2015-16 Meadowlands Observations

With not one, but two, stellar football teams playing in the Meadowlands and with ridership levels high enough during the 2014-15 season to cause serious delays in service to those lucky enough to witness those dual titans of the gridiron I was wondering if anything had been done to improve service this year.

General obersvations on the service are, of course, welcome as well. I find it wonderful that so many people are willing to take the train to and from the game.

SemperFidelis wrote:I find it wonderful that so many people are willing to take the train to and from the game.

I agree SemperFidelis, however I only think people are willing to take the train because a MetLife parking pass costs $75, its not necessarily because the train is all that attractive, which it isn't. It suffers from:

•Being underbuilt, its a zoo after games
•Offering direct service nowhere (unless you live at the townhomes at Secaucus Junction)
•Diesel Service, which is not ideal for consistent high frequency shuttle service
•Being built in a roundabout way. I realize this was done for cost to avoid having to cross Berry's Creek and Rt 3, but maybe they should have gone all out. And its not like the current alignment avoided an extremely long viaduct either.

So far the ridership is about normal. What have you seen over the last two weeks that caused difficulties?

SemperFidelis wrote:With not one, but two, stellar football teams playing in the Meadowlands and with ridership levels high enough during the 2014-15 season to cause serious delays in service to those lucky enough to witness those dual titans of the gridiron I was wondering if anything had been done to improve service this year.

General obersvations on the service are, of course, welcome as well. I find it wonderful that so many people are willing to take the train to and from the game.

The service pattern and the frequency, and the platform management is horrific. I've been to events at Citi Field on the LIRR and it runs like clockwork over there.

The bigger deterrent of ridership is probably the lack of direct service anywhere but Secaucus and the infrequent off peak service on most of NJT lines off peak and on weekends. Without knowing exactly when a game will be over, there is no way to tell how long you'll be sitting in Secaucus.

I think MTA service to Yankees Stadium is on par with LIRR. Guaranteed Direct service after the game on all lines brings high ridership to every single home game

MNCR has 3 lines. NJT has 9 that go through SEC (10 if you count the Port Jervis Line as it's own line). A lot harder to offer guaranteed service when you have to run 3x as many trains. Plus for the lines that go to Penn Station, you have to worry about tunnel slots. "Game Train" service connecting at Hoboken could be a possibility for the Morris/Essex, Montclair, and NJ Coast lines, but then again, there's the small money issue. The NEC has frequent enough service so no special trains are needed.

The Main/Bergen/Pascack Valley Lines run every hour on weekends, except for some 2 hour gaps. For example, if you're trying to get to Suffern and the game runs late, causing you to miss 1731 (7:35pm SEC departure), you have to wait for 1735 which is 2 hours later. That kind of uncertainty could definitely turn some people away, especially if the game could end at a time that could easily have you missing the train before a 2 hour gap. The Port Jervis Line ranks pretty much dead last in terms of service frequency and if you miss train 79 at 6:23 from SEC (the last weekend express), you're waiting over 3 hours for 81 at 9:40, which is also fully local, so you'll lose even more time. I'm sure few people use the meadowlands line coming from past Suffern.

In theory direct special trains Dover-Meadowlands or Trenton-Meadowlands could be run using the Hoboken wye and the Waterfront Connection. I do not see it happening though as the wye probably was not designed for full length trains passing through it and NJT is broke. The other lines probably cannot get enough ridership to justify special trains to the game anyway. That is why this is and will remain only "in theory".

There is a wye connecting to the Meadowlands Line from the Pascack Valley Line.

Another issue is that there is nowhere to store the trains during the event if special trains were run.

There is a wye connecting to the Meadowlands Line from the Pascack Valley Line.

I got flamed on here once for lobbying for PVL direct service, which was initially planned, because apparently the stadium station is already at capacity before and after the games. The only solutions aside from better platform management would be:

• Heavy construction to either finish the loop and continue over RT 3 or expand station for more tracks.
• Introduce electrification that would allow for faster acceleration(more capacity) and the ability to utilize all NJT equipment (ALPS, Arrows, Dual Modes, etc...)

I see neither happening unfortunately because nobody at NJT or the Governor's Office really gives a sh*t what we (or any non-millionaires) think.

It is all lack of money. While the SuperBowl was a fiasco, regular games do not generate that level of ridership. A 10 car multilevel train can hold about 1,300 people and the station can handle three such trains at the same time. The line is double tracked, so you could line up at least another 3 such 10 car sets on one of the tracks ready to pull in immediately after one departs after the game. You could also store extra trainsets if needed on the second track of the Pascack Valley Line between the wye and Wood-ridge station(most games are on weekends, so you could single track the Pascack Valley line there without much trouble). They could get about 15,000 people out of the stadium within 15 minutes(between first and last departure) with 6 sets. That is way more people that the number that currently take the train to the games.

NJT is not even trying though. Even if every seat is full, these trains do not pay their cost of operation and that is the problem -- this place is not set up to subsidize someone's trip to the games. It is set up to run a commuter railroad. In the scenario above NJT would need to pay 6 different sets of train engineer/conductor crews to run each train once each way. They will get paid for the time in between (the game time) and the time to get the sets from/back to yards. The way NJT currently runs the service there are 2-3 sets shuttling back and forth to Secaucus multiple times. That reduces the number of employee crews needed (and the cost), but of course degrades the service and you end up with what we have now.

Electrification or loop completion are out of question given the cost/benefits. Direct trains from the Pascack Valley line while possible with existing infrastructure are unlikely to generate enough ridership to justify themselves.

I believe there's usually 4-5 sets running on tye Meadowlands Line. They seem to often use RVL trains and the 7 car sets from Port Jervis.

EuroStar wrote: The way NJT currently runs the service there are 2-3 sets shuttling back and forth ...

I don't know why I was thinking weekday events when I wrote the above.

If a direct train on any line is not a possibility, NJT should guarantee that there are trains that are going to get people home, leaving from Secaucus about 30-45 minutes after the games end. Without a guarantee, I probably wouldn't consider taking the train back up the Main Line as, like we've stated, there could be as much as a 2 hour gap between trains. I think if it was marketed correctly, it could work on most lines.

On another note, does anyone know the reason for the circuitous routing to the Meadowlands station? I'd think it would be easier to run the spur from just west of HX draw right to the stadium. I'm guessing maybe there are some crazy environmental laws about the meadowlands that are preventing this?

The NEC has trains that run frequently enough that there doesn't need to be a guaranteed train after games. Also, there isn't enough room for trains to wait at SEC on the upper level (for Morris/Essex/Montclair/NJCL). There would need to be direct trains to Hoboken, and connections to the guaranteed trains there. The Main/Bergen lines would need to have trains queued up outside the station at SEC, which wouldn't be easy because the Meadowlands trains already take up all of tracks G and H. All other trains are run through E and F. Also, there would have to be 4 trains to serve everyone on the lower level alone. One for Port Jervis, one for the Main Line, one for the Bergen Line, and one for the PVL. You could eliminate one of those by running the Port Jervis train local, but that would turn away some of the ridership as it would probably be slower than driving. Plus, all those trains would also have to get to Hoboken or SEC before the game, so there would probably be designated "game trains" to go to the game. Very expensive, and likely not enough ridership.

trainbrain wrote:The NEC has trains that run frequently enough that there doesn't need to be a guaranteed train after games..

The problem is the LAST train of the day.

Soccer game + extra time + penalties + 1 hour+ to board a train to Secaucus = will I make the last NEC of the night???