Published 6 times a year, the Railgram serves as the printed newsletter of the Lackawanna Coalition. The headlines from each edition are listed; however, the Railgram contains other relevant articles of interest.

Click the Railgram date to view the entire edition.

• January/February, 2022 – November Train Schedules Bring improvements, but More Are Needed, A Tribute to Mr. G., Accomplishments over the Past Year, AmeriStarRail: More Service on the NEC, Rail Plans for LaGuardia

2021

• November/December, 2021 –
• September/October, 2021 – “Midtown Direct” at 25: A Remembrance, Resolved: 2 Statements from the Coalition, Meet a Member: How I Became Interested in Trains and Rail Transit, Mahwah Celebrates Its Original Train Station
• July/August, 2021 – Week-End Trains Return to the Gladstone Branch; “Celebrating” the PANYNJ’s 100th Anniversary; Which Train Is This?; NJTPA Hosts Open House, Seeks Comments
• May-June, 2021 – Observing Amtrak’s 50^th Anniversary, One Member’s Take on NJT’s Greater-Newark Bis-Improvement Initiative, RUN to Host Online Mini-Conference
• March-April, 2021 – It’s Time to Run the Trains When Riders Want Them, A New Way for NJ Transit to Fight the COVID-19 Virus, Transit Equity Day, Caught in the Web
• January-February, 2021 – Moynihan Train Hall Opens in NYC, But Will It Really Help the Riders, and Where is New Jersey?; Meet Our New Chair!; A Pessimistic Outlook on 2021; Transit Equity Day

2020

• November-December, 2020 – NJ Transit Eliminates Trains, but the Coalition and a County Transportation Official Fight Back; Gateway Update: NJT Blatantly Lies to FTA about Claimed Portal North Bridge Capacity Increases, NJ Transitgrid: Is It Really Alternative Energy?
• September-October, 2020 – It’s Time to Reopen Our Stations, Gateway Update, Remembering Steve Thorpe (1949-2020)
• July-August, 2020 – Is NJT Jumping the Gun with Full Pre-COVID Weekday Service?, The “Temporary Schedule” Included Some Service Improvements That Are Worth Keeping, “Empire Station” Should Be About Transit, Not Just Real Estate Development, Is NJ Transit Running Subpar Service to Promote Portal North Bridge Service?
• May-June, 2020 – It Could Be Better and It Could Be Worse, but NJ Transit Keeps Going, Remembering Ray Kenny (1951-2020), Business as Usual at NJ Transit Board “Meetings” on the Phone, A Tale of Two Governors: Leader/Innovator vs. Follower/Traditionalist
• March-April, 2020 – Gateway Update: Bad News and Good News (For Now), But is NJT Cheating?; State Audits NJT for the First Time; RUN to Newark with the Lackawanna Coalition; Getting to the New Mall
• January-February, 2020 – A Startling Revelation: Tunnels to Penn Station May Fail Before New Ones Can Be Built, NJ Transit Board – Do Vacancies Matter?, An Ongoing Problem for Weekend Riders on the M&E and Montclair Lines

2019

• November-December, 2019 – Advocates Demonstrate Increased Solidarity, NJ Transit’s Shrunken Credibility, Gateway Update: Going Nowhere, But Could a New Face Bring Hope?
• September-October, 2019 – NJT Celebrates 40th Anniversary, When Is a Local Paper Anything But Local?
• July-August, 2019 – NJ Transit Celebrates 40th Anniversary, Spinning Through the NJT Web, Do NJ Transit Board Members Even Take the Train to Work? Commuter Advocate Says Murphy Won’t Say
• May-June, 2019 – Atlantic City Trains and the Dinky Come Back on May 12, But What About Our Trains?, Gateway Update: L-Train Solution Gains Momentum for Hudson Tunnels, Coalition Joins with Morris Township to Bring Riders to Customer Forum, Coalition Celebrates 40 Years of Serving the Region’s Rail Riders, A Night of Celebration
• March-April, 2019 – Cuomo Saves the “L” Train; And That May Make a Difference Here, Too; Atlantic City and Princeton Are Getting Their Trains Back; But NJT Won’t Talk About Ours Yet, Coalition Celebrates 40th Anniversary
• January-February, 2019 – Legislature Passes “Reform Bill” for NJT, But Without Reform; NJT “Audit” Tells Little and Disrespects Riders; Transit Funding Should Go for Transit, Not Waste; Ray Kenny, I’ve Got Your Top Three New Year’s Resolutions

