Railroad Forums 

  • Skipped/limited-service stops

  • Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.
Discussion related to New Jersey Transit rail and light rail operations.

Moderators: lensovet, Kaback9, nick11a

 #8597  by matt1168
 
When riding trains, I (obviously) notice that many stations (such as Avanel, N. Elizabeth, and Jersey Av.) are skipped, and are not on the schedule. My question is: why doesn't NJT make these stations flag stops, instead of limiting passengers at these stations to only 1-4 trains a day? Come to think of it, I don't think there are any NJT flag stops.

Also, why aren't announcements generally made on NJT trains? We all know the station to come next, but a tourist or infrequent rider may get confused and miss their stops.

 #8678  by drewh
 
I always hear announcements on the NJCL and NEC and M&E. Of course some are automated now and I've been on NEC trains where it says next stop Bay Head - LOL.

Many trains during the week (West/South bound) stop at Jersey Ave. Its not in use the other way except for trains that originate there.

 #8704  by transit383
 
drewh wrote:Many trains during the week (West/South bound) stop at Jersey Ave. Its not in use the other way except for trains that originate there.
Only the westbound trains stop there because there is no eastbound platform. The only eastbound trains are the ones originating in County Yard. I had heard that once Morrisville Yard opens, County Yard will be sold to Conrail, with Jersey Avenue being rebuilt as a full mainline station.

 #8733  by Jtgshu
 
Some of these stations are skipped even if they are on the schedule!!! On accident of course...........This station is Aven.....uh was Avenel

If Avenel or N. Elizabeth were flag stops, it would be very difficult going east at N Elizabeth because the Hands Place bridge blocks much of the view of the platform until you are right on top of it.

Going west Avenel could be tricky because the egnineer must start to slow down at the curve before the station, limiting his sight if anyone is there.

Jersey Ave is in high speed territory, and would only be useful going west, as there is no eastbound platform on the main.......its not like the train puts along at 30 through there (with trians that don't stop)

 #8738  by nick11a
 
Jtgshu wrote:Some of these stations are skipped even if they are on the schedule!!! On accident of course...........This station is Aven.....uh was Avenel
I'm guessing this happened on 3271 when you worked on it. What did they do? Back the train up? Or did they just dump the passengers and let them walk? (I'm kidding about the last suggestion) :)

 #8743  by Irish Chieftain
 
Matt1168 wrote:My question is: why doesn't NJT make these stations flag stops, instead of limiting passengers at these stations to only 1-4 trains a day?
Ever try flagging down a train that's moving at 80, 90 or even 100 mph? NJT and SEPTA operations are worlds apart...flagging doesn't work at high speeds. Making certain stops request dropoffs would also disrupt the schedules and signaling (which is more complex nowadays). Best to have the stops scheduled.

 #8754  by Jtgshu
 
no it never happened on a trian I was working, but rather a train i was deadheading home on (we have to take the train too sometimes to get back and forth from work!)......it was quite funny listening to the crew try to figure out what they were going to do over the PA - i was laughing, the car was laughing...it was great!! The best part was, just as we were going through the station about about 40mph, the announcement comes on "this station stop is Avenel" hahahhaah

made my night!

 #9102  by 1st Barnegat
 
Irish Chieftain wrote:Ever try flagging down a train that's moving at 80, 90 or even 100 mph? ...flagging doesn't work at high speeds...
I have to agree with Irish. Flagging is a 19th century solution to 21st century problems.

As for skip stops, there needs to be a balance between stopping at every possible place and faster train speeds. Skip stops enable good speeds and good coverage, but at the expense of train frequency. It's all about tradeoffs. NJT's NEC has some skip stops in the morning rush.

As for flag stops or low patronage stops, does anyone recall stopping at North Asbury, Avon, Como, or Sea Girt in the CNJ and PRR days? I do, and used to use Sea Girt. Spring Lake was a longer walk, but could get you home quicker because more trains stopped there.

 #10962  by krapug
 
I think that one of the points here is that NJT needs to "get real" with the way that it schedules certain rail lines. Flag Stops would just not be practical in this day and age.

HOWEVER if you take the NJCL as an example, on weekends all trains run as all-stops locals (save for Avenel and in most but not all runs N. Eliza).
This is absurd at best, and results in a very poor run time. If you take the advertised run time from NYP to Bay Head it clocks in at 2hr. 11 min for a 66 mile trip! on weekends. NJT always blames this on how long the NJCL is and the number of stations, but if you list other commuter lines on the east coast for mileage, NYP to Bay Head does not even make the Top Ten. Metro-Noth has three much longer routes, and one of them the Harlem Line to Wassiac has a similar demographic, and execept for the trains running very late at night or very early in the AM, none of the trains from the further out points run as locals any day of the week.

It's weird how many people at NJT seem to think that the towns along the diesel section of the NJCL are sleepy summer towns, do they realize the hundreds of thousands of people who live just west of these stations, (stations that I might add often have abundent free parking) and yet don't use the train from their nearest stations due to the endless trip times???

Ken

 #11187  by drewh
 
N Eliz only appears to have 2 trains inbound in the morning and 2 out in the evening for weekends.

I don't see why there isn't more service and more express on weekends. If you compare NJT (especially the NEC which is very crowded on all weekend trains) to something like BART or DC Metro, we don't have anything near the service levels they have, and we carry a lot more people. BART and DC Metro run a minimum of every 20 mins on weekends.

Why can't we have better service?? Even when they schedule 2 trains an hour, sometimes they do them almost back to back rather than every 30 mins.

 #11232  by Jtgshu
 
It seems that the reason they do that is so the trains can arrive and depart NYP in blocks, so when they are single tracking, they can run all the eastbounds in, then the westbounds out, instead of waiting for one eastbound to get in, then an westboudn to leave, then an eastbound to pull in, then a westbound to leave, etc. That is only asking for problems (like last sunday night)