If this were to go through, the Dinky would be OOS again- forever. Some genious proposed a plan to replace the Dinky with buses. Even though the trip would take 3x longer, put MORE people on the road, and be expensive:http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2010/03/12/the_princeton_packet/news/doc4b99747d62781856109599.txt
And it implies that it would NOT be run by NJT. Doubt Transit would be happy about that happenning...
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St. Patrick's Day and finally the Princeton Dinkey is back and running. However, Raritain River Line trains are still bypassing Bound Brook station due to local flooding. In other words, things are pretty much close to normal on NJT. Even on the LIRR finally. MNRR's Canaan Branch is back in service, too, but is continuing midday bustitution for scheduled brush clearing.
Now, I wonder if the question of summer priority work will be brush cutting along many of these lines. Rights of way have been treed in and otherwise overgrown because of the dampening of sounds; making the ROW difficult ot apporach and navigate; growth doesn't really bother train operation until...; it placated the NIMBY's who don't want to know, see, or hear those horrible trains; and as long as the track ahead and signals could be seen it was no problem. I would think so that there are no more tree and debris from wind, storms, et al.we might see some cleaning work this summer along many miles of track in the NY Metropolitan area and elsewhere in the East at least.
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Luckily (and hopefully it'll stay this way), sucicide counts have been pretty low. I know that one day last week (don't remember exactly when), there were three in a day (one NJT, one Amtrak, one SEPTA) in Princeton Junction (I think hit by a Keystone?), East Orange (NJT), and somewhere on SEPTA R7/NEC (forget exactly where). Other than that, I can't think of any others. If there have been any, it's not many.
Interesting fact- The NJT slogan is "The Way To Go."Lately, they've been putting up anti-suicide posters with a help hotline. They eliminated the slogan from the poster. Good thing someone caught that, cause I sure wouldn't have...
It's not been a good month so far...snow, trees, water, trees, wind, trees virutally since the 1st and we're only halfway through the month! This March is all Ides!
And it's still bad, although not entirely storm related.
Dinky still being bustituted.Bound Brook once again (they imply it was opened, but they reclosed it) being bypassed.
Train disabled in North River Tunnels.Suspension between New Brunswick and Trenton due to fire dept. activity...
Methinks this is gonna be a bad week for Transit...
The cutting of the trees, the denuding of the hillsides, stripping the countryside bare all for the sake of having firewood to stoke New York City to wealth were the reasons railroads had to push west beyond those same hills: to seek and bring back carloads of black burning stones found in the ground on the other side of the mountains seen beyond the waters of the Delaware!
Once upon a time, not so many trees in NJ:
http://princetonhistory.org/polImage.cfm?Doc_Id=25&Size_Code=large
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
I have watched foliage engulf the rights of way over the past 15 years and have been waiting for the axe to fall! Between the snows of two weeks ago and the water of this past weekend, the NIMBY's be damned, brush clearing will be done! In addition to the falling trees and limbs and the sometimes tunnel like overgrowth causing clearence problems, there also is the problem of brush fires which must be eliminated. Safety First, Clean It Up!
As for this AM, 3/15, Mon. NJT seems to be pretty much back to normal after a wet start on the Montclair/Boonton line where there was flooding in the Bloomfield area. Early Montclair State U MidTown Direct services were annulled but started running after 7AM. The Princeton Dinky, however, remains a bustitution operation while there are scattered and residual delays across the system. MNRR reports no problems but gives mixed signals on the Canaan Branch, first saying delays, then on or close to schedule while another page says bustitution today for annual brush clearing. LIRR expected a normal morning rush operation with just a few scattered equipment problem delays.
henry6 Trees were strewn across rights of way clipping catenary, signal and commuinicaation wires all the way to Danbury and Canan CT.
Henry: This is a reason for all RRs under wire in the NE to do a complete cutting of all trees that can foul ROW/CAT and plant low growing vegetation. Now we know the NIMBYs will scream but this occurrence gives every RR more leverage.