2018

• November-December, 2018 – A Late-Evening Victory!, Leading Rail Trade Magazine Recognizes Our Concerns and Voices Its Approval, Remembering Frank Herbert (1931-2018)
• September-October, 2018 – Coalition to State Legislators: Real Reform Now!, New Management’s Actions Contribute to NJT’s Poor Performance, Remembering Lou Gambaccini (1931-2018), Coalition Names New Communications Director
• July-August, 2018 – New Schedule Changes for Summer: It’s Not So Bad, and There’s an Improvement, Too, A Victory for Our Privacy, Portal Bridge North Project Ineligible for Federal Grant, FTA Hudson Tunnel Funding Still Flunks, Back on Facebook!
• May-June, 2018 – Coalition Campaigns Under the Gold Dome, Gateway: Moving Forward or Fake News?, What Happened to My Train?
• March-April, 2018 – Coalition Takes Legislative Priorities to Trenton, Gateway Project in Doubt, So Coalition Calls for Gateway to Go On a Diet, Remembering Brendan Byrne (1924-2018), NJT Rail Turns 35!
• January-February, 2018 – Coalition Sets Priorities for Upcoming Legislative Session, Coalition Position on Tunnels Vindicated By FTA Letter and Daily News Editorial, Membership Committee Now Has a Chair!

2017

• September, October, 2017 – Feared “Summer From Hell” Was Not as Bad as Expected, but It Could Have Been Better, First “Coffee and Commuting” Outreach Efforts A Success, NJT Has No Plans to Give Customers Access to Moynihan Train Hall
• July-August, 2017 – The Hoboken Commute Returns This Summer for Everyone: What You Need to Know, A Historic Moment at New Jersey Transit as Board Member Votes “NO” on Two Issues, “Hoboken Summer” Survival Guide: A Supplemental One-Page Report
• May-June, 2017 – A Month of Madness on the Railroad, Day After Snowstorm, Irate Riders Launch Blizzard of Tweets, The Railgram and Our Website: The Ideal Combination to Keep You Informed
• March-April, 2017 – Coalition Makes the Case for Better Transit at Legislative Hearings, Coalition Concerned About Gateway Program Development Corp. Structure, A Midnight Ride on the Gladstone Branch, Remembering Jack McDougal (1931-2017)
• January-February, 2017 – Crashes Highlight Safety Shortcomings, A Better Way to Think of The Cost of a Project, Coalition Celebrates Midtown Direct Service to Penn Station, Part 2, Remembering Phil Craig (1937-2016)

2016

• November-December, 2016 – Hoboken Terminal Reopens Quickly after Crash, but Outage Is Rough on Riders, A Failure of Communication on the Way Back to Hoboken, The TTF Fix: A Mixed Bag for NJ Transit
• September-October, 2016 – New Law Allows NJT to Cut Service by Two Hours Without Notice to the Public, Summer Retrospective: Delays and Frustration, but NJ Transit Survives the Heat, A Transit Anniversary that Got Lost in the Shuffle, Remembering Bill Wright (1930-2016)
• July-August, 2016 – Gateway Splits in Two: Hudson Tunnel Project Now Separate, Essex County Stops Restored on Late-Evening Train from Dover, Coalition Celebrates 20 Years of Midtown Direct Service: Part One
• May-June, 2016 – Coalition Calls for Dedicated Funding for NJ Transit Operations
• March-April, 2016 – 75 Hours Later, Back to Normal, Labor Dispute Continues at NJT Rail; Will Riders Have Trains on March 13?, Opinion: NJT’s Blizzard Decision – The Right Choice?
• January-February, 2016 – Change is Coming to NJ Transit, And It Might Be Good For Riders!, NJT Gives Us Some of Our Evening Back, Community Transportation in Perilous Financing Bind, Coalition Elects New Officers

2015

• November-December, 2015 – New Jersey Transit Eliminates Our Last Trains Without Notice; A Trip to New York, Without the Last Train; Perilous Financing Bid for Community Transportation
• September-October, 2015 – Is Labor a New Ally for Advocates in the Struggle to Improve our Transit?, Will Transit Riders Be Represented on NJT’s Board of Directors?, Life on the Pascack Valley Train Line, but without the Last Train!
• July-August, 2015 R- Riders Protest Poor Service, While Objecting to Fare Increases and Service Cuts, Moving People Across the Hudson River Until We Get Another Tunnel, Advisory Committee Chair Calls for Stable Funding for Community Transit, Vintage Trains Roll to Celebrate the BMT Centennial in New York City
• May-June, 2015 – NJT Proposes Fare Increases, Service Cuts: Why We Say No!; Gladstone Riders Flummoxed Again; Supreme Court Gives Amtrak a Reprieve, Not a Strong Victory
• March-April, 2015 – NJT Schedule: How Fast Is Your Train?, NJT Making Slow Progress on “Quality of Life” Issues, NJT Comes Back from Jan. Blizzard Fairly Well, but There Are Still Some Deficiencies, Coalition’s Technical Dir. Elected SCDRTAC Chair
• January-February, 2015 – NJT Schedule: How Does Your Station Compare?, Coalition Elects New Officers, Evening “One-Seat-Ride” Service From New York Comes to Raritan Valley Line

