Passenger Trains > NJ Time to dump the A.C. line?

An editorial says NJ Transit should not be running a train line for under 2,000 people per day.

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2019/04/use-it-or-lose-it-time-for-improved-atlantic-city-train-editorial.html

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> An editorial says NJ Transit should not be running
> a train line for under 2,000 people per day.
>
> https://www.nj.com/opinion/2019/04/use-it-or-lose-
> it-time-for-improved-atlantic-city-train-editorial
> .html
>
> Posted from Android

Actually, that's not what the editorial says. It urges people to consider using the line, based on its advantages and improved service.

Use it,
Or lose it...

Posted from Android

The real drawback is--the terminal in AC is not  convenient to the casinos.  You have to take a shuttle bus

Also, some casinos have closed - and I always thought the city looked kind of seedy.

Hope NJT won't have to drop the service--- but I fear Atlantic City is a declining proposition as a gambling center.

I have zero interest in gambling (and if I did, I only have to travel 6 miles to get to a casino in Pittsburgh).  However, in the interest of collecting new miles, I'd consider riding this train.  How is the scenery between Philadelphia and Atlantic City?

>>>>> How is the scenery between Philadelphia and Atlantic City?

Flat.

Dirty Jersey

Posted from iPhone

I have nothing against New Jersey and will rephrase the question: Are there interesting views from the train?

The way to really improve this line is to extend it into center city Philadelphi with dual modes.

The Simpsons nailed it (yet again) when they featured Atlantic City in an episode a few years ago. On the "Welcome to Atlantic City" sign was the catch phrase "Where New York Comes to Smoke."

I have seen that line, and it is blah. If you want the miles, ride it. Otherwise, just ride to go smoke.

Posted from Android

RuleG Wrote:
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> I have nothing against New Jersey and will
> rephrase the question: Are there interesting views
> from the train?

If you like pine barrens.

Ray

It will be interesting to see if the new schedule boosts ridership. There are no longer any large (more than two hour) mid-day gaps between trains.  I think they are trying to develop more reverse business to and from Philadelphia.  Of course, having no service for over 8 months is not a good plan to grow the business.

I think the ride is pleasant. I enjoy the Delair Bridge crossing of the Delaware, the precisely timed meets at the passing sidings (now including many meets at Pennsauken), racing the PATCO trains between Haddonfield and Lindenwold, running through the remnants of Winslow Junction, seeing the old South Jersey towns of Hammonton and Egg Harbor City, and crossing the meadows and intercoastal waterway into Atlantic City.  It's not the Zephyr crossing the Rockies, but is has kind of a back woods charm - perhaps an acquired taste.

The ride from 30th Street Station, over the Delaware, and the route from there to Lindenwald is at least interesting.  You can get off there and take Patco back to center city Philly and not have missed anything except collecting the miles.

East of Lindenwold, there's the usual mixture of sprawl, small downtowns, open land / scrub forest.  Last few miles are on tidal wetlands.

It's an OK ride, certainly better than a thousand miles of corn fields.

Have a sub at the White House, take a later train back.

Crossing the Deleware  Riiver Bridge is about as interesting as it gets.

I would assume so as the previous schedule had been the result of spiteful Christie cuts that were intended to punish a S Jersey lawmaker's district.  NJT cut the most popular morning train to Philly with a couple hundred regular riders. 

Honestly the ACL is a Philly oriented service that has a strong secondary shore market and there's really nothing wrong with that.  AC has a larger draw than places like High Bridge or Port Jervis and nobody complains about those services.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/19 12:23 by mbrotzman.

West of Dover (to Hackettstown) and west of Raritan (to High Bridge) each load 280 -300 passengers per day, but those are cheap extensions to much busier rail lines that would exist anyway. 
North of Suffern to Port Jervis is MTA's and loads about 1,000 - 1,200 passengers per day. 
The Atlantic City line stands out because it's isolated and requires deadhead equipment moves between Philly and the Meadowlands.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/19 08:30 by joemvcnj.

South Jersey has long considered itself a stepchild of the northern 3/4 of the state.  So, it tends to protect what it gets. And its politicians know that. Mess with "our stuff" at your own risk.

When Nick Amato came down from Essex County to run the Casino piggy bank, the place almost blew up.  Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Camden / Gloucester guy, and the Norcross brothers, local guys, understand nobody messes with their stuff.

(Note this whole thread started with an editorial that South Jersey should make better use of this fine asset, or it will go away)

As a former resident of, and having my beginnings from South Jersey I'm glad that there are those who will speak up. If there were more involved who remember the past when there were more trains I believe there would be an ever-greater involvement. I'm not really referring so much specifically to the AC line as there are more now on that route than there were the years I mainly remember as a kid, like 3 RT's Sat & Sun and about 6 Mon-Fri. Of course they were the years everyone was so crazy about their cars.

For some time now I have long envisioned a large billboard at or near the junction of the AC Expressway and the Garden State Parkway containing a shot of the RDC's that used to run to the Cape May County resorts with a caption like "IN THE 1960'S YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE BY NOW. HOW WE HAVE PROGRESSED!" 

I can only imagine that most today sitting in their cars and inching their way along think that it's perfectly normal. 

I often enjoyed the NJ Transit ACES train, and wrote about it on many occasions. New York City and Newark to Atlantic City.   In some respects it resembled BrightLine with friendly staff, a bar, few stops, rarely filled on the trips I took.  You raced past nearly stopped traffic on the Expressway at a blazing 40 mph, walked out to the casino bus, and avooided the hassle from North Jersey.

Nick Amato was an organizer, and several casinos paid the bill.  Until they didn't.