Amtrak Skipped Newark Penn??

While returning from New York City with my son at Newark Penn Station at approximately 12:30 pm just as our NJ Transit local to Trenton was pulling out on Track 4 a long distance Amtrak Train came through on Track 3 without stopping. Judging by the consist, a baggage car a couple of Viewliners, Heritage Diner and some coaches and the Amtrak Schedule, I think this may have been a late running Train 91 (Silver Star). It appeared to have some people on it so I don't think it was a deadhead move. As anyone ever heard of this or any other Amtrak train using the NE Corridor bypassing Newark Penn when late?? I thought with the exception of a couple of Acelas all Amtraks on the corridor stop there.

David Furgang
[email protected]

Could have been a chartered train, or maybe still a deadhead. Is it possible that it may have stopped out of your view, without you noticing it (unlikely, but possible)?

Mr. Furgang, #91 Silver Star makes only a conditional stop at Newark. The stop is only to receive passengers. Accordingly, and since #91 is a reservation only train, if there are no passengers scheduled to board, it will simply chug on through the station.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. Furgang, #91 Silver Star makes only a conditional stop at Newark. The stop is only to receive passengers. Accordingly, and since #91 is a reservation only train, if there are no passengers scheduled to board, it will simply chug on through the station.

Amtrak allows reservation-only trains to bypass stations like such? Is this always the case?

As noted Mr Hebrew, if such is a conditional stop, and any condition of the stop is not met i.e. no passengers to board, it is simply chug on through.

Also, I think all northbound long distance trains become "exit only" once on the NEC (and some are now exit only at Alexandria) so if there was no one to exit, there's no need to stop.

gprimr1 wrote:Also, I think all northbound long distance trains become "exit only" once on the NEC (and some are now exit only at Alexandria) so if there was no one to exit, there's no need to stop.

All LD trains on the NEC are pickups only from NY to DC and discharge only DC to NY. I'm not sure about the LSL's pattern on the Empire Corridor.

Ken S. wrote:

gprimr1 wrote:Also, I think all northbound long distance trains become "exit only" once on the NEC (and some are now exit only at Alexandria) so if there was no one to exit, there's no need to stop.

All LD trains on the NEC are pickups only from NY to DC and discharge only DC to NY. I'm not sure about the LSL's pattern on the Empire Corridor.

The southbound LSL now does local service on the empire corridor. I caught it from Poughkeepsie- totally on a whim given its typical lateness.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:As noted Mr Hebrew, if such is a conditional stop, and any condition of the stop is not met i.e. no passengers to board, it is simply chug on through.

Ah, I remember why I was asking a second time. At Newark Penn, you have to buy tickets from the ticket office. At Poughkeepsie, boarding the lake shore limited, you need a reservation number, and now I understand why- because without one the train technically might not stop there.

You should also be on the platform, since I think they do slow down a bit for these stops (except in discharge only mode)

gprimr1 wrote:You should also be on the platform, since I think they do slow down a bit for these stops (except in discharge only mode)

Well at Newark they're already going to be going slow, but you technically do need a reservation number to board a reserved train. On the NEC, you can't board without a ticket, period, I believe (except maybe at stations such as New Brunswick).

Ok, so let's say you buy a last minute ticket at Newark - how soon before the train arrives can you cut it? i.e., could you buy the ticket after the train has left NYP and STILL get on?

Nasadowsk wrote:Ok, so let's say you buy a last minute ticket at Newark - how soon before the train arrives can you cut it? i.e., could you buy the ticket after the train has left NYP and STILL get on?

Well, Amtrak says arrive 30 minutes beforehand- maybe this is one of the reasons why.

The only non-stop scheduled trains that pass through NWK are 2105 and
2120. 91 is not a conditional stop at Newark, it stops whether or not
passengers are boarding. A passenger could buy a ticket 10 minutes
before arrival and their name may not be on the mainfest. So the train crew cannot assume there are no passengers for the train based on the
manifest.

amtrakhogger wrote:The only non-stop scheduled trains that pass through NWK are 2105 and
2120. 91 is not a conditional stop at Newark, it stops whether or not
passengers are boarding. A passenger could buy a ticket 10 minutes
before arrival and their name may not be on the mainfest. So the train crew cannot assume there are no passengers for the train based on the
manifest.

Yes, but again Amtrak says passengers should arrive 30 minutes early. To give a similar example, what if a passenger hadn't arrived at a flag stop two minutes early, and thus the engineer didn't see him, and the train was going to fast to stop when he arrived?

Bad example, although you may be right here.