Why no expresses past Summit?

Used to be three tracks through Millburn station at one time also.

with no real answer. The dumb answer is simply that it was never done by the DL&W. The execptions cited (two trains out of Dover around 7am back in the late 60s or early 70s "hop schotching" to Summit) did not last long reportedly because some crews could not keep straight what stops were to be made while another report was that commuters couldn't keep straight which was which; in either case some dangerous situations supposedly developed. In reality, I don't believe anything was gained, time wise or service wise, as the second train was always on the first's markers. So in practicality today, either eastbound or westbound, the congestion generated would negate the the value of expressing.
But further, I believe NJT should rethink its engine and car trains in favor of more MU equipment. While the versitility of engine and car has a factor of being able to exchange equipment across lines for economic reasons, the faster starting and stopping of the MU type train provides faster schedules and more traffic capacity on a given track at a give time. Such a move would eliminate the need for express service west of Summit.

The issue of the "no new EMU" policy at NJT has nothing to do with equipment flexibility and all to do with saving money come inspection time. Speed may sell, but NJT doesn't want more hassle from Lakeland, not to mention that they are of the mind that seeing stopped traffic on adjacent interstates should be selling-point enough for potential riders. (Besides, no current EMU can do the on-the-fly voltage change at Swift, so they can't run into NYP from Dover.)

Is there any 79 MPH (say semi-corridorial) running between NWK Broad and Summit ?

Speed limit there is 70 mph, if I'm remembering right from past threads.

And 79 mph would be considered "off-corridorial", to be frank...

Irish Chieftain wrote:Speed limit there is 70 mph, if I'm remembering right from past threads.

And 79 mph would be considered "off-corridorial", to be frank...

Yeah, corridorial would be like above 89 mph. I wish the limit was higher though.

The places where NJT could pump up the speed between Newark and Morristown would include:

1) west of Orange to Maplewood

2) PD junction to Convent

Going from 70 to 80 wouldn't make a lot of improvement, would it? Even for an express, Orange to Maplewood would save about 1.1 minutes.

My sense is NJT would rather focus on the reliability of its service than try to squeeze out a minute here and a minute there. That's a shame because the schedule on the DL&W lines remains very slow compared to the times of the 1930s

Run more trains for Denville and west express over the Montclair Boonton Line and alleviate traffic and/or passenger volume via Morristown. It probably is not really possible due to traffic congestion east of Notch. But as I said above, bright but foolish....

It would work if the Boonton Line was still four-track instead of one...and you still had the old DL&W Boonton going through Paterson :-\

Rebuild the track! The right of way is wide enough, just overgrown! Invest! Even west of Madison the old trolley line right of way along side the Morristown Line could take a track and expand that line for that matter. Vision. Creativity. Thinking outside the rail.

If someone looks at an NJT timetable from 1983 and early 1984 it shows that most of the trains then were slow....I don't really see any evening rush hour trains that went express to Summit or through to to Chatham for the June 1983 timetable....They must have cancelled the Tom Taber Express for a couple years and brought it back with the September 1984 timetable change.........The closest Dover train to express goes express to Short Hills......And remember trains stopped at Roseville Ave and Grove Street back then........

Steve

When they made the M&E "corridor compatable" in 1984 performance (i.e. speed and time reductions) should have improved. Two (2) decades later and we are still waiting.

BTW I have a habit of drawing comparisons between the M&E and NEC incase you didn't notice.