Lackawanna Coalition

advocating for rail passengers since 1979

  • NJT Secrecy Under Fire

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    NJ Transit’s methods for settling personal-injury lawsuits and other legal claims against it, as well as managing its insurance program, have come under fire.  According to reporting by Karen Rouse of The Record and reported in the Star-Ledger (Sept. 12), the railroad has not voted in public on such issues in years.  The votes apparently come…

    Read more

  • Gladstone Service Returns Aug. 25 after Storm Disruption

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Less than 10 months after Hurricane Sandy devastated NJ Transit’s rail operations, the railroad received a sharp reminder of the power of nature on Thursday, August 22, as intense local storms struck northern Somerset County and wiped out the roadbed on the line’s Gladstone Branch in multiple places, disrupting train service for days.  Local weather…

    Read more

  • Flood-Proof Yards Make Progress

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    After Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, NJ Transit belatedly realized that not all of its storage yards for rail equipment are storm-safe, after storm-surge waters flooded yards in Hoboken and the Jersey Meadows and damaged many cars and locomotives in the NJT fleet.  In response to the disaster, the railroad decided to invest in additional…

    Read more

  • NJT Shortens Princeton ‘Dinky’ Despite Ongoing Legal Challenges

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP) and local Princeton residents have gone to court to stop New Jersey Transit from cutting off 460 feet of the Princeton Branch, known locally as the “Dinky” because it is less than 3 miles long.  These cases are still pending, but NJT has relocated the Princeton station…

    Read more

  • Report from the Chair, Sept./Oct. 2013

    –

    David Peter Alan

    –

    Cooperation is a wonderful thing, whether between people, institutions or the two.  On August 24, this writer had the pleasure of riding a special train to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: the first such excursion in over a decade.  The special train was led by locomotives from the Morristown & Erie Railway, Norfolk Southern (NS), and New Jersey…

    Read more

  • Reports: NJT Didn’t Follow Its Own Storm Plan during Sandy

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Following the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey Transit has put more emphasis on flood-proofing its storage yards.  However, investigative reporting by WNYC and Karen Rouse of the Bergen County Record shows that the agency already had a plan in place to move equipment to higher ground in the event of such a storm,…

    Read more

  • Gladstone Branch Service Disrupted by Washouts

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    NJT Repairs Line Quickly, But Substitute Bus Service Was Questionable Less than 10 months after Hurricane Sandy devastated NJ Transit’s rail operations, the railroad received a sharp reminder of the power of nature.  On Thursday, August 22, intense local storms struck northern Somerset County and wiped out the roadbed on the line’s Gladstone Branch in…

    Read more

  • Deaths on Tracks Surge

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    Despite NJ Transit and Amtrak efforts, deaths of pedestrians on passenger-rail trackage in New Jersey continue to increase, according to reporting by Mark Mueller in the Star-Ledger (August 28).  In 2012, 22 such deaths occurred; so far this year, 23 deaths have taken place, and if the carnage continues at the current pace 2013 will…

    Read more

  • Princeton Dinky Getting Dinkier

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    The Princeton Branch (otherwise known as the “Dinky”) will soon become Dinkier.  New Jersey Transit will begin to remove the tracks and the overhead wire that powers the trains on the portion of the line closest to downtown Princeton.  This marks a defeat for the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP), which had sought…

    Read more

  • “Microgrid” Eyed to Improve NJT Power

    –

    John Bobsin

    –

    NJ Transit will partner with the US Department of Energy to study the design a new kind of “electrical microgrid” to make the railroad’s electrical power and control systems more resilient.  NJ Governor Christie characterized the effort as part of the program to make NJ Transit less vulnerable to events such as Hurricane Sandy, which…

    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