The Jersey Journal reports PATH service between Hoboken and 33rd Street will begin at 5 am tomorrow, Wednesday December 19. Service will stop at 10 pm to allow for further repairs. There will be no direct service to the World Trade Center.
Here is the link: ttp://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/12/path_to_resume_limited_service.html#incart_m-rpt-1
The Jersey Journal must be closely following restored PATH service. That is reasonable because the newspaper covers Hudson County which includes Hoboken and Jersey City. Today (Wednesday evening) commuters are reported to find the service "flawless" and want only for it to run 24 hours a day.
http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2012/12/hoboken_commuters_verdict_path.html#incart_river_default
I think you are correct. My information on NJT highest speed was old. MARC's Penn Line now clearly has the title.
Bergan record takes another swipe at NJ TRANSIT.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Report_warned_NJ_Transit_officials_of_flood_risk.html?page=all
If the director never read the report either he was too busy drinking coffee to read the report, thought it was not correct, or if an underling never forwarded it to him then management is slip shod.
I don't know. 80-90% chance of not vs billions of dollars of equipment. Moving costs maybe less than 100 thousand dollars but not moving cost billions. Which is the safest bet? Some say it was to save overtime pay, another poor reason. The more you look at it, read it, hear it the less it makes sense to have ignored the warnings and the more it becomes poor judgement.
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
New Jersey Transit spent close to $50,000 to commission this report. Yet Executive Director Jim Weinstein says he "did not study it." Here is a comment one person made about the report:
Joseph Clift, a regional rail advocate and a former director of planning for the Long Island Railroad, said he is concerned about the agency’s decision-making, particularly its gamble on the 1-in-5 chance Weinstein said existed that the rail yards would flood.
“If someone said there is a 10 to 20 percent chance you’ll get hit crossing Route 1, would you?” Clift said. “That’s basically the equivalent risk they took in the Meadowlands.”
Clift said NJ Transit could have moved rail equipment to higher ground, including tracks at Newark Liberty International Airport or downtown Newark.
I would guess the director read the executive summary where I would assume he noted the part about having 20 years before the weather became a problem, and figured it would be the concern of the person who replaced him after retirement. Also the fact that it was a climate change report makes it problematic in an organization subject to the political process.
What strikes me is that the national Senate held a hearing and the New Jersey Assembly also held a hearing. Both took testimony from James Weinstein and did not further pursue any issue. Yet the Record is not willing to forget the issue. The Star-Ledger reprinted the same article although inside the paper rather than the front page headlined article. There has been a lot of public comment and most of it is critical. I wonder if the issue will continue to be with us.
a very interesting article that I am unable to post came from NARP's bulletin. It states that AMTRAK opened the north river tunnels ( Hudson ) when the storm surge backed thru the LIRR west side access. This enabled AMTRAK to prevent serious damage to Penn station. It was easier according to the article to pump out the tunnels. If this is true then flood gate(s) need to be installed on the LIRR tracks to prevent water from entering again ? I wonder if this back up was what filled the east river tunnels ?
Here is PART OF the NARP BULLETIN
A post-Superstorm Sandy briefing
given to Congress revealed that quick
thinking by Amtrak employees likely
prevented catastrophic flood damage to
New York Penn Station that would’ve
take a full year to repair.
During the extreme storm surge seen at
the height of the hurricane, large swaths
of Manhattan were flooded. Resourceful
Amtrak workers decided to leave flood
gates to the Hudson River tunnels open,
with the aim that the tunnels would create
a reservoir to draw water away from
vital equipment in Penn Station.
When water flooded through the West
Side Yard throat and through a Long Island
Rail Road vent shaft, that’s exactly
what the North River Tunnels did, filling
with millions of gallons of sea water.
The tunnels were flooded, but Penn Station
was saved. That may have proved
to be the crucial difference that allowed
Amtrak to restore service in mere days
as opposed to months.
