NJT River LINE cutback to continue, Key siding unusable after Hurricane Irene Options

[CNJRoss]

Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ, 10/4:

River LINE cutback to continue
Key siding unusable after Hurricane Irene flooded ground

An ongoing slowdown in River LINE service is expected to continue for another two months, a NJ Transit representative said Tuesday.

Blame Hurricane Irene, which washed out an embankment along the Camden-to-Trenton light rail line in late August.

The storm damage, with repairs still to be completed, has caused officials to take a key siding out of service for safety reasons, said NJ Transit spokeswoman Courtney Carroll.

Continue.

[KevinKorell]

30-minute headways are the base service on weekends, middays, and evenings, and that was the only headway when the line began back in 2004. 15-minute service was instituted a bit later to appease commuters during rush hours who complained of crowded trains and having to wait as long as 29 minutes if they just missed a train.

In the announcements they are calling it "modified Sunday" service, but it's just every half hour throughout the day, every day until the siding is replaced and trains can pass at that location once more.

[KevinKorell]

This article is over a month old but it describes the situation that still continues today. From Trenton, NJ Times, 10/27/11:

Hurricane Irene's impact lingers longer on River Line

With no end in sight to a 2-month-old shift in River Line schedules, passengers say they are getting tired of waiting for trains and enduring lengthy, crowded commutes.

Story

[KevinKorell]

This is turning into the Sunset Limited Gulf Coast service fiasco. There has still been no news since late October about this, and NJT issued a black & white typed version of its temporary RiverLINE timetable dated November 7th. Issuing that schedule tells me NJT felt they would be in this for the long haul. http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0343.pdf

Seeing what Metro North achieved on the Port Jervis line, there is little excuse for the RiverLINE to still be running on an abbreviated schedule (and one that misses connections with other trains in Camden and Trenton) after all this time. I'm getting tired of waiting. This topic will be archived very soon; I only waited longer hoping we could close the book on Hurricane Irene's effects.

I'm going to take a ride by there soon on the one remaining single track, and I had better see people out there working, freezing their butts off. I don't care how cold or snowy it is --- you had comfortable weather all summer and fall.

[CNJRoss]

I'm going to take a ride by there soon on the one remaining single track, and I had better see people out there working, freezing their butts off. I don't care how cold or snowy it is --- you had comfortable weather all summer and fall.

Wonder who gets what punishment if there are no "people out there working, freezing their butts off?"

I agree that there should be significant progress in getting full service restored by now.

Does NJT have an emergency fund for disasters?

Ross