2014

• November-December, 2014 – Fox Returns as NJDOT Commissioner; Troubled Financial Waters Ahead For NJ Transit?; NJ Transit Celebrates 35 Years of Service to the Riding Public
• September-October, 2014 – ARC Is Still Dead.  What’s Plan B? (Part 1); Remembering the “Edison Electric’ Cars (1931–1984), Feds Confirm that the “Dinky” Is Now Dinkier, A New Shuttle Can Take You From Gladstone to Chester This Fall, Book Review: Thrills on the Rails
• July-August, 2014 – Lackawanna Coalition Honored By NJ Transit Board and Executive Director, UPDATE: Opening NJT Board Committee Meetings to the Public, Off-Peak Quiet Car Update, Twitter Advocacy Movement Gathers Steam
• May-June, 2014 – Coalition Celebrates 35th Anniversary, NJT Board Begins To Open Its Committee Meetings To the Public, “Quiet Commute Cars” Aren’t Just for Commuters Anymore, but Implementation is Off to a Slow Start
• March/April 2014 – What We Learned from the “Mass Transit Super Bowl”, NJT Names New Executive Director, A Hoboken Cure for the Midtown Woes, Lackawanna Coalition Establishes Communications Committee
• January/February 2014 – Reverse Kearny: A Step In The Right Direction or a Waste of Money?, Rider vs. Ticket Vending Machine, NJ Transit’s Board and Executive Director Honor Jim Raleigh

2013

• November/December 2013 – Jim Raleigh, Friend To Commuters, History, Dies at 79; Post-Sandy, Key Trains Still Missing
• September/October 2013 – Gladstone Branch Service Disrupted by Washouts, Reports: NJT Didn’t Follow Its Own Storm Plan during Sandy
• July/August 2013 – We’re Making Changes to Serve You Better; Rail Advocacy Organizations Elsewhere in New Jersey Are Keeping Busy, Too; Platform Gaps: It’s Long Past Time To Give the Issue Attention; Remembering Sen. Frank Lautenberg (1924-2013)
• May/June 2013 – NJT Plans to Spend $1.2 Million on Transit Arrangements for Super Bowl, but Coalition Objects; NJT Overcharges Meadowlands Passengers From Morristown Line; NJT Still Not Doing Well, Six Months After Hurricane Sandy; NJT Plans to Extend Summit Interlocking Farther West as Part of Summit Station Repair Program
• March/April 2013 – Weekday Service on M&E Still Far Below Normal, Dual-Power Locomotives Run into Penn Station for the First Time, NJT Expedites Repairs to Equipment and to Hoboken Terminal in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy
• January/February 2013 – Post Sandy, NJT Rail Service Returned Slowly—and Still Has Major Gaps; Coalition Calls for Arrow III Cars to Be Overhauled and Operated on Our Lines; Opinion: Don’t Rush to Scrap a Proven Fleet

2012

• November/December 2012 – Good News and Bad News At the NJT Board Meeting in October, Vignettes from a Superstorm: Transit Experiences Post-Sandy
• September/October 2012 – Weigh In on the Future of the NEC, Essex Transporation Master Plan to Look at New Road and Street Policies, New Bus Service Connects M&E Line to Sussex County—but There Are Catches
• July/August 2012 – Legislature Increases Funding for NEC By 81%; NJT Plans Bus Service Cuts—Coalition Objects; Cyclists Gain Train Access on Weekdays, But Essentially Lose It on Weekends; NJ Transportation Commissioner Visits Coalition
• May/June 2012 – Coalition Asks Lawmakers to Budget for Third Trans-Hudson Rail Tunnel, Crucial NEC Infrastructure Improvements, Rail Advocate Calls for Light Rail Improvement in Newark, Remembering Donald Payne (1934-2012)
• March/April 2012 – Coalition Commends NJT Board’s Steps to Boost Public Participation, Calls for Further Improvements; Coalition Calls for Transit Riders to Get Tax Benefits Back; Construction Start Nears on First Segment of Lackawanna Cutoff
• January/February 2012 – NJ Comissioner Says He Tried to Improve ARC Project While Heading FTA, NJT Board Acts to Improve Meeting Transparency; Tolls Up, Transit Ridership Too