While that quick thinking proved crucial
in preventing catastrophic damage,
precautionary investments to upgrade
infrastructure were just as important. A
standpipe system installed as part of a
Fire and Life Safety Program materially
aided in pumping a total of 13.6 million
gallons of water out of the Hudson and
East River Tunnels. Upgraded ventilation
systems allowed diesel pumps to
operate, speeding recovery. And while
80 trees had to be removed from the
Northeast Corridor right of way—and
15 repairs made to the catenary system—
230 miles of tree trimming and
removal prevented the storm damage
from being much worse. There was also
work done to improve culvert and ditching
along the NEC, preventing water accumulation
and washouts.
Much of above work was funded by
the 2009 Recovery Act, and it emphasizes
why Amtrak’s $336 million Superstorm
Sandy request—part of a $60
billion emergency response bill moving
through Congress—is so critical. $190
million will go towards short-term Gate
WHOOOOO-WHEEEEEE! I just picked up the latest, action-packed exciting edition of "Railpace" magazine, January 2013. Wow, does Tom Nemeth do a rip job on NJ Transits directors, about "Sandy" and a few other things. Usually Tom's editorials only run a quarter-page, this one has his usual quarter then runs a full half-page on page seven.
Rip, rip, rip, rip rip! If you've got a place available to you that stocks it pick it up, it's well worth the $5.95 "admission cost." I won't say what's in it, why spoil it for you, but oh wow...
It's a good thing people can't get lethal injection for stupidity, especially if Tom's holding the needle!
Firelock76 I just picked up the latest, action-packed exciting edition of "Railpace" magazine, January 2013. Wow, does Tom Nemeth do a rip job on NJ Transits directors, about "Sandy" and a few other things.
I just did some net surfing to see what I could find out about Railpace and Tom Nemeth. As far as I can see the magazine is available at hobby shops. Unfortunately none of the hobby shops are near me.
When it comes to Sandy NJT's directors substituted their judgement based on historical experience for local weather reports, reports that were available not only to them but to anyone in the state. Certainly this decision is pretty easy to criticize. But NJT directors do not have to satisfy Mr. Nemeth. They have to satisfy elected officials in our state government who are charged with overseeing the agency. So far those officials have not publicly voiced any displeasure with NJT. Frankly, I surprised that there should be no criticism of such an obviously wrong headed decision but there isn't.
I can only wonder if Mr. Nemeth's editorial will come to the attention of anyone able to act on his criticism of NJT directors.
Well, they WERE warned, and by various entities. No one else, Metro-North, the NY subways, or the LIRR had any equipment damaged, they moved the locomotives and cars as far away from the water as they could. In fact, the only Metro-North locomotives damaged were those in the care of NJ Transit.
As far as no state officials voicing displeasure with NJ Transit's management, well what can we say? Those in power tend to look out for each other, unless one persons foul-up is going to bring them all down.
As far as "Railpace" magazine availability, try www.railpace.com, scroll down the site and they have a directory where you can find it. A pretty good site too, but a bit abridged from the magazine. Very wise, they're not "gving it away", so to speak.
Firelock76Well, they WERE warned, and by various entities.
You are absolutely right. NJT directors were warned and the warnings were given by acknowledged experts in the field of weather forecasting and the directors substituted their own judgement for expert judgement with disasterous results. That was colossally poor judgement. I agree that there should be some accountability.
Frankly, I don't know why elected officials are not critical. In north Jersey both The Star-Ledger and The Record have been critical but despite all of the inconvenience there has been no public outcry.
I looked at your Railspace link. As you say, they are not "giving it away." That is fair enough and I would not criticize their right to offer their own information on their own terms. However, if you hope to influence public policy it is helpful to speak with a public voice.
PS. I looked at the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers' website to see if they have commented about NJT during Sandy. They have not.
John WR PS. I looked at the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers' website to see if they have commented about NJT during Sandy. They have not.
As far as the NJAofRP not commenting, and the lack of state leaders critisism, I suspect there's politics involved. More than that I won't say as this isn't a political forum. But I DO have my own opinion on this. Refer back to my "looking out for each other" comment.
Firelock76I suspect there's politics involved. More than that I won't say as this isn't a political forum. But I DO have my own opinion on this. Refer back to my "looking out for each other" comment.
We live in a political society and often there are politics involved when we don't know it. And the people involved don't want us to know. You may well be correct.
However, I have not seen or heard even a scintilla of a suspicion of any improper connection involving NJT, the New Jersey Legislature or NJARP. Or any other political entity.
