Passenger Trains > NJ - Ridgewood to Red Bank?

Or other unconventional trips like Summit to Suffern, or Mount Olive to Montvale?  NJ Transit's abundance of engine power and dual modes make a lot of routes possible, if there's a market for them. 

NJ Transit rail has a very NY-centric approach to its commuter operations, and has from the earliest days.  But the number of shuttles to and from various stations is growing as riders elect to take the train instead of driving.  Interstate, too. So, is there a market for Somerville to Stamford CT? Or Hicksville to New Brunswick (where do the wires end on the east side of the East River tunnels)

The northwest leg of the wye at West End allows movements from the Boonton Line(s), Main Line, Bergen County, and Pascack Valley to the Morristown Line.

Maybe NJ Transit would be the answer to Andrew Cuomo's need for an East Bronx commuter operation. Continue some NJT trains over the Hell Gate, reverse at SHELL and make stops in the Bronx. With Amtrak or MetroNorth crews, of course.

(Thinking about these things on a rainy Independence Day...)

Interesting thought.  What you're saying is that instead of running service from system exurban extremities to the downtown hub (Penn Station), terminating the run there and then going back where the train originated, you could run through the hub to endpoints on the other side of the hub.   So from NJ Transit endpoints like the Boonton Branch -- or even Philadelphia -- to, oh, Montauk, LI, to New Haven, and other points.  The advantages are obvious:  no need to turn the equipment at the hub, which takes up valuable real estate and wastes time, and keep it moving -- in revenue service.
The idea is not a new one.  Back in the mid-1970s, Chicago, London Transport (yes, that London Transport) proposed that Chicago commuter service originating on the (former) Milwaukee Road North and West Lines that terminated at Union Station continue on through to the BN and on to Aurora.  Unfortunately, like too many good ideas, it was filed away and forgotten (Chicagoland train nuts can probably find a copy of the study at the Northwestern University Transportation Center Library, which used to be open to the general public as it was partly funded by the feds and thus open to all, not just NU students).  Part of the proposal, as I recall, was that a couple of tracks that stub-ended at CUS be opened up and converted into run-through tracks, which would have run through a substantial slug of capital to have this come to pass.
One obvious problem that inevitably crops up is that commuter service between Philly and New Haven cuts into a market segment that has been Amtrak's even since its formation, and Amtrak would (rightfully, in my view) scream like wounded eagle --Hay! it's the 4th of July! -- if some upstart commuter service threatened its revenue stream from the most heavily patronized segment of its network. Don't have any good answers for that one.
Another problem, and one that, aside from unimaginative transit management and parochial (pre-Staggers) railway managers who could be counted on to resist ANY change to the status quo, is our friends from the operating brotherhoods.  A third problem is:  who's going to run the system -- COMPETENTLY --  given that transit management is a notorious dumping ground for hacks who can't make it selling vacuum cleaners.  Who would he/she report to? what real authority would he have?  are questions that advocates of any such plan would, in an ideal world, have to answer.
From the above off-the cuff response, I confess that although the idea is, in and of itself, sound, the implementation makes me not just nervous but doubtful that, even if it somehow came to pass, the "after" could make all concerned wishing for the good old days of the "before."
--billio

He is saying to simply thorough route an NJT train to the East Bronx as much NJT service goes to Sunnyside anyway.
No sense in making it any more complicated. The LIRR is too incompatible, too complicated, and delays on one system, which is a constant occurrence, would immediately reflect onto the other.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/15 13:48 by joemvcnj.

Sunnyside of course is only storage for NJT, no thru service.   However not so far fetched, the combo possibilites, keeping in mind NJT and MN share respondsibility for several routes between their states.  The footprint is there for a shared labor agreement.

Why not establish a thru test line? 

PennPlat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sunnyside of course is only storage for NJT, no
> thru service.   However not so far fetched, the
> combo possibilites, keeping in mind NJT and MN
> share respondsibility for several routes between
> their states.  The footprint is there for a
> shared labor agreement.
>
> Why not establish a thru test line? 

The location of the east Bronx stations and their stairways, bus loops and the like is not locked down yet.  My understanding is allies of the governor and allies of the mayor are sparring over precise locations, and how it affects the neighborhoods involved. (Think real estate developers and property which will escalate in value.)

As noted in the prior post, the labor agreements are there for a joint run, as NJ Transit and metroNorth run concert and football trains already.  The operational issues with Amtrak (finding a window for cross overs, allowing time for stops), are manageable, other than the Penn Station platform times. That will probably require some give and take, as well as East Side Access completion.

PennPlat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sunnyside of course is only storage for NJT, no
> thru service.   However not so far fetched, the
> combo possibilites, keeping in mind NJT and MN
> share respondsibility for several routes between
> their states.  The footprint is there for a
> shared labor agreement.
>
> Why not establish a thru test line? 

Just take Amtrak