Lackawanna Coalition

advocating for rail passengers since 1979

Month: June 2012

  • Toll Collection: Not Free

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    John Bobsin

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    Transit users pay fares.  Highway users (sometimes) pay tolls.  Transit users have often wondered how much of the fares they pay go to the fare-collection system.  For highway tolls, now we have some idea of how much of the toll goes not to highway maintenance or construction, but simply to collect the toll itself. The…

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  • No-Transit Tappan Zee Controversy Continues

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    John Bobsin

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    The Tappan Zee Bridge has carried the New York Thruway across the Hudson River for 57 years.  Designed for 100,000 vehicles per day, it now carries 138,000, has no breakdown lanes, and fails to meet earthquake standards.  Everybody agrees that it’s obsolete, and there are plans afoot to build a new bridge or two, with…

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  • FRA Proposes Additional Exclusions to Environmental Procedures

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    Donald Winship

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    This short article is from Railroad Track and Structures. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Lackawanna Coalition. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) proposed an addition of 7 new Categorical Exclusions (CE) to its environmental procedures that will help expedite project delivery across the country. The proposed CEs, which were developed in coordination…

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  • “Gateway” Project Gains Traction

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    John Bobsin

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    Increasingly, transportation experts and politicians are getting behind a new trans-Hudson rail tunnel plan, the so-called Gateway project, according to Steve Strunsky, reporting in the Star-Ledger (June 14). The catchier “Gateway” name isn’t the only advantage over the now-defunct Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project, derided as “the stop in Macy’s basement”.  Like ARC,…

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  • MTA Chair Lhota Champions Cooperation

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    John Bobsin

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    Quoted on radio station WNYC (June 14), New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority chair Joseph Lhota says that there are solutions to the capacity limits at New York’s Penn Station—if the railroads using the busy terminal would cooperate more.  Lhota said there are three ways to increase capacity: longer platforms, more sharing of platforms among the…

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  • June 14: PATH Closure Ends at 7 p.m.

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    John Bobsin

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    Conditions were returning to normal at about 7 p.m. on June 14, as PATH service to World Trade Center resumed following President Obama’s visit.  The service had been interrupted for about 4 hours as commuters sought alternative routes; NJ Transit was cross-honoring tickets among bus, NJT train, and PATH until 7:30 p.m.  Reportedly, a significant…

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  • River Line Repairs Enter Final Stage

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    John Bobsin

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    In August 2011, Hurricane Irene struck the New Jersey area.  One of the casualties was the River Line light rail of NJ Transit, which operates between Trenton and Camden.  A hillside adjacent to the River Line tracks was extensively damaged, and the passing siding adjacent to the hillside was taken out of service.  Fortunately, the…

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  • New Bike Policy: NJT Gives Back, Takes Away

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    John Bobsin

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    Several months ago, NJ Transit modified its bicycle-on-board-trains policy to prohibit use of bicycles at stations that do not have high-level platforms; this ended bike use at many popular stations that lack high-level platforms, including the Hoboken Terminal.  An outcry from bicyclists ensued; now NJT has updated their policy).  However, the new policy, available as…

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  • NJT Adjusts Bikes-on-Trains Policy

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    Donald Winship

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    This article is from Railway Age, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Lackawanna Coalition Calling it a “newly relaxed Bike Aboard Policy,” New Jersey Transit Monday said it will allow bicycles to board at all of its train stations effective July 1. But while the policy includes all stations, access is still…

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