Fred Frailey's article in April 2014 trains about the NEC BOS -- WASH has some interesting items that may need comment.
1. The paragraph on page 30 about NJT's Weinstein's+ attitude about the NEC is very revealing. It appears as an attitude ----- we have ours or will get ours and to heck with the rest !! This attitude may come because he was told that was official position.
a. "we have the NYP slots we need at the moment. "
b. the 37 " critical infrastructure " projects seem " an unconstrained list of ideas, a wish list "
c. The $5.8 B corridor wide projects might be divided to NJT of ~ $1.5 B ?
d. Approximately $20.8 B of the listed projects not counting the Corridor wide projects will definitely benefit NJT as those projects will benefit their operations. The 4 per hour AMTRAK thru the Hudson tunnels during rush hours would indicate NJT has most of the train traffic those hours.?
e. Some how NJ Pols think they can avoid their share of commuter problems?. They will not even acknowledge the Port authority bus station overcrowding ? Henry6 --- any comments ?
2. Every article that we have seen seems to indicate that all these projects will be necessary.
3. The critical items were listed as the 2 additional Hudson river tunnels, 4 tracking to Newark,, Portal bridge, & the Baltimore tunnels. Yesterday's failure highlights the need for Portal draw to be replaced.
a. Isn't there not a failure of one of these items every 2 - 3 weeks?.
4. If any of the 8 Amtrak or 5 MNRR bridges or Baltimore tunnel has a major failure the NEC can be plugged for months as well as some commuter railroad(s) would be stopped.
5. The electrical failure at the Groton brings the idea of having all draw bridges with a back up power source important. Most likely standby power from other end of bridge compared to primary power ?
6. Fred did not mention the 2 additional East river tunnels that have been mentioned by others since failure of even one of the present tunnels causes some trains to be cancelled.
7. The rail map on page 32 shows 3 tracks between New Haven - Stratford. Thought that had been restored to 4 tracks ?
8. A post in another site mentioned that rail improvements need first priority then the stations. That concept seems to have some validity ? Granted the NYP overcrowding needs some kind of work.
9. MARC wanting to run 30 minute headways to Perryville indicates the need for 4 tracks WASH - Perryville.
10. Will take back item #7 about New Haven -- Stratford the map is dated spring 2013 which I believe that section was still under restoration. At least maybe the map should have had it under restoration as well as the new third track UC Wilmington - Regan interlocking ?
blue streak 1 1. The paragraph on page 30 about NJT's Weinstein's+ attitude about the NEC is very revealing. It appears as an attitude ----- we have ours or will get ours and to heck with the rest !! This attitude may come because he was told that was official position. e. Some how NJ Pols think they can avoid their share of commuter problems?. They will not even acknowledge the Port authority bus station overcrowding ? Henry6 --- any comments ?
And some complain about Chicago and Illinois politics? At least this state is committed to improved passenger rail
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm And some complain about Chicago and Illinois politics? At least this state is committed to improved passenger rail
Did not the current NJ governor reject the Hudson river tunnel project? Could that have any political motivation, i.e. more campaign contributions from the highway lobbies than rail? Finding linkage (if any) on that would require some pretty good investigative journalism to dig it up. Henry?
As far as the NJ Governor and the tunnel project, I believe the exact quote from his office was, "Time for some tunnel problems in Hoboken." Or something like that.
schlimm Did not the current NJ governor reject the Hudson river tunnel project? Could that have any political motivation, i.e. more campaign contributions from the highway lobbies than rail? Finding linkage (if any) on that would require some pretty good investigative journalism to dig it up. Henry?
We are talking NJ. We are talking NJ politics. We are talking Chris Christie as governor. Then it goes further down from there almost hourly.
WEINSTEIN IS GONE! For many, that is cause celebre`. I am one who thinks so. He is now head of the Delaware River Toll Bridge Authority. His replacement is Veronique (“Ronnie”) Hakim whos been the head of the NJ Turnpike Authority but has also had experience with the NY MTA, Does this bid well for NJT or is it just the same old Christie politics running the show? I've seen a few flickers of hope but still too early to say if that is a trend for the better.
It is easy to say any anti rail action is pro highway...but I don't think so here. I think it is just a political power play by Christie in an effort to prove to NJ taxpayers that he is watching the money. Perhaps in hopes that they wouldn't watch him. The tunnel project was not the only actions he took involving spending money in NJ
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NKP guy As far as the NJ Governor and the tunnel project, I believe the exact quote from his office was, "Time for some tunnel problems in Hoboken." Or something like that.
Something entirely different from that. (Are you by any chance from Chicagoland? ;-})
Christis specifically cancelled ARC because it might leave NJ taxpayers on the hook for billions in potential liability. We had at least one long thread on ARC that covered this in some detail at the time.
Funny line, though. As long as no one else makes a running gag out of the meme.
henry6It is easy to say any anti rail action is pro highway...but I don't think so here. I think it is just a political power play by Christie in an effort to prove to NJ taxpayers that he is watching the money. Perhaps in hopes that they wouldn't watch him. The tunnel project was not the only actions he took involving spending money in NJ
Henry, Governor Christie perhaps saw canceling the ARC tunnel as a political power play. As Overmod points out he said he was concerned about leaving NJ taxpayers on the hook for cost over runs. But I think it was just an impulsive act and similar impulsive acts look to me like a pattern of behavior with him.
New Jersey's share of the cost of the ARC tunnel was to be paid for with toll increases. And those toll increases were left in place so it seems clear that he was not really watching the money.
And after he cancelled the project the information in new reports is that New Jersey would have been liable for no more than its share of cost over runs and very possibly less than that.
But the real cost is that over time the lack of new tunnels restricts New Jersey's people from job opportunities in Manhattan. Our railroad suburbs began in the 1830's. Engines had so little power that on the hills in Essex County male passengers were required to get out and push the train. And ever since that time trains to Manhattan have been what much of our economy is all about. Governor Christie just doesn't understand that.
John
henry6 WEINSTEIN IS GONE!
WEINSTEIN IS GONE!
Dont'cha mean David Wildstein? As in
Wild-stein! To the Committee you'll sing.
You make ev'ry thing . . . grid-locked, Wildstein.
Wild-stein . . . they think I know you.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul Milenkovic Wild-stein! To the Committee you'll sing. You make ev'ry thing . . . grid-locked, Wildstein. Wild-stein . . . they think I know you.
Great! Now if you could find the Troggs (if alive?) to remake it for SNL...
But we wanna knoooooooowwwwwwwwww for sure!
On a more serious note, Mr. Frailey's article about the NEC was well done and informative, but one item seemed missing. The photo of an open cut near Penn Station had in its caption that developers are building over it. I wonder is Amtrak getting anything for the air rights, not only here but elsewhere on the NEC? Are there plans to derive income from real estate holdings, whether around stations or along the right of way?
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