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commuter rail preps for "sandy" and future storms

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 8:09 PM

NJ Transit rebuilding funds being held up by feds.  These are funds that were appropriated and passed but Trump's minions will not send them to NJT ! 

https://www.nj.com/politics/2018/12/nj-transit-asks-trump-wheres-the-300m-you-owe-us-for-sandy-damage.html

 

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 7:49 PM
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Posted by narig01 on Monday, March 31, 2014 5:35 PM
I don't know if anyone is still reading this but Chris Christie's latest problems :

http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/news/christie-s-toll-money-shuffle-port-authority-funds-paying-for-repairs-to-state-roads-video-1.836409

Why didn't he just raise the gas tax a little?

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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, March 9, 2014 11:26 AM

daveklepper

Has not he started a campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination?

No-one's really sure about that Dave.  I've been watching and things still seem to be in a "will he, won't he?"  mode.

He's not a sure thing at any rate.  Chris Christie isn't universally popular in the Republican Party, for a variety of reasons.

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, March 8, 2014 9:15 PM

Has not he started a campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination?

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Posted by John WR on Saturday, March 8, 2014 8:18 PM

Sandy,   

If you follow Governor Christy's acts thoughout his Governorship he demonstrates an impulsive pattern or behavior.    

If he was unhappy with the response to Hurricane Sandy it really doesn't make a lot of sense to wait 16 months to do anything about it.   And he has also replaced the head of  NJT Bus Operations, a lady who did quite a good job after Sandy.   

If the issue is the Superbowl, well NJT Rail Operations moved 33,000 people in two hours on a single track line designed to move 15,000 people per hour.   That is not exactly a failure.    

Finally Kevin O'Connor, the head of Rail Operations who was replace, did make the costly mistake of parking all that equipment in a swamp during Sandy.   In 2012 he also had NJT trains be on time 96 per cent of the time which is an all time record so he has a strong positive accomplishment  too.   

I just don't think our Governor is really capable of objective analysis or, if he is, he often doesn't use it.   

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, March 8, 2014 3:01 PM

sandyhookken
Just wondering if Ms. Hakim is doing the Governor's dirty work with her management purge, or if she is really trying to change the culture? Time will tell.

Well, this could be a similar situation to when a new commanding general takes over and replaces all the top staffers, G-1 through G-5, with his own people.  Ususally it's nothing personal, but the new CG just wants people on the job he's used to working with.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, March 7, 2014 1:26 PM

Well the beat goes on.

NJ Transit wants to build a standby electric generating station near MMNC on property once allocated to the ARC. 

1.   Couple of governments want to prevent that and use property development to get more taxes.

2.   Sounds like a good idea for standby electric

3.  Area is 200+ acres

4.  What kind of standby power will be produced.

5.  No matter the size of the facility it must be placed above any possible flood and further must have provisions that it can be jacked higher if future developments show possible higher floods.

LINK

 

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2014/03/nj_transit_proposal_to_build_s.html#incart_river_default>

 

 

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Posted by sandyhookken on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 3:43 PM
Just wondering if Ms. Hakim is doing the Governor's dirty work with her management purge, or if she is really trying to change the culture? Time will tell.
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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 10:15 AM

which can be a disaster if needed experience is lost

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 7:01 AM

Firelock76

As the old saying goes, "A new broom sweeps clean."

Either that, or Ronnie Hakim wants her own people running things.

I would lean to the latter explanation.  It's not uncommon for a new CEO or agency head to put their own people in place in various positions.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 8:12 PM

As the old saying goes, "A new broom sweeps clean."

Either that, or Ronnie Hakim wants her own people running things.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 7:45 PM

Well the beat goes on. There  appears  that a broom is going thru the upper management of NJT.

 

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/clean_sweep_of_nj_transits_upper_management_continues.html#incart_river_default>

 

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Posted by narig01 on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 11:03 PM
Well I guess its now official Jim Weinstein is resigning.

http://trn.trains.com/Mobile.aspx?view=Article&id={8707D9F1-D2A0-476F-8544-5D26165BEAA1}

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/nyregion/chief-of-new-jersey-transit-to-quit-after-a-rocky-tenure.html?_r=0

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Posted by narig01 on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 3:08 AM
I hues it was time for someone to fall on their sword. In the 4th paragraph.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Transit_chief_likely_to_answer_for_agencys_key_failures.html?page=all

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Posted by Firelock76 on Friday, January 24, 2014 5:39 PM

I still can't figure out how New Jersey got the Super Bowl to begin with.  Proximity to New York City nothwithstanding East Rutherford's not exactly what you'd call a "party town",  not like, for example New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, you get the picture.  The high rollers and big money that comes in for that game usually want some big attractions to go with the game.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, January 24, 2014 10:00 AM

If NJT fails in any way during super bowl then we can probably expect a change at the top and who ever comes in will house clean ?

