Passenger Trains > All NJT suspended 8pm till Thursday!?

Heard this announcement while at Levittown Pennsylvania septa station all New Jersey transit trains and bus? service will be suspended from 8 PM tonight until Thursday.

Light flurries near Trenton now. Is it that bad further north tonight?

Wednesday's forecast is for sunny skies. Odd.

Curious regarding Amtrak service?


http://cliffviewpilot.com/nj-transit-suspending-train-service-until-thursday-sheriffs-officers-providing-rides-for-medical-personnel/


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Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/15 13:26 by Mgoldman.

Would this type of reaction have happened back in the day when the railroads ran the commuter services? Sure the storm looks bad but the news makes it look like Armageddon and that there has never been a major storm before. Suspending until Thursday seems a bit excessive.

A memo was sent to NJT crews that they are shutting down until 7am Thursday. I heard the crews talking about it. But on TV a few minutes ago, they say they are backing off on Thursday, saying Wednesday is possible. Storm is shifting east, means less snow in central and western New Jersey, maybe just 6".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/15 13:29 by joemvcnj.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would this type of reaction have happened back in
> the day when the railroads ran the commuter
> services? Sure the storm looks bad but the news
> makes it look like Armageddon and that there has
> never been a major storm before. Suspending until
> Thursday seems a bit excessive.


In today's world there seems to be a recognition that things are different
--many employers have announced closings for tomorrow
--many governments have asked people to stay off the road
--crews need to be able to get home safely
--it is dangerous to alight and ascend from slippery platforms

Listening to the NEC radio, it seems that there are a lot of very slippery platforms.

I received a service alert from NJT earlier today. The service shutdown begins tonight and did go through Wednesday. Perhaps they have themselves extra cushion to dig out and have crews available for the amount of snow expected along the eastern portion of New Jersey and into New York City.

The old "we can't do it" and "we won't get you there" attitude coming through again with flying colors!

Neither rain nor ... um ...

How did anyone ever cope with winter as recently as 10 years ago, when this sort of behavior was unheard of by public transportation agencies and Amtrak?

The trains were running after something like 20+" fell on Philadelphia in the blizzard of the winter of 2002-2003. I know, because I rode in to work on them.

Also, Andy, this is a result of the NANNY STATE culture that has afflicted
the nation of late.

Fear of liability, too. Get just one train with a couple hundred people on board stranded someplace, and there will be hell to pay.

NJT "Last Train" advisory:

http://www.njtransit.com/AdminTemp/lasttrains12615.pdf

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The old "we can't do it" and "we won't get you
> there" attitude coming through again with flying
> colors!
>


> Neither rain nor ... um ...

Beat me to that one, lol.


We live in a digital world - digital images, digital
services, and now - digital liability.

Yes, or no, 1 or 0, will it cost the government more(1)
or less(0) to provide rail service? Answer "1" (more) in
terms of liability. Stay home, be safe, avoid the need
for extra service(s), both on the rail, police, emergency
responders, ect...

I'll bet if Strasburg has scheduled steam tomorrow, they'd
be running trips! Now - will Amtrak? SEPTA? The USPS??

/Mitch

Back in the good old days when I worked for the EL 1969 to 1973 we ran extra trains and engines to keep the tracks and the wire clear and had enough MO folks to keep all the critical switches in operation, our commuter ops folks would have been embarrassed to say a winter storm was shutting us down for snow, no one at NJT seems to know how to railroad anymore

My granddads spent nearly a combined 100 years of service for the Pennsy and Lackawanna. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I can not remember one single day that the railroads did not run. One big difference, I think, my granddads and their fellow employees could walk to nearest station and ride a train to their duty location--in my granddads' case, one walked to the nearest Montclair Branch station and the other could walk to the Journal Square station in Jersey City.

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

cctgm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Back in the good old days when I worked for the EL
> 1969 to 1973 we ran extra trains and engines to
> keep the tracks and the wire clear and had enough
> MO folks to keep all the critical switches in
> operation, our commuter ops folks would have been
> embarrassed to say a winter storm was shutting us
> down for snow, no one at NJT seems to know how to
> railroad anymore

I was at the EL at that time also. Shut down the RR cause of some snow? never happen. Extra crews wud be out running in the wee hours of the morning, keeping everything open. I remember pre-1966, a light move of E8-GP7-GP7-E8 ran up the northern and down the NJNY at 5am, just clearing snow.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The old "we can't do it" and "we won't get you there" attitude coming through again with flying
> colors!
>
> Neither rain nor ... um ...
>
> How did anyone ever cope with winter as recently as 10 years ago, when this sort of behavior was
> unheard of by public transportation agencies and Amtrak?
>
> The trains were running after something like 20+" fell on Philadelphia in the blizzard of the winter
> of 2002-2003. I know, because I rode in to work on them.

