This summer has been a challenging one at NJ Transit, with many rail delays, which the agency largely blamed on Amtrak. In fact, the agency has now started reporting 2 sets of delay statistics: those with an Amtrak component, and those without. As trains become stuck in tunnels, we think about the often-raised concern regarding the age of the Hudson tunnels, knowing that with Gateway fully funded, we are supposed to waitquietly until new tunnels are built so that they can completely shut down the old tunnels for repair. Amtrak and its allies insist that this is the only option; yet 4 years ago, London Bridge Associates found it possible to use a repair-in-place system on nights and weekends, as they described in detail in their report of November 23, 2020. It took an unconnected firm from overseas to give us this plan, which Amtrak says is impossible—they “can’t guarantee” being able to run a full schedule on Monday mornings. So we have wasted 4 years and suffered more delays so that they can use the more expensive, more inconvenient method.
Liberty State Park Pilot
A bright spot this summer was the pilot shuttle program at Liberty State Park. Since the 2012 cancellation of previous NJ Transit service within the park by then-governor Chris Christie, the park has been largely inaccessible to nonmotorists—those wanting to attend a presentation about the Black Tom explosion in 1916, or the legendary
Blue Comet train to Atlantic City, faced a 30-minute walk from the light rail to the historic Jersey Central Railroad terminal building. For this summer, however, and through the month of September, as part of the Department of Environmental Protection’s revitalization plan for the park, there is a free shuttle using EZRide vehicles to connect some half dozen stops throughout the park, at least Saturdays and Sundays, with a few extra weekdays for special events.
A small group of Lackawanna Coalition members took a trip out to the park on Saturday, August 31st, and spent a pleasant afternoon touring the station building, nature center, and the south lawn. According to a Nature Center worker, the folks who used the shuttle were extremely appreciative, but there were not many—we wonder if it was well publicized. The DEP feedback form had a deadline of August 29th, a full month before the end of the pilot project, which we found disturbing and absurd.