Yes, that was the least of the problems of the night and the region. The 500 passengers stuck on a train by the way was a NYP to Trenton train. Diesels were sent from each direction but got bogged down by trees strewn across the ROW with the one from the east finally reaching the train near Rahway thus train was towed back to Newark. Trees were strewn across rights of way clipping catenary, signal and commuinicaation wires all the way to Danbury and Canan CT. I think the thing that saved the Port Jervis line was that all the trees that were coming down came down a week and a half ago during the big snow storm. Things seem to be set for tomorrow morning on all lines in the area incljuding the MNRR Canaan line, the LIRR Far Rockaway branch and the NJT ACL line Lindenwold to Philadelphia.
According to Amtrak web site commercial wires (voltage Unknown) fell across CAT wires somewhere west of NY tunnels. As of 0100 Sunday 2 tracks were open and service running close to OT.
Could not get a read on PATH...if water in NJT waiting room it would seem natural that water was down in the Tubes,too? But PATH never said anything about it.
henry6500 trapped 5 hours on elelctric trian at Rahway last night, two hours ok, then lights out, diesel rescue took train to Newark I believe about 11:30P; no injuries.
The train was crawling southbound, and once they got past Rahway, they decided to terminate it. Headed back north and made stops at EWR, Newark Penn, and NYP.
The Dinky is also suspended with bustitution.Hoboken is reopened. Last night, water eventually worked its way into the main waiting room, but apparently that has been resolved.
Things are moving in the NY Metro area this morning although there still are a few problems. MNRR's Danbury and Canan branches still out of service because of downed trees but Hudson, Harlem and Shore lines are running with scattred delays....LIRR still scattered delays on Port Jefferson and other lines with equipment trouble blocking the Far Rockaway branch and signal problems eastgbound out of Ronkonkoma....NJT is back to normal except flooding on Montclair line terminates Hoboken shuttles at Newark Broad; Bound Brook is bypassed because of street flooding; and delays to Dover because of risidual problems. 500 trapped 5 hours on elelctric trian at Rahway last night, two hours ok, then lights out, diesel rescue took train to Newark I believe about 11:30P; no injuries. ACL line still closed west of Lindenwold with bustitution to Phila. from there. Winds up to 70MPH yesterday and last night; many still without power today; more rain today so rivers like the Ramapoo and Passaic in NJ are being monitored as are those in Westchester and CT.
Heard repot here that an Acela delayed several hours and NJ Transit delayed many hours with 500 pass. Any truth?
Hoboken is flooded. Pascack Valley and Main/Bergen trains are originating at Secaucus Jct. Mid Town direct is operating Summit to NYP and service on Gladstone Line seems to be working. NJCoast has been having seperate problems but trains are running late from Long Branch evidently to NYP. But there are trees down all over, power outages all over the the state, so nothing is sure tonight. With Hoboken being flooded, then PATH is probably too but PATH ALERT says service only out between Newark and Journal Sq.
ns3010Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast, Raritan Valley & Atlantic City lines SUSPENDED due to weather-related issues. Morris & Essex service SUSPENDED between Summit and Dover. Hoboken Terminal CLOSED due to flooding. Main, Bergen County and Pascack Valley trains are operating to/from Secaucus.
Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast, Raritan Valley & Atlantic City lines SUSPENDED due to weather-related issues. Morris & Essex service SUSPENDED between Summit and Dover. Hoboken Terminal CLOSED due to flooding. Main, Bergen County and Pascack Valley trains are operating to/from Secaucus.
Appears Amtrak is also having problems although some trains have gotten through
NJT is having massive problems due to the weather.
The ENTIRE Newark Divison (NEC, NJCL, RVL, ACL) is shut down. Hoboken Terminal is completely closed due to flooding. The Morris & Essex Lines are suspended between Dover and Summit because of a downed tree, which probably ripped down some wire as well (and considering that the NEC is shut down, I suspect that MidTOWN Direct is suspended, even from Gladstone). The Main, Bergen County, Port Jervis, and Pascack Valley Lines are all running out of Secaucus.
And people have tons of problems, not even travel related.Hundreds of thousands of people are without power.Many people without homes in Ocean Grove. The wind caused nearly half a block of homes to catch fire, and at least four to burn to the ground.My uncle was sleeping only two homes away from the Manchester Inn, which was the first building to catch fire. Fortunately, he, and their home, are fine.
All of this could take days to clean up...
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