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Posted by sandyhookken on Friday, January 24, 2014 9:28 AM

Another Editorial in the Bergen Record about the poor performance of NJ Transit. While not directly related to the Superstorm Sandy fiasco, the editorial again calls for the departure of the agency's executive director, James Weinstein.

The editorial also mentions the issue that was discussed several times in this thread; that NJ Transit exists to provide service to it's customers. This fact has been lost/ignored by NJT management.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/241773811_The_Record__NJ_Transit_struggles.html

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 6:59 PM

 A friend stated a interesting comment.

There is a bully in higher up NJ government that will not allow any variation ?  (wonder if that was in reference to overtime to move trains ? )

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Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 4:52 PM

What really happened?  Probably no one was willing or able to make a decision.  No more, no less.

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Posted by sandyhookken on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 7:46 AM

Finally, possibly some action.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Governor_Christie_may_shake_up_NJ_Transit_leadership.html

I wonder if we'll ever find out what really happened, or if getting rid of the Executive Director will end the conversation?

Note that the article suggests that Weinstein may have a soft landing already waiting for him.

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Posted by sandyhookken on Friday, January 10, 2014 9:11 PM

I doubt that anyone from the Governor's office specifically told NJ Transit not to move equipment prior to Superstorm Sandy to save money; they didn't have to. NJ Transit management and the Board of Directors had this $$ message repeatedly drummed into them since Christie took office. I don't think that the Board, on it's own initiative, cancelled free rides for non-union employees and retirees.

Friends working at NJ Transit told me well before Sandy that the pressure to minimize overtime was intense, far worse than in the Penn Central days.

Christie won't do anything with NJ Transit now. It would look like yet another of his management groups "went rogue" on him.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, January 10, 2014 4:11 PM

We must wonder if someone in the Governor's office told NJ Transit that they did not need to spend the extra money to move equipment to higher ground?  The GW bridge mess certainly must lead one to wonder ?

If I were Christie this would be an ideal time to dack someone or pile onto the 2 already in hot water.

 

EDIT:  Now 3 persons sacked over bridge

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Posted by MidlandMike on Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:29 PM

Without looking back thru 500+ posts, I recall that the NJT storm plan draft was looking at some facilities beyond what they own (IIRC Conrail Linden?).  They would have to negotiate acquisition and perhaps have to rehang catenary. 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, November 16, 2013 3:19 PM

For crying out loud, how long does it take to put a plan together?  Take some top-level experienced employees who have a good working knowledge of the railroad and it's geography, put them in a room together and tell them to get on with it, and they have one week.

Jeez!  I don't know.  I don't even know why I care about this, I don't even live in New Jersey anymore.  Must be railfan rage kicking in.

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Posted by sandyhookken on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 7:41 PM

The latest article in the Bergen Record keeping the pressure on NJTransit.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Plan_to_protect_NJ_Transit_cars_from_floods_not_ready_yet.html?page=all

It will be interesting to see if Gov. Christie maintains his stubborn defense of NJTransit management now that he's been re-elected, or if heads will finally roll.

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, October 28, 2013 5:14 AM

In a similar vein - Heavy Weather is cancelling some services in Great Britian.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24699748

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 26, 2013 4:19 PM

A ver good article and very worth reading

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Saturday, October 26, 2013 1:19 PM

Here is This Sunday's NY Times magazine article on "Sandy" Preparations for the NYC subway..  Appears to be 2 or 3 pages long ?  Those who get the tomorrow's Sunday times can fill us in.  Essentially MTA started weeks before with some preliminary planning but critics thought these preparations were unnecessary even up till 2 days before Sandy hit NYC.

When you understand that parts of the infrastructure are 100 years old there needs to be training of the young bucks to operate & repair these ancient systems.  One very important example was the use of compressed air sump pumps to keep water out of some tunnels.  They saved the day since all electric pumps could not work for lack of electricity.  Once again just proves that putting all your eggs in one basket will haunt you down the road !!!  . 

Wonder if some NJT management persons had listened to the experienced workers ?

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/magazine/could-new-york-city-subways-survive-another-hurricane.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0

 

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