Passenger Trains > Is this the "worst" NJ Transit line?

NJ.com reports on a NJ Transit study looking at on time statistics for the rail operations.  The NJT NEC line is the worst, the North Jersey Coast is the second worst.  Both use the Amtrak NEC for at least part of their operations, and use the NY Penn Station for most trains.  The article notes that Amtrak gives priority to its own trains.

Curiously, the Atlantic City line, which also uses the NEC, and the Morristown line, which partly uses the NEC and NY Penn, did OK.  The Raritan Valley doesn't use the NEC for rush hour service. The Main-Bergen and Pascack Valley, which have nothing to do with the NEC or electric trains, did best of all

Worst line for on time service?

A negative correlation between traffic density and time keeping seems to explain all. :)

Track 4 is out of service between New Brunswick and Trenton.  This probably accounts for most of the NEC lateness.

It does seem to correlate most strongly with the capacity crunch at Penn Station and the Hudson River tunnels. Any little glitch between NY Penn and Harrison can cascade through the schedules rapidly.
 

This morning, I took a 6:38 train from Edison to NY. It is a so-called "express" from Metropark to Newark. Hah.
It ran 15 - 30 MPH all the way from Metropark to NYPS, arriving 7 minutes late. The whole ride under the Hudson was at 15 MPH. The #7 from Secaucus would have gotten me to Times Square faster.

Tonite, I took a 6:14pm train back to Edison, a 12 car Arrow MU, and it ran like a rocket, quick station stops despite short platforms, getting me there 4 minutes early. I don't see the track closure west of Jersey Ave or Midway as much of a problem. It is not that congested railroad out that way. It is a combination of these things:

• slow ingress/egress of MLV cars, (their high level doors, vestibules, and stairs are of inferior design compared to the LIRR C-3 cars). NJT does not understand the issue and does not care.
• balky door engines on the MLV cars (AMT in Montreal has the same issue)
• insistence on using Comet -II's lacking center doors on crowded Manhattan trains,
• pokey loco-hauled consists,
• single point of failure given NJT's disdain for MU's.

They cancel trains on a daily basis at the drop of a hat, which causes further crowding and delays. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/16 06:12 by joemvcnj.