Lackawanna Coalition

advocating for rail passengers since 1979

  • Americans Driving Less: Study

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Analysis of date from the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that Americans are driving less and using mass transit (and bicycles) more in 2013, compared to 2004 data; the peak of American driving, in miles per capita, peaked in 20014, according to reporting in USA Today (Larry…

    Read more

  • “Highway Hypnosis” May Have Caused Rail Wreck

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    According to the lawyer for the engineer who was running the Metro-North train that crashed on December 1, killing 4 passengers and injuring many others, the engineer experienced a momentary loss of awareness as he was zooming down the rails in a 70-mph speed zone; the train apparently failed to reduce speed in time as…

    Read more

  • Wreck Recalls Past Jersey Train Disasters

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Rail safety has greatly improved in recent decades, but the fatal Metro-North derailment on December 1 has brought back memories of past train wrecks in New Jersey, as recounted by Matt Flegenheimer in the Star-Ledger (Dec. 2).  Perhaps the worst was way back in 1958, when 48 commuters perished as a Jersey Central Railroad train…

    Read more

  • “Push-Pull” Trains Questioned After Metro-North Wreck

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Whether operation of trains by locomotives pushing rather than pulling the cars is totally safe has come into question after the fatal Metro-North train wreck that killed 4 passengers and injured many others on December 1. The train consisted of 8 cars and a dual-mode diesel and electric locomotive, which was pushing the cars from…

    Read more

  • Penn Station: Managed Chaos

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Managing train movements into and out of New York’s Penn Station is “ballet” that brings “Order Out of Chaos”, the title of a story by Mike Frassinelli in the Star-Ledger (Nov. 24).  This behind-the-scenes visit to the Amtrak center where Penn Station train movements are controlled reveals a group of ice-calm dispatchers sitting before computer screens…

    Read more

  • NJT Supervisor Nabbed in Bribe Case

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Observers and critics of NJ Transit sometimes wonder where all the agency’s budget goes.  In the case of snow removal at the Trenton Transit Center, the answer may  be “into a contract awarded not through competition, but through bribery”. According to reporting by Mike Frassinelli in the Star-Ledger (Nov. 22), the manager of station terminals…

    Read more

  • London Subway Plans 24-Hour Service

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Most lines on the New York subway system run continuously, except for planned work programs that sometimes reroute service.  Therefore, metropolitan area transit users may not realize that most urban rapid transit systems do not run all the time; this strategy reduces costs and allows needed maintenance to proceed unhindered by thundering trains. In London,…

    Read more

  • NY Subways Set One-Day Record

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    New York City Subway ridership set a modern one-day record on Thursday, October 24, 2013, when 5,985,311 riders were counted entering the system, according to reporting by Matt Flegenheimer in The New York Times (Nov. 21).  This is the highest one-day count since the subway started recording daily ridership in 1985.  Subway officials say there…

    Read more

  • Amtrak to Repair East River Tunnels

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    According to an announcement by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Amtrak will use $86 million in Superstorm Sandy federal recovery funds to perform maintenance work on four East River tunnels used by Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, and some NJ Transit trains enroute to or from Sunnyside Yard in Queens.  Several issues in the tunnels…

    Read more

  • Japan Offers High-Speed Rail Financing

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    While U.S.A. efforts to begin a true high-speed rail system remain mired in politics, Japan is eager to export its rail technology, and will even help finance systems that use it, according to reporting by Eric Pfanner in The New York Times (November 19).  In a recent visit, ex–New York Governor George Pataki inspected Japanese…

    Read more

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Tags

Amtrak ARC bicycles budget bus buses Chris Christie conference Delays equipment fares From the Chair From the Railgram Gladstone history Hoboken Jim Simpson Jim Weinstein Joseph Clift LIRR Midtown Direct Montclair-Boonton Morris & Essex MTA Newark NJT board NJ Transit NJ Transit Board Northeast Corridor North Jersey Coast Line NY Penn Station Pascack Valley Line PATH Penn Station First Plan Raritan Valley RUN Safety SCDRTAC Secaucus Junction Super Bowl Superstorm Sandy transparency Transportation Trust Fund tunnels weather