Two things:
1) Amtrak NEC ran during the big snow of 1996, but ridership was way down because passengers just couldn't get to the stations. Management and crews in WAS were at work continuously from SUN-WED, but the trains were sparsely patronized. That raised the question, "why run?"
2) With the nationwide increase in the number of families where both parents work, any break in the support chains (e.g., day care centers or schools are closed) requires one of those working parents to stay home. In Metro DC, the howls go up when schools are closed on short notice, so school systems tend to make the closing decision early and based on a possible worst case. And when the schools close, one parent usually becomes the designated sitter.

I worked for the Cleveland Transit System in the 1940-1960 period and we never stopped running no matter what the weather!!

The only problem with that statement was that we sent the usual 56 two car trains (112 cars) out on the Euclid line one snowy day and not one of them returned to the Windermere car barn that night. Every one was stuck in snow drifts for at least two days!

That was life in the good old days!

Bob Korach

livesteamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My granddads spent nearly a combined 100 years of
> service for the Pennsy and Lackawanna. Growing up
> in the 50s and 60s, I can not remember one single
> day that the railroads did not run. One big
> difference, I think, my granddads and their fellow
> employees could walk to nearest station and ride a
> train to their duty location--in my granddads'
> case, one walked to the nearest Montclair Branch
> station and the other could walk to the Journal
> Square station in Jersey City.

Shouldn't that be a condition of employment in a situation like this? That either you live near a station or you possess a vehicle with the ability to get your butt from your house to a station or terminal?

Would we accept police and fire fighters, snow plow operators, doctors, ambulance drivers, and nurses, electric and gas utility workers during a storm cashing it in and saying, shucks, just can't get there cause it snowed?

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> livesteamer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > My granddads spent nearly a combined 100 years
> of
> > service for the Pennsy and Lackawanna. Growing
> up
> > in the 50s and 60s, I can not remember one
> single
> > day that the railroads did not run. One big
> > difference, I think, my granddads and their
> fellow
> > employees could walk to nearest station and ride
> a
> > train to their duty location--in my granddads'
> > case, one walked to the nearest Montclair
> Branch
> > station and the other could walk to the Journal
> > Square station in Jersey City.
>
> Shouldn't that be a condition of employment in a
> situation like this? That either you live near a
> station or you possess a vehicle with the ability
> to get your butt from your house to a station or
> terminal?
>
> Would we accept police and fire fighters, snow
> plow operators, doctors, ambulance drivers, and
> nurses, electric and gas utility workers during a
> storm cashing it in and saying, shucks, just can't
> get there cause it snowed?

In NJ, it used to be a condition of town employment that you live in the town where you were a firefighter, police officer, DPW employee, etc. A series of court cases eroded the requirement once you were employed, so most people moved to safer places to raise kids, etc.

But, people routinely have an extra set of clothes, shaving gear, etc in their locker. They know there will be opportunities for double and sometimes triple overtime when you're required to work seven days, or 24 hours straight.

--------------------

I feel sorry for an earlier NEC Jersey Avenue crew. A prior train snagged the overhead on the branch. The next train was detoured to track 4, and then to Morrisville. Instead of being five minutes from signing out and being in their cars, they were two hours and a taxi ride away. That sucks.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> livesteamer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > My granddads spent nearly a combined 100 years
> of
> > service for the Pennsy and Lackawanna. Growing
> up
> > in the 50s and 60s, I can not remember one
> single
> > day that the railroads did not run. One big
> > difference, I think, my granddads and their
> fellow
> > employees could walk to nearest station and ride
> a
> > train to their duty location--in my granddads'
> > case, one walked to the nearest Montclair
> Branch
> > station and the other could walk to the Journal
> > Square station in Jersey City.
>
> Shouldn't that be a condition of employment in a
> situation like this? That either you live near a
> station or you possess a vehicle with the ability
> to get your butt from your house to a station or
> terminal?
>
> Would we accept police and fire fighters, snow
> plow operators, doctors, ambulance drivers, and
> nurses, electric and gas utility workers during a
> storm cashing it in and saying, shucks, just can't
> get there cause it snowed?


Apples to oranges. People responsible for public safety are not in the same boat as employees of a commuter operation. As far as I am concerned this was a good move by NJT. If the conditions are going to be as bad as predicted there is no reason to be putting employees heath and welfare at risk, just so someone who doesn't work there can claim some macho BS about railroads not shutting down due to weather.

Modern high-tech equipment just does not seem to be as robust or weather resistant as the older legacy rail equipment and has a tendency to break down in heavy storms. It is safer to not run the trains these days.

G

Posted from iPhone

SN711 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Modern high-tech equipment just does not seem to
> be as robust or weather resistant as the older
> legacy rail equipment and has a tendency to break
> down in heavy storms. It is safer to not run the
> trains these days.

And yet my modern car is more weather resistant and safer than any I've previously owned in snow and ice and storms. I've driven it through hurricanes and ice and snow when the RR deicded it just "couldn't" get it done.

The real all weather mode is sitting right there in your driveway. Sad, but true.