Why the heck are non express NJ Transit trains so slow? Especially when I head from Trenton to NYC.
and you really can’t figure this out ???
- Define slow. 2) do you really know how fast the train is travelling at any given spot? 3) are you talking end to end timing (NYP to Trenton or Trenton to NYP)? 4) How many stops does the non express trains make? 5) How long is the dwell time (time spent stopped at each station)? 6) What are the deceleration and acceleration time factors for each station stop? 7) is the train MU or push pull? 8) Diesel or electric push pull? 9) are you talking peak times or are you talking off peak times? 10) compared to what other train(s)?.. Amtraks Acelas or Regionals?; NJT’s express (compare the number of stops to give you a hint to answers to some of the questions posed above.)? Freight trains? Buses on Route 1 or the Turnpike?
Congestion = lots of trains wanting to get through the 2 - only 2 - “North” (Hudson) River tunnels at the same time.
Plus, NJT is just a ‘tenant’ - Amtrak owns the tracks, so guess whose trains get priority ? Besides, Amtrak would rather have you take its trains from Trenton to NYP.
- Paul North.
Plus, NJT is just a ‘tenant’ - Amtrak owns the tracks, so guess whose trains get priority ? Besides, Amtrak would rather have you take its trains from Trenton to NYP.
Not nessesarily Amtrak charges a lot more than NJT (as much as double). Lately though it seems like both NJT and Amtrak have had a lot of trouble with the cantenary wires. I hear about it on the news a lot.
NJ Transit equipment until lately is only certified to 100 mph. That is true for the emus. Now the alp-46s and alp-45dps are certified for 125 mph to fit in with Amtrak equipment. However I do not know the speed limit for the motor hauled equipment. Anyone know??
Now some Septa equipment and the marc motors and passenger cars on the Penn line are certified for 125 mph.
Maybe he’s referring to 60 mph slow orders on tracks 1 and 4-- are there still miles and miles of them?
According to NJT System Timetable 5 and Special Instructions dated April 2010 (note new one not issued April 2011 but reportedly slated for Nov.) APL 44’s and 46’s, PL42-AC, F40PH-2CAT #4113-29, and P-40BH with train are limited to 100mp; GP40FH-2CAT and GP40ph-2B and GP40-2 all allowed 102mph except #4190 and 4100 onlyh allowed 80mph with train.
I mean’t traveling slower than freaking 45mph on track 4 northbound between Hamilton train station and Princeton JCT including end to end timing Trenton to NYP. Some of the non express I’ve been on made every station stop except N.Elizabeth. Some were express from Metropark and yet there were running at like 40mph. The dwell times were short. The acceleration times for the ALP 46 and MU Jersey arrows are horrible man horrible!!! I’m talking off peak times. Oh by the way the GP38 Diesel hauled trains of the Atlantic City rail like is quite impressive they accelerate like lightning fast and are super fast like 90-100 mph, compared to all the commuter trains on the northeast corridor HOW EMBARASSING!!! You can’t compare any of these slow poke Northeast Corridor trains to the lightning fast Amtrak trains, thus slow compared to trains in France China and Japan. NJT express is the cheapest good enough deal you can get on the Northeast Corridor. I don’t see any reason why they can’t run at 125mph.
I answered this all in my response to your private message. But here you bring up a different angle. You cannot compare Amtrak intercity to NJT commuter. You are overlooking the stop and go of station hopping. It is neither cost effective to get up to 125 mph between stations becuase of the cost of fuel to attain speed then quick braking, nor is it often possible to attain speed in the short distances between stations: in effect it is unatainable, costly, and not warrented. As I said, too, in my private answer, you may actually be going faster than you think, there is a lot of congestion from too many trains and constant work being done, and that good track hides the speed while on bad track you feel the speed. But in this post above, alloboard, you apparently miss the differences between commuter and non commuter services…even the fast trains overseas are catagorized by service. Running 125 mph doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t stop in time for a station or if it costs more than your market will pay.
I traveled on the MARC between Washington, DC and Perryville, MD for years and years. Experience shows that
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electrics pulling (or pushing) commuter trains generally receive better treatment from Amtrak dispatchers (the dreaded “CTacs”? “CTechs”? - never did know how it was spelled.
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but they have to have a train of cars rated at 125 mph,
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The locomotives and trainset designs need to be compatible with commuter operation and be well -maintained. MARC commuters have lived through nightmare days (weeks, months) when frequent equipment failures killed time or even canceled train service. I haven’t had to commute in this summer’s heat, but I can imagine the system has been stressed pretty badly.
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distance between stations also contributes to happy commuting. North of Baltimore, the spacing rises to 9 miles between stops and they’re all “discharge-only” - that is, as soon as the last passenger steps down, we’re off to the next stop.
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Crew experience and attitude helps gain dispatchers’ trust. If the crew keeps on its toes, schooling passengers on getting to the doors in plenty of time before each stop, dwell times shrink
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Even when all of the preceding unfolds at acceptable levels, scheduling determines your commuting fate. Just before I left the commute in May, Amtrak and MARC introduced a new schedule that put more time between the 5:20 MARC train and the 6 PM Acela (principally by editing out a low-platform, heavily used stop at Halethorpe). My experience suggested that when run as intended, the MARC train stayed out of everybody’s way and got us up to Perryville in 80 minutes over a 76-mile run.
I just checked July 2011’s numbers for Train 538 and they aren’t very good. 63% on-time percentage on a schedule that allows 92 minutes (roughly) for that run. I don’t know the details, but know that 538 delays often occur as a knock-on from problems with earlier MARC or Amtrak (often both). On the other hand, the one-hour earlier 532 has a 94% O
Push pull or locomotive hauled trains have a slower acceleration than MU’s, too. In NJT territory, commuter stations east of Princeton Jct. are closer than nine mles and east of New Brunswick are more like 2 to 5 miles. So speed acceleration does done achieve top speed nor is it cost effective. And with stations so close and two trains per hour (one local, one express) Trenton to New Brunswick, then Jersey Avenue locals added in, then the Rahway turns and the NCL traffic, too, you get a lot of congestion. Timetable times are often the best you can do although out bound trains during peak times often have an “L” designation at station stops meaning train can leave ahead of schedule which is a 50/50 crap shoot depending on traffic and loadings.
The aforementioned “L” designation strikes me as something best applied to outlying stations only on rush-hour outbound trains. There is probably a fair amount of ridership that does not go to or from Penn Station/GCT/Newark/Hoboken, etc. so restrictions on outlying stops have to be carefully used.
Yup. that’s what was said.
After Elizabeth there are 6 tracks available so what U posted is not the problem. Lets see when I used to commute after Newark, there was No. Elixabeth, then Elizabeth, then So Elizabeth then Rahway, then Metropark, then New Brunswick & so on & so forth. That is what you call a local train. Now if you want speed & U have money to burn & Amtrak schedule fits into your schedule you can take there train which only stops @ Metropark (maybe) then if my memory holds true Trenton [:)]