2011

• November/December 2011 – NJT Settles Dispute with FTA over ARC Funds, NJT Customer Survey Gives Rail Service Lowest Marks, M&E Line Marks 175 Years of Rail Service
• September/October 2011 – Irene Sidetracks NJT Trains for Three Days, PATH Fares Will Rise Every Year, NEC Derailment Forces Tunnel Closure
• July/August 2011 – Three Service Outages in Three Days; Coalition Calls for “Quiet Commute Cars” Outside of Commuting Hours; NJT Opts for High-Floor Buses, Bucking Trend Toward Low Floor Models
• May/June 2011 – Coalition Calls for Affordable Trans-Hudson Project, Coalition Helps Connect New England By Rail, Amtrak Observes 40th Anniversary
• March/April 2011 – Parts of Amtrak’s Gateway Plan Needed Now, but East Side Access Remains Our Goal; Despite Recent NY Fare Hikes, NJT Rail Commuters Usually Still Pay More; Regional Connectivity on the Agenda for April Conference
• January/February 2011 – ARC is Dead—Long Live an Affordable ARC?, Christie Proposes More Borrowing for Highway Project, MU Overhaul: Opportunity for Better Service

2010

• November/December 2010 – Christie Scraps ARC Tunnel Project, New Jersey Transit Restructures Morris County Bus Service, New York Fares Go Up Again
• September/October 2010 – Use It or Lose It?, State Senator Proposes Increase in Gasoline User Fee, Riders Get Fare Hikes, Consultants Get Big Bucks
• July/August 2010 – Media Begin Singing Coalition’s ARC Refrain, NJT Cuts Newark Light Rail, New York Makes Drastic Cuts in Transit Service
• May/June 2010 – NJT Rail: The Highest Fares in the US!, Advocates Protest as NJT Board Approves Huge Fare Hikes, Off-Peak Fare Discounts: A Similar Story, but with a Different Outcome
• March/April 2010 – NJT Riders Face Steep Fare Hikes and Service Cuts, Moynihan Station Gets Stimulus Funds along with Amtrak Commitment, Governor Appoints New Transportation Leaders
• January/February 2010 – Columnist Criticizes ARC As NJT Awards First Contract, Changes to Portal Bridge Plan Warrant Federal Review, Coalition Endorses Call for More Transportation Funding from Casino Revenue Fund

2009

• November/December 2009 – Weekend Rail Service Returns to Montclair, NJT Ventures into Connecticut, Lackawanna Cutoff Project Clears Federal Environmental Hurdle, Remembering Al Cafiero (1920-2009)
• September/October 2009 – NJT Board Approves Light Rail for Nothern Branch, NJT Enacts FY 2010 Budget, Rail Users’ Network Votes To Put “Penn Station First”, NJT Celebrates Thirtieth Anniversary Without Fanfare
• July/August 2009 – Montclair Leaders Call for Weekend Service, Corzine Signs Budget with Reliance on Federal Stimulus, Gladstone Substitute Busing – A Permanent Change?
• May/June 2009 – Feds Hold High Speed Workshops, Transit Funding and the NJ Political Process, NYC Bus/Subway Fares Rise but Could Have Been Worse
• March/April 2009 – Coalition Celebrates 30th Anniversary, Coalition Takes ARC Campaign to Capitol Hill, Great Notch Station Reprieved
• ARC Special Edition – NJT Permanently Bars Amtrak from ARC Trans-Hudson Tunnels
• January/February 2009 – Coalition Wins First Amendment Fight, Gladstone Line Changes

2008

• November/December 2008 – ARC Update: Price Tag Rises by $1 Billion, Mount Tabor Blasts NJT For Drastic Service Cuts, Weekend Service Back on Gladstone Branch
• September/October 2008 – Rail Advocate Calls for NJT to be Disbanded, Reorganized; NJTPA Approves Funding to Begin Cutoff Project, Weekend Service Cuts on Newark Light Rail
• July/August 2008 – FTA, Amtrak Question Current ARC Proposal; Regional Rail Advocates Keep Up the Pressure; Coalition Blasts NJT on Latest Cuts; Buses Replace Gladstone Trains again This Summer
• May/June 2008 – Opposition to ARC Project Grows, M&E Off-Peak Service Cut Nearly in Half
• March/April 2008 – Summit Opposes THE Tunnel project, PATH Turns 100
• January/February 2008 – National Organization Endorses Coalition’s Position on ARC; Remembering George Warrington; NJT Opens New Stations in Mt. Arlington, Wayne; Coalition Salutes NJT Rail on 25th Year