MetLife Concert Rail Service on BetMGM Meadowlands Rail Line

...and delays are expected tonight

http://www.wcbs880.com/Heading-to-the-U ... --/5293164

The interest also seems to have crashed the NJT website!

One question: Do trains run from Hoboken to the Meadowlands or do you have to switch at Secaucus? I'm going to see Springsteen next week and would like to take the train, preferably from Hoboken.

Idiot Railfan wrote:...and delays are expected tonight

http://www.wcbs880.com/Heading-to-the-U ... --/5293164

The interest also seems to have crashed the NJT website!

One question: Do trains run from Hoboken to the Meadowlands or do you have to switch at Secaucus? I'm going to seen Springsteen next week and would like to take the train, preferably from Hoboken.

Trains run from Hoboken directly to the Meadowlands. Sometimes a train doesn't make it back to Hoboken though because it gets turned in Secaucus to handle overcrowding as happened numerous times last night.

oh no, this concert is more than one day? :O 5:41 NEC out of NYP was PACKED yesterday, though after SEC the car I was in was practically empty.

I'm taking the service to Springsteen on his opening night....all I can say is go early and avoid unnecessary crowding

firthorfifth06 wrote:I'm taking the service to Springsteen on his opening night....all I can say is go early and avoid unnecessary crowding

Shouldn't be as bad for the boss. U2 sold 80,000 tix because they used the entire stadium. The Boss won't let people sit behind him while performing, thus fewer seats.

Before the NJT site crashed, they posted an Advisory about getting to tonights concert.

One of the points is to use the trains to and from Hoboken.


This was an article written about last nights chaos......................


After U2 concert, Meadowlands train service clogged for hours, fans say
> By Mike Frassinelli
> September 24, 2009, 11:30AM
>
> EAST RUTHERFORD -- Forty minutes into his wait for a train to take him
> to the sold-out U2 concert at Giants Stadium on Wednesday night, Steve
> Brauntuch still hadn’t found what he was looking for.
>
> The Manhattan resident and Tenafly native hoped to hope on a train at
> NJ Transit’s Secaucus station at 7:30 p.m. to catch the Irish
> supergroup when it hit the stage at 9.
> What he found next was chaos.
> Hundreds of people were pressed together like cattle as they jostled
> for position to buy tickets or board trains.
> “There was no instruction, there was no announcement, there was no
> security,” said
> Brauntuch, a veteran concert-goer of Giants Stadium shows. “It was a
> mess.”
> He said he
> wasn’t able get the next train until 8:15.
> Luckily,
> Brauntuch’s girlfriend, Jen Bursky, was able to charm a ticket
> attendant into letting them through to the next section of the train
> station, and they arrived with their group of four just in time for
> the start of the concert.
> Not wanting to get stuck in the crowd at the end of the show, his
> group left after the band played “Where the Streets Have No Name” to
> end its first encore.
> The transit problems were more acute as patrons tried to leave. It
> took some concert-
> goers two hours to board trains after the show.
> “This
> shouldn’t have caught anybody off guard,” Brauntuch said. “The show
> was sold out. They knew there were going to be 80,000 people going.
> They were totally unprepared.”
> NJ Transit spokesman Dan
> Stessel said the concert drew a record number of passengers to the
> trains.
> When the line was introduced over the summer, the thought was that it
> could handle 9,000 to 10,000 people an hour. On Wednesday night, the
> line saw 15,000 to 20,000.
> “It’s like trying to put 10 pounds of potatoes into a 5-pound sack,”
> Stessel said.
> He said trains ran every 10 minutes in the hours leading up to the U2
> concert.
> While the train line was able to handle a sold out AC/DC concert,
> Stessel said, the U2 crowd seemed to be a more mass transit-oriented
> crowd that included more people from New York City.
> And the drill begins anew tonight, as U2 returns for another show.
> NJ Transit added some tips on its
> websitefor people attending the concert, such as buying the tickets at
> the origin station and not at Secaucus, buying a roundtrip ticket in
> advance and arriving as early as possible.
> “Train service begins at 3:20 p.m. from Hoboken and 3:30 p.m. from
> Secaucus,” the note read. “It’s a great reason to leave work early.”
> “Their solution,”
> Brauntuch said incredulously, “is that people should leave work early?”
> Brauntuch said that previously, a bus from New York City to Giants
> Stadium worked well. That bus is no longer available, and Brauntuch
> said he will never take the Secaucus line to another concert.
> Oh, and despite the transit headaches, he reported that the band was
> in good form.
> -----

My mother and older brother are at the show. They took the train in from Denville.

I love how they left out that due to ongoing stadium construction at the station, the facility is operating at only half of its capacity. The overhead walkways are not yet in service. All passengers had no choice but to use only one entrance to the platforms.

Nothing like adding 20,000 mostly clueless and helpless passengers to an already overloaded rushhour....

Most of the people getting on in NY had no clue that they had to change trains and thought we went directly to the stadium. Maybe its just me and common sense, but if I was going somewhere that Ive never been before, I'd probably do a little research as to how and where I would go. But then again why should Meadowlands passengers be any different than the rest of the daytrippers?

I heard last night/this morning was even more chaotic. Don't know if it's true, but did it take over an hour to board a train back from the station after the concert? Was it also true that people were stranded at Secaucus after 2am because for some reason more trains weren't added after the concert?

sullivan1985 wrote:I love how they left out that due to ongoing stadium construction at the station, the facility is operating at only half of its capacity. The overhead walkways are not yet in service. All passengers had no choice but to use only one entrance to the platforms.

Really? When is it expected to be done?

sullivan1985 wrote:I love how they left out that due to ongoing stadium construction at the station, the facility is operating at only half of its capacity. The overhead walkways are not yet in service. All passengers had no choice but to use only one entrance to the platforms.

I would say its operating at its full capacity, all three tracks were being used. even though there was only one entrance they were using as many trains as they are capable of using. once the construction is all finished i don't think they would have been able to move more people faster, there are only 3 tracks to deal with.

LIRailfan79 wrote:

sullivan1985 wrote:I love how they left out that due to ongoing stadium construction at the station, the facility is operating at only half of its capacity. The overhead walkways are not yet in service. All passengers had no choice but to use only one entrance to the platforms.

I would say its operating at its full capacity, all three tracks were being used. even though there was only one entrance they were using as many trains as they are capable of using. once the construction is all finished i don't think they would have been able to move more people faster, there are only 3 tracks to deal with.

How so. With everyone coming in from one location, its absolute chaos.

If they open the overhead bridge, they can split the crowd apart and load from the front and the back of the trains. The current system is just crazy.

I expect to take the train from Hoboken to the Meadowlands next week for Springsteen. (Meeting the family there and getting a ride home.) When boarding in Hoboken--where from what I could see the last couple nights, you have your choice of seats--is it best to get on the east end or the west of the train as far as getting off at the other end?

Idiot Railfan wrote:I expect to take the train from Hoboken to the Meadowlands next week for Springsteen. (Meeting the family there and getting a ride home.) When boarding in Hoboken--where from what I could see the last couple nights, you have your choice of seats--is it best to get on the east end or the west of the train as far as getting off at the other end?

Get on the west end of the train as current the only entrance/exit from the platforms is at the west end.