MOM Rail Service

Brightline's strengths are in markets with high value for tourism. Lakehurst does not qualify. I don't think they want to run commuter service.

@Roadgeek Adam Indeed. The only tourism that would really occur to my knowledge is a bus transfer to Six Flags or having a station near the Freehold Fairgrounds.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 6:02 pm @Roadgeek Adam Indeed. The only tourism that would really occur to my knowledge is a bus transfer to Six Flags or having a station near the Freehold Fairgrounds.

Neither are going to pull in the needed revenue for some kind of service either. As is the only part of MOM that's remotely logical is the service to Lakehurst. So, I can't imagine any other service going that well.

Yeah. At the same time though they only want this to be way to commute to NY. Why not do transit oriented development like kinda like the Atlantic City Line? Then it really would take traffic off RT 9.

Roadgeek Adam wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:56 pm Brightline's strengths are in markets with high value for tourism. Lakehurst does not qualify. I don't think they want to run commuter service.

Brightline is indeed launching some sort of commuter service, but it seems like they will get state money to do so. Florida is also much more friendly to industries like the railroad than NJ.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 6:02 pm @Roadgeek Adam Indeed. The only tourism that would really occur to my knowledge is a bus transfer to Six Flags or having a station near the Freehold Fairgrounds.

The problem with tourism in NJ is that it's really only a thing for three or four months out of the year, and then nothing for the rest of it. Six Flags is open for like, 6-8 months tops? And I'm not even sure if they have regular hours after Labor Day. Freehold Fairgrounds is in the same boat

Roadgeek Adam wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 6:06 pm Neither are going to pull in the needed revenue for some kind of service either. As is the only part of MOM that's remotely logical is the service to Lakehurst. So, I can't imagine any other service going that well.

I understand why they had the service terminate at Lakehurst and not continue onto the Toms River Park and Ride (much less rail to work with), but it still doesn't make sense why they would stop so short of a major population area instead of spending some extra bones to get some extra riders.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 6:32 pm Yeah. At the same time though they only want this to be way to commute to NY. Why not do transit oriented development like kinda like the Atlantic City Line? Then it really would take traffic off RT 9.

That requires the developers to plan around MOM. MOM is not happening anytime soon and even if it was, with NJT's track record, private companies would not feel confident working with them on such a thing.

I still would prefer a Lakehurst line be run in house at NJT. Operating commuter services separate would just introduce confusion.

Also, when I meant the Lakehurst part, I meant that the lines via Freehold and Princeton Junction were illogical.

Florida and being friendly to railroads are two things that dont belong in the same sentence

ApproachMedium wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:50 pm Florida and being friendly to railroads are two things that dont belong in the same sentence

I'm unfamiliar with how Florida handles those things there, but with how fast Brightline has been moving + the state allowing them to use interstate medians, both of which would never happen in NJ, makes me think things have to be decent there

Another potential, yet seasonal, tourist location on the F&JA / MOM would be the Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan. Curiously, one of the NIMBY complaints over using the line is that it runs through the Battlefield State Park. Minor potential, yes, but it could be a selling point somehow. Nice little shelter and information center right at the tracks. Like any other special events there, parking is a problem.

If special trains can be run seasonally to Monmouth Park Racetrack, service to Great Adventure, Battlefield, and other attractions could be run as well. Just a thought.

Where has brightline been allowed to use a media? The railroad has constant opposition from people down there. A lot of the current run is on existing right of way. The new connection between orlando and the coast is the only new construction, so far.

And yes, i do agree on the parking situation at the battlefield. Rail service of any kind could help with stuff like that

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 25, 2022 2:08 pm Any passenger trains on the Central NJ freight lines run by NJT is going to kill freight trains off. The only way it won’t is if the freight and passenger trains are run by the same company.

What if they expanded the line to 10 tracks wide within the existing footprint by converting to HO scale?

Lmao at least maintenance costs would go down if that was the case!

ApproachMedium wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:06 pm Where has brightline been allowed to use a media? The railroad has constant opposition from people down there. A lot of the current run is on existing right of way. The new connection between orlando and the coast is the only new construction, so far.

And yes, i do agree on the parking situation at the battlefield. Rail service of any kind could help with stuff like that

The Orlando-WPB extension is using a highway median, if I am correct. They are also being allowed to use the I-4 median to get from Orlando-Tampa

The residents might not have been railroad friendly, but their NIMBY-ness did not stop progress for very long, if at all.

No part of the extension is in a median, its along side a highway and it required massive construction to grade separate the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyhZqTmWTsw

Multiple major accidents on the Parkway South around exit 98. Tons of cars spewing onto 195, 33, 34, 18 and even local roads around Howell/Farmingdale, generating more traffic, and especially generating more accidents. I counted 6 within a 1 or 2-square-mile radius! Today's storms will only make this worse.

If only there was an alternative to the highways in the central/southern Monmouth and northern/southern Ocean counties...