Improper connections? Probably not. No connections at all, I kind of doubt it. The "Sandy Silence" makes me wonder.
Firelock76 The "Sandy Silence" makes me wonder.
It does seem to me that there is a mitigating factor here. Other than Sandy, Executive Director Jerome Weinstein and the rest of the directors have a history of good to excellent operation of NJT. Granted, this one lapse of judgement was catastrophic, but it appears that it is accepted because of the other history.
Frankly, I don't see things to wonder about and I wonder what you are wondering about.
Something is foul. NJT does usually preform quite well. No matter what they did wrong misjudging the threat of Sandy they have misbehave by not communicating fully and openly with the public. I've been saying right from the beginning their silence was condemning their actions, right or wrong, casting a spell of suspicion upon them. The silence cast doubt on their actions, their abilities, their grasp of the situation, whether or not they actually knew what hit them, where and how? We still have not had an official accounting of exactly what happened and why...we've had bits and pieces fed to us via several non official sources. What we have heard....not reading a storm report from a year ago, not heeding storm warnings based on that report...does not sound like good judgement was used but rather they decided that since it never happened before, it wasn't going to happen this time. Another report, or accusation maybe, was that they were afraid of spending money on labor for overtime to move equipment and make the property safe and secure. We just don't know because they've not said. So we speculate and listen to many reports and comments from employees in the ranks and commuters and riders left in the lurch. One lapse of judgement that was as catastrophic as this cannot be overlooked because of other history but has to be examined so that this or any other management doesn't make the same mistake again and does make plans now to avert any repeat results.
Time out from the blame game.
Feb TRAINS arrived. On pg7, the Sandy's impact map says number 3: diesel shuttles...until catenary could be repaired.
end of digression....Happy An(y)o Nuevo
one more ride, pioneers, way out there.
.
I'm not sure what you meant by "digression'...but I did read the Trains article and forgot what I saw there earlier. So you've pointed it out: "3 Long Beach diesel shuttles" while cat is being repaired actually is referring to the LIRR's Long Beach branch which is third rail not overhead wire. Ah but we digress...back to the blame game...
henry6One lapse of judgement that was as catastrophic as this cannot be overlooked because of other history but has to be examined so that this or any other management doesn't make the same mistake again and does make plans now to avert any repeat results.
I think NJT's silence after Sandy is understandable. When they realized what a bad decision they had made they were embarrassed to talk about it.
Pardon me gentlemen for my lapse of good manners...Happy New Year to you and yours!
How could I have forgotten?
No its not. I've been involved in media, public relations and advertising for over 50 years and the best way to deal with something is to get ahead of it before it gets your head. NJT's silence was not open and up front and give every one a chance to skewer them.
henry6No its not. I've been involved in media, public relations and advertising for over 50 years and the best way to deal with something is to get ahead of it before it gets your head. NJT's silence was not open and up front and give every one a chance to skewer them.
Given the fact that NJT did not use the best way or even a pretty good way to protect its own equipment is it surprising that its PR efforts would also fall short?
In any even Happy New Year to you and anyone else who reads this.
I certainly hope the New Year will be Happy and more enlightened and progressive than the past year at least....so yes indeed, HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!
railway age has aguest editorial today about hardening infrastructure. take a look. also attached is short editorial about coal.
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/intercity/guest-editorial-flood-proofing-and-coals-future.html?channel=41
blue streak 1railway age has aguest editorial today about hardening infrastructure.
It's an ill wind that blows no one no good. The editorial points out there is a new willingness to build projects with flood protection. Only a short time ago the cost of that protection was being questioned. We are all better off for the change of attitude.
I don't have any more to say on this subject, but I am amazed at the interest it's gotten. 327 comments! Amazing!
blue streak 1 railway age has aguest editorial today about hardening infrastructure. take a look. also attached is short editorial about coal. http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/intercity/guest-editorial-flood-proofing-and-coals-future.html?channel=41
I find the writer's comments about coal more revealing than about flood damage control. His take is more like mine, that government regulations and environmental concerns have less to do with the demise of coal than its expense in keeping things clean and the elder state of the power generating stations.
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