Tag: From the Railgram

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David Peter Alan

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New Jersey Transit’s rail riders got through four days without their trains, due to a work stoppage called by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), the union representing the engineers who drive the trains. Despite strong rhetoric by both sides leading up to the work stoppage (including from NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri…

Remembering Kingsland Station (1870-2025)

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David Peter Alan

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Saturday, June 7 was a cloudy day with rain showers; appropriate weather for the last day of service at a station that had served its community for 154½ years. Trains on NJ Transit’s “Main Line” stopped at Kingsland for the last time, as service ended early Sunday morning; the end of Saturday’s service day. …

Report from the Chair (Sept/Oct)

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Sally Jane Gellert

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This fall has been relatively quiet transitwise in New Jersey so far; we made comments to the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) on their 2050 plan; we were pleased to see a response not only from the NJTPA but also from NJ Transit itself. We had called for passing sidings on all single-track lines,…

Two Unrelated Events at Penn Station on the Same Day

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David Peter Alan

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Two unrelated events occurred almost simultaneously at New York’s Penn Station on Wednesday, August 27, although both were rail-related. One was the inaugural of the new Next Gen Acela equipment that Amtrak is now running between Boston and Washington, D.C., and the other was a news conference that featured Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Andy…

Coming November 14: RUN’s 25th Anniversary Conference

Railgram, Rails Users Network (RUN)

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David Peter Alan

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The Rail Users’ Network (RUN) is observing its 25th anniversary this year. RUN was founded in 2000 as a spinoff from the Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee (ACAC), to which several of the original RUN members belonged at the time. Since its founding, RUN has been concerned with improving Amtrak, advocating for better rail transit in…

RUN Conference Spring 2025: New Starts and Service Cuts

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Webweaver

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The Rail Users’ Network held its spring conference Friday, May 16, 2025: “Mixed Bag: New Transit Starts and Fiscal Cliff Service Cuts: What to Expect in 2025”. As the title explains, 2025 is a year of bad and good news for transit around the United States. As usual, RUN put together a good conference. After…

News from the Customer Advocate

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Webweaver

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We have had the honor of having NJT Customer Advocate Franck Beaumin join our meetings as a guest to observe and take notes about issues we discuss. This month, we had a specific question: How does cross-honoring get started? On one recent occasion, a Coalition member, informed by PATH that cross-honoring was in effect, asked…

Service West of Dover

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Webweaver

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In light of the Interstate 80 closures, NJ Transit reduced fares for riders west of Dover. We, of course, appreciate this action to ease people’s pain, described in detail elsewhere in this issue. However, if service is to increase, things must change; certain facts on infrastructure and operations must be faced: There is no weekend…

Lackawanna Coalition at New Jersey Budget Hearings

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Webweaver

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The New Jersey Legislature provides 4 sessions for public input on the state budget. For Fiscal Year 2026, the Lackawanna Coalition presented their statement to the legislature at 2 of those sessions: the Assembly Budget Hearing at the State House in Trenton on Tuesday, 27 March, and the Senate Budget Hearing at NJIT in Newark…

Report from the Chair – May 2025

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Communications Director

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