than usual. NJTransit’s NYPS lobby was a relative ghost town.
Television and social media footage have shown commuters transferring to PATH at Hoboken Terminal at pre-1994 or Midtown Direct service levels. NJ Transit’s NYPS lobby ranged from crowded to near-empty depending on the time of delay.
The NYPS-bound train conductor told the riders to expect delays – “Only two trains can go in and out of the tunnel now.” We were stopped for a minute in the Kearny Meadows. “Local Talk” noticed two trains stopped on tracks to or from Hoboken, awaiting their green light signal.
“Local Talk” was transferring to a local NJTransit bus just before Amtrak announced resuming NYPS service, with 45-minute delays, at 10:30 a.m.
“Local Talk,” on the return trip, also noticed the charred grassland between the NEC tracks and the New Jersey Turnpike’ Eastern Spur and Alexander Hamilton Service Area in Secaucus. This was the remains of a June 20 fire that further delayed trains and slowed eastbound turnpike traffic – including some commuter buses – to a crawl.
The 1,000-foot blaze, which was put out by 5:30, aggravated Amtrak workers’ attempt to replace a power circuit breaker that had blown in the Hackensack (river) substation at 3:30 p.m. Divert or cancel, cross-honor and repeat until 6 p.m.
Amtrak – which owns the bulk of Northeast Corridor property – and NJTransit, which pays Amtrak $200 million annually to use their infrastructure, started out that Friday morning’s response by blaming each other.
“Due to a disabled commuter train in New York, all rail service will be delayed/modified between PHL & NYP,” said Amtrak spokesman W. Kyle Anderson. “Resumption of service is estimated for 12:00 p.m. Delays of up to 60 mins. are to be expected.”
“What we can say is that we operate approximately 700 trains every weekday along hundreds of miles of track and 11 lines with the same equipment,” said NJTransit CEO Kevin Corbett Friday afternoon. “These incidents are occurring on the same stretch of track on the NEC between Newark and New York.”
Corbett added that an inspection crew “thoroughly” went over the formerly disabled train on its return to Newark Penn – and found nothing wrong with it.
The NJTransit train had stalled because it lost contact with the overhead power catenary wires. Contact was lost because the overhead wires were sagging from the 90-degree-plus heat.
Amtrak had installed automatic “constant” catenary wire tensioners. on the NEC – but between New Brunswick and Philadelphia. Installing tensioners between New Brunswick and NYPS, according to one estimate, would cost Amtrak $155 million.
Federal funding is coming to Amtrak’s NEC aid – but the nation’s passenger rail carrier is playing infrastructural catch up.
Congress and the Federal Transit Administration just finished its $15 billion in funding to Amtrak, NJTransit and MTA Commuter Rail, for example, for the long-awaited Gateway Tunnel project. Two new trunnels will be built, allowing the 114-year-old North River tunnels to get rehabilitated – all on or by 2033.
Riders can see one part of the project – the new Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River – under construction. Where the catenary wire project is in the “to do” pipeline, or if it is in the pipeline, is not known as of press time.
NJTransit, under the Murphy Administration, has increased capital project and operating funding. Double-decker Multiple Unit trains, for example, were introduced in 2019.
Corbett was at Elizabeth Midtown Station June 18 to cut the ribbon on the place’s $74.5 million rehabilitation project. Murphy, in his first term, provided funds to increase training new railroad engineers.
Corbett had just put away his scissors when reporters asked about that Tuesday morning’s delay. He added that NJTransit has created a response team to rapidly work with Amtrak. An NJTransit train had stalled in a North River tunnel.
“I got a call at 6:30 this morning (June 18) after it happened, from Gary Williams, Amtrack Executive VP,” said Corbett “The communication, from the people on the platform right up, was much better.”
“From what I understand, NJ Transit and Amtrak are working on the problems,” said Murphy in front of Newark’s St. James AME Church June 19. “It’s not a manpower issue.”
Murphy had just signed an executive order that Wednesday – the federal Juneteenth holiday – that created a new clemency initiative. The Governor, as early as May 24 and as late as June 18, sent letters to Capitol Hill and the White House for “immediate action” to help Amtrak gets its NEC act together.
All parties had hoped that the rail woes would be alleviated when the June 17-23 heatwave broke on June 24. The National Weather Service calls 90-plus temperatures under the Sun for three days or longer as a heatwave.
A June 23 afternoon thunderstorm and 40 mph wind gusts June 24, indeed, brought ambient temperatures down to around 75 degrees. But that memo was lost somewhere west of the North Rover tunnels overnight June 24-25.
NJTransit and Amtrak, as of 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, have announced that a disabled train is causing up to 30-minute delays in and out of NYPS affecting all of the former’s services but its Atlantic City Line. This follows “overhead wire issues in one of the tunnels” halted service 10 p.m. Monday-Midnight Tuesday.
