Passenger Trains > [NJ] Another ACES train article

From an Atlantic City area newspaper.

The train is doing OK without the state subsidy, and seems to be good through early 2012. Ridership remains "good" without numbers. The Friday 2.30pm train continues to run at 90% capacity (as it has for a while) but no details on the other trains. My own riding of the trains and looking in the windows while they're waiting in Newark suggests 50% is prob a good baseline.

The casinos which subsidize the train see it as bringing in more customers. Customers gamble, dine, drink, buy hotel rooms, etc all of which make a profit for them.

The crunch may come this winter, which is always a slow time for AC. Without the state subsidy (Christie cut it by forcing the agencies to reduce expenses by 20%), the revenue line will be lower, so they may cut more trains. Last year they cut from 18 to 12 trains during the winter and didn't restore them in the Summer busy season.


http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_3715a6cc-7b34-11df-ac4d-001cc4c03286.html

Lakawanna484: Thanks for report. I find you posts on New Jersey pass.rail interesting and informative. Please,keep 'um coming.

While I have you, let me ask-- NJT received the following stimulus grants amounting to $248M. Just wondering if they have spent any of it yet.

1. SYSTEM WIDE:
. Rehab cars and locomotives.........................$35.8M
. New rail/ties system wide...........................22.0M

2. HUDSON-BURGEN lite rail line (new switches)..........15.0M

3. ATLANTIC CITY LINE
. New station at Pennsauken where ACL crosses
over the River Line ..................................40.0M
.Tie replacement project..............................12.7M
.New jitney buses between AC rail station & casinos....$2.25M

4. RIVER LINE- Signal upgrades to permit express trains...24.0M

5. NEC LINE
. Newark Penn Station improvements (outside the station)..15M
. Edison Station-expand parking..........................11M

6. BURGEN LINE- Plauderille Station-new Hi Level platforms..15M

7 MORRIS & ESSEX- Re-hap "Lower Hack" bridge on line to Hoboken Term...30M

8. NORRISTOWN BRANCH- signal improvements.....................25M

I realize it's difficult to get actual info on stimulus spending, but if you have observed any action on the above items, it would be fun to hear about them.

Thanks,
Joe

I may be in the vicinity of Plauderville (which is on the Bergen County short line in the town of Garfield) in the next few days, so I can take a look. Steve Rothman is the local congressman, and he's an Obama loyalist, so I'd expect he would have a claim on stimulus money. The station is a part time station with a relatively small traffic base.

The construction at Somerville on the NJT/CNJ Raritan Valley line continues. I put up pictures last week. It's a massive project, with high level platforms, mostly roofed. Elevators, a tunnel, etc. My understanding is that construction was a 2009 stimulus project.The local rep is Rod Frelinghuysen, a very high seniority Republican.

NJ Transit has been adding high level platforms on most lines, a few stations per year. Some, like Somerville, are seven or eight cars long. Others, like Madison, are just two car lengths.