Lackawanna Coalition

advocating for rail passengers since 1979

Month: March 2014

  • PATH May Miss Safety Target

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    John Bobsin

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    Despite an ongoing weekend shutdown of World Trade Center service, PATH may miss its own safety program deadlines, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal by Ted Mann (March 21). The 45-weekend shutdown is needed, PATH said, to allow it to meet deadlines to install “positive train control” (PTC) technology by December, 2015. The…

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  • PANYNJ Lease Deal Fracas May Affect Fares

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    John Bobsin

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    A controversial deal in which the Port Authority leased the North Bergen park-and-ride lot to NJ Transit for just one dollar a year may be coming undone, and it may have implications for NJ Transit fares, according to reporting in the Star-Ledger by Steve Strunsky (March 20).  The deal is under scrutiny because of conflicts-of-interest…

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  • M-N: Heavy Demand May Have Affected Safety

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    John Bobsin

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    Responding to a Federal Railway Administration (FRA) critique of the railroad’s “safety culture”, which the FRA characterized as “deficient”, Metro-North (M-N) Railroad president Joseph J. Giulietti raised the possibility that the line’s attempt to cope with mushrooming ridership may have negatively affected safety.  Quoted in reporting by Matt Flegenheimer in The New York Times (March…

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  • NJT On-Time Performance Declines

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    John Bobsin

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    Delays to NJ Transit trains are increasing, and commuters are not happy, according to reporting by Mike Frassinelli in the Star-Ledger (March 14).  In all but one of the last 9 months, Frassinelli writes, NJT fared worse than in the previous year.  February, in fact, was the worst month for train delays in 18 years,…

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  • Feds Hit Metro-North on Safety

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    John Bobsin

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    A Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) study of operations at Metro-North Railroad has concluded that the rail line suffers from a “deficient safety culture” that emphasized on-time performance while not putting enough priority on the safety of riders and employees.  The report, resulting from an FRA inquiry dubbed “Operation Deep Dive,” was reported in The New York…

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  • Simpson Trashes NJT Staff Off-Peak Report

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    John Bobsin

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    “I threw the report in the garbage,” said NJ state transportation commissioner and NJ Transit board chairman Jim Simpson, referring to a report for NJ Transit rail operations saying that off-peak discounts for rail riders were not viable “for capacity reasons,” according to reporting by Mike Frassinelli in the Star-Ledger (March 13). “I don’t think…

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  • Hakim Meeting NJT Customers, Employees

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    John Bobsin

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    Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim welcomes the opportunities presented by her new job as NJ Transit Executive Director, a post she assumed March 1. Reporting by Mike Frassinelli in the Star-Ledger (March 12) highlights the problems faced by NJT: old infrastructure, balky drawbridges and the like; but Hakim sees opportunity in these challenges. The 54-year-old Hakim comes to…

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  • Bike Sharing Eyed in 3 Hudson Cities

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    John Bobsin

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    Bicycle sharing programs, such as went into service in New York City in the past year, may come to the Hudson River cities of Hoboken, Jersey City, and Weekhawken, as the three cities consider a joint plan to field 800 bikes at docking stations.  The plan, reported by Andrew Tangel in the Wall Street Journal…

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  • NJT, NFL Skip Dems’ Super Bowl Hearing

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    John Bobsin

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    Attempts by NJ Assemblyman John Wisniewski to investigate possible transportation failures at the February 2 Super Bowl were stymied on March 10 when both NJ Transit and National Football League representatives failed to appear at a meeting of the Assembly Transportation Committee, which Wisniewski, a Democrat, chairs, according to reporting in the Wall Street Journal…

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  • Transit Use Hits Record

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    John Bobsin

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    Use of public transit in the United States hit a new high in 2013, marking the greatest use since 1956, according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and reported in The New York Times by Jon Hurdle (March 10).  The report covers trips by buses, trains, and subways; 10.65 billion individual…

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