Category: Railgram


  • Welcome, Franck Beaumin and Kris Kolluri

    At our November meeting, we were pleased to welcome new NJ Transit Customer Advocate Franck Beaumin, who brings to the agency both international and domestic experience.  He even went beyond our expectation of his stopping by on Zoom and attended in person! Also joining NJ Transit is Kris Kolluri as the new president/CEO, at least…

    Read more


  • In Memoriam: Jessica Haley

    ,

    Along with others, we mourn the tragic loss of River Line operator Jessica Haley, and express concern for the many passengers injured in the October 14th accident when the train hit a “chunk of tree“ on the tracks.  The event raises safety concerns in terms of both equipment and operations, and we will be watching…

    Read more


  • NJ Transitway: Our Oct. 10 Board Comments

    The last item on the agenda this evening is a contract for the Transitway at Secaucucs.  What is unusual about this contract-approval request is that there is no dollar amount with it, merely “amount discussed in executive session”.   Since we have been attending board meetings, this is the first time that there has not been…

    Read more


  • NJ Transit Hires “Customer Advocate”—Finally

    At its October meeting, the NJ Transit board announced that after years of not following the legislature’s direction to hire a new customer advocate, they finally have hired Franck Beaumin to fill the position.  Congratulations—we think.  When the law was first passed, and during the short term of the original public-relations expert, a “round table”…

    Read more


  • Trip Report: Connecting at Kingsland Station

    My trip to the NJT board meeting last month was a bit different from usual; normally, I take a Pascack Valley train from either Woodcliff Lake or Essex Street, but this time I got to Essex Street a bit late, missing the Train 1632 at 4:48.  Fortunately, there was a 76 bus leaving at 5:12—but…

    Read more


  • Report from the Chair – Nov/Dec 2024 Edition

    As I write this, the election is still a week away, but by the time you are reading, we will know in what direction our country will be headed.  Surely transit will be one of the many items to be greatly affected by that result.  We’ll address possible implications and expectations of the incoming administration…

    Read more


  • Multilevel cars to get their trucks overhauled, but what about the windows?

    NJ Transit approved a contract on Thursday, October 10 to overhaul the trucks on 100 Multilevel II cars, which were ordered in 2010 and built by Bombardier in 2012–13. The overhaul is slated to cost almost $26 million, to be funded by the Transportation Trust Fund.  It will be performed by Alstom, which purchased Bombardier…

    Read more


  • NJ Transit Runs Special Trains to “Railroad Museum [for a day]”

    As it has done for many years, the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey held its “Railroad Museum [for a day]” event at its facility in Boonton on Sunday, September 29. This year, NJ Transit allowed nonmotorists as well as motorists to reach the event by running special trains every 2 hours (4 round…

    Read more


  • Public Notice Required Before“Substantial Curtailment” of Non-NJT Buses

    As this issue goes to press, we were notified of the governor’s signature on S2607/A3872, which requires private bus operators of “motorbus regular route service”, not including “charter bus operation,” “special bus operation,” or “casino bus operation” or “a motorbus route predominately operated for tourism or recreational purposes” to give NJ Transit and the N.J.…

    Read more


  • Report from the Chair—Sept./Oct. 2024

    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…

    Read more