Current News
PATH resumes weekday service between Hoboken and World Trade Center:
The Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH) resumed service on weekdays between Hoboken and the World Trade Center, with intermediate stops at Newport and Exchange Place, on this past Wednesday, January 30th for the first time since the flood waters of Superstorm Sandy devastated the interstate rapid transit system on Monday, October 29, 2012. Overnight service between Newark and World Trade Center has been restored two days earlier on Monday, January 28th.
Monday to Friday, 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Monday to Thursday, 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM
Friday from 10:00 PM, all day Saturday and Sunday, and until 6:00 AM Monday
[Note that no service is being operated between Grove Street, Exchange Place and the World Trade Center during this period.]
It is not clear why PATH has chosen not to run through trains between Newark and 33rd Street (via Journal Square and Hoboken) during these extended weekend and midnight hours. Perhaps the reason is that the Newark-World Trade Center service normally operates with 8-car trains while the Journal Square-Hoboken-33rd Street is limited to 7-car trains because of platform length limitations at Hoboken, Christopher Street and Ninth Street. Of course, with a little effort - perhaps involving some "light train" moves - PATH could run a Newark-Journal Square-Hoboken-33rd Street service using 7-car trains. If nothing more, with 7-car trains being used, the equipment could run through from Newark to 33rd Street with train crews changing at Journal Square. This would save passengers originating or ending their trips on PATH at its Newark or Harrison stations the inconvenience of transferring at Journal Square between trains in cold and often inclement weather and the possibility of "missed connections" something that PATH's train dispatchers are notorious for allowing to happen during off-peak and weekend periods.
Full restoration of weekday and weekend service on the PATH is not expected to occur before a date in March to be determined by the progress of reconstruction and/or replacement of critical flood damaged infrastructure.
New Jersey Transit to Hire a Deputy Executive Director:
James S. Simpson, New Jersey's Commissioner of Transportation who also serves as Chairman of New Jersey Transit, announced on January 30th that he is conducting a nationwide search for a Deputy Executive Director to assist James Weinstein, NJT's Executive Director. Commissioner Simpson said "New Jersey Transit's multi-modal operations serve approximately one million commuters daily. The Deputy Executive Director's role is to serve as the Chief Operating Officer in charge of all New Jersey Transit day-to-day operations, reporting to the Executive Director. The successful candidate will possess a Bachelors Degree, an MBA or advanced degree is preferred. Strong multi-modal experience with an emphasis on commuter rail operations, capital program development and management, customer service, and an in-depth understanding of finance is required. This program requires strong leadership, managerial and decision making skills supported by a track record of proven accomplishments."
Although the advertising for this position appeared after Superstorm Sandy, it is said that there is no relationship between the two events. Commissioner Simpson was quoted as saying "I told Jim for a year, we need a deputy executive director. We've got so much going on. We have a lot of initiatives. We need more hands on deck."
New Jersey Transit's Partially Re-Opened Hoboken's Lackawanna Terminal:
A visit to Hoboken on Friday, February 1st by NJ-ARP's President, Al Papp, and Director Phil Craig confirmed that four Comet IV coaches and a diesel-locomotive to provide head-end power were standing on Track 8 to serve as temporary waiting rooms with toilets. The availability of this train was posted on the main train departure board but not at the Track 8 track gate, where commercial advertising rotated on the electronic display that normally lists train number, time of departure, and the names of the scheduled stops.
Seattle's Waterfront Streetcar May Return:
A study has began in Seattle, Washington about what it will take to restore the Route 99 - Waterfront Streetcar to operation, with results expected to be published in this coming March or April. The Waterfront Trolley opened in 1982, largely using a former Burlington Northern Railroad track running alongside Alaska Way; it was shut down "temporarily" in 2005 when its carbarn at the northern end of the 1.6 miles-long line was demolished in order to make way for the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park. Since then its five ex-Melbourne (Australia) green and yellow W-2 Class trams have been stored in a Metro Transit maintenance facility. With construction of the First Hill Streetcar Line underway since April 2012 and due for completion in 2014, the potential exists to extend the Waterfront Streetcar Line south for about 100 feet or so to a track connection at Jackson Street and Fifth Avenue that would allow the two lines to share a common maintenance and storage facility.
Restoration of service along the Alaska Way, estimated to cost $10 to 13 million, will have to wait the completion of a motor vehicle tunnel in 2018 that will allow demolition of the noisy double-deck highway that overshadows much of the southern end of the Elliot Bay waterfront.
A complicating factor is that a New York City-based landscape architectural firm, hired to develop a "new vision" for the waterfront after the elevated highway is demolished, has proposed that the streetcar line be relocated to First Avenue, where the hilly terrain would not allow it to serve either the waterfront's tourist market or the condominium apartment buildings located on the eastern side of Alaska Way. However, Seattle's mayor, Mike McGinn, has expressed a reluctance to build a new streetcar line along First Avenue and suggested that a return of streetcars to Alaska Way should be considered. The mayor's view likely has something to do with initiating the current feasibility study. Indeed, it might even influence the outcome.
Coming Events
Next NJ-ARP Board Meeting on March 16, 2013:
The next meeting of the NJ-ARP Board of Directors has been scheduled for Saturday, March 16, 2013, likely to be held in Perth Amboy. The location and timing will be posted on our website as soon as details are firmed up. All currently-paid up members will be welcome to attend and participate in the board's discussions.
