Mount Arlington Station

This might have been a worthwhile project 15 years ago but these days, traffic is backed up all the way to Stanhope in the morning rush. Are people gonna sit in that traffic and even bother getting off at Howard Blvd.? Not to mention the typical Draconian traffic light arrangement at the park and ride, complete with a Mt. Arlington cop in the weeds waiting for you to make that right-on-red out of the lot.

Using the Great Notch yard project as an example, NJT seems to enjoy moving mountains because they can (with taxpayer $$$, of course), so why didn't they build their P&R west of Waterloo where the ROW is parallel with I-80 west of Stanhope?

Dunno if any of you go past that place in the AM... that lot was already full before the station broke ground. wtf were they thinking? or were they even thinking? (my guess: they weren't thinking)
why not purchase some of the Hercules land and build a proper parking deck on the other side of the station?

I do like the smiley face idea though.

I drove past the station today. It has really taken shape! The design of the inbound waiting room is very nice--for a shed placed on a platform.

Too bad parking is a joke, otherwise it might actually get used. IF they ever string wire to Port Morris, they will be forced to build a parking deck here...and a big one at that.

BigC- That cop is ALWAYS there. Just don't break the law and you'll be fine.

geoffand wrote:I drove past the station today. It has really taken shape!

Too bad parking is a joke, otherwise it might actually get used. IF they ever string wire to Port Morris, they will be forced to build a parking deck here...and a big one at that.

You're right! that would be an awesome day.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to hold my breath... We are planning to move if service doesn't improve withing a year or so. i can't take much more of this crap service west of dover.
its too bad.. i love the area out here.

madmage wrote:

geoffand wrote:I drove past the station today. It has really taken shape!

Too bad parking is a joke, otherwise it might actually get used. IF they ever string wire to Port Morris, they will be forced to build a parking deck here...and a big one at that.

You're right! that would be an awesome day.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to hold my breath... We are planning to move if service doesn't improve withing a year or so. i can't take much more of this crap service west of dover.
its too bad.. i love the area out here.

Totally understand; I did the same. Moved to Montclair a few months ago. Fully enjoying being a Regal Montclairion with great weekday service. Can't beat the less than 12 minute commute into Newark yet living in a very nice 'hood. My previous commute was via Morristown station with a 40+ minute commute (not including the drive to the station).

Now about weekend service...

geoffand wrote: Totally understand; I did the same. Moved to Montclair a few months ago. Fully enjoying being a Regal Montclairion with great weekday service. Can't beat the less than 12 minute commute into Newark yet living in a very nice 'hood. My previous commute was via Morristown station with a 40+ minute commute (not including the drive to the station).

Now about weekend service...

grrr...

j/k good for you! we were actually looking at lower upstate ny.. its only ONE HOUR train ride from grand central to the beacon bridge in dutchess county, ny. and 1+1/2 hour to Poughkeepsie. they also have frequent service, like every 1/2 hour during critical times. NJT can't touch that. I sat my ass in NYPenn for an hour today because I have no reason to go to Dover and wait an hour for my train west. thanks, njt.
well lately, I've been driving to Gladstone, since i save AN HOUR... DOH

I say service west of Dover will improve but sadly it will not go west of PM Yard. The electrification extension is not too far off and Mt Arlington with Lake Hopatcong will get the 1 seat ride with weekend service but as I say again, The type of service you see between Dover and NYP/Hoboken will not go west of PM Yard even with the Cutoff on line. It was stated that with Cutoff they will run 10-12 trains a day on weekdays and 6 on the weekends. These are round trip trains BTW. That's sad since that's basically like the current Boonton Line service but with weekends and putting it on the Cutoff.

For those that live west of PM Yard I can't beleive you can stand it out there. Alot of people I know live either in the Dover Area or further east of me. Some I know live in Roxbury/Mt Arlington and Lake Hopatcong but none of them will move any further out west due to lack of service.

If your lucky enough then we may one day see the amount of trains EL once had out to Hackettstown w weekend service like they had maybe even the same EL schedule to Scranton but until then one can only hope.

NJTRailfan wrote:\
For those that live west of PM Yard I can't beleive you can stand it out there. Alot of people I know live either in the Dover Area or further east of me. Some I know live in Roxbury/Mt Arlington and Lake Hopatcong but none of them will move any further out west due to lack of service.

If your lucky enough then we may one day see the amount of trains EL once had out to Hackettstown w weekend service like they had maybe even the same EL schedule to Scranton but until then one can only hope.

its rough... you were posting as i was i guess, but read my last post.. i go to gladstone.. i drive to gladstone to save an hour off my commute. its ridiculous! and the service keeps getting worse! the train i take in the am leaves at 527am now.. it USED to leave sometime around 545. THANKS NJT!!!

oh and i think you're right about the electrification.. they wont go past port morris.
ah well. i'll just drive to mount arlington.. oh wait, where would i park?

madmage wrote:we were actually looking at lower upstate ny.. its only ONE HOUR train ride from grand central to the beacon bridge in dutchess county, ny. and 1+1/2 hour to Poughkeepsie. they also have frequent service, like every 1/2 hour during critical times. NJT can't touch that. I sat my ass in NYPenn for an hour today because I have no reason to go to Dover and wait an hour for my train west. thanks, njt.
well lately, I've been driving to Gladstone, since i save AN HOUR... DOH

Weird. I drove through Poughkeepsie last Sunday. It is a very nice area (at least the part I went through was) and I was surprised to see all the signs directing you from the main roads to the train station. They put NJT marketing to shame. Any signs going up directing folks to the Mt. Arlington station? Probably only on I-80 and Howard Blvd.

OT: Even stranger, there is a new condo unit complex going up whose name struck a chord with me... Montclair.

ah well. i'll just drive to mount arlington.. oh wait, where would i park?

Yeah, I was thinking of driving there too and getting on there instead of Hackettstown, but if there is no parking how can you get on the train?? I didn't realize the major parking problem there until now.

I feel sorry for you WOD's going into NY. Now the commute is going to get even longer since every train will stop at Mt. Arlington AND Lake Hopatcong...Don't forget the Route23/Wayne as well, that is if you choose to take the MBL.

Madmage, got it. But Mt Arlington is also expanding the lot to be the size of the parking lots that Dover currently has put together next to the tracks where you have the big one next to Cresent Field along with the smaller one across from Warren St where it's on a hill and impassable from one end. Plus lets not forget those on Dickerson. So once Mt Arlington has that done the parking problem should be alot less but IMHO they should construct a parking garage that's between 7-12 stories high for future growth. How big is the one at MSU? I think that's a few stories high right?

NJTRailfan wrote:Madmage, got it. But Mt Arlington is also expanding the lot to be the size of the parking lots that Dover currently has put together next to the tracks where you have the big one next to Cresent Field along with the smaller one across from Warren St where it's on a hill and impassable from one end. Plus lets not forget those on Dickerson. So once Mt Arlington has that done the parking problem should be alot less but IMHO they should construct a parking garage that's between 7-12 stories high for future growth. How big is the one at MSU? I think that's a few stories high right?

12 stories high? Your joking, right?

geoffand wrote: 12 stories high? Your joking, right?

Let's see, if the schedule's competitive, we've seen mention of 15,000 cars a day. I'm guessing that's into Manhattan. If the timing can be made to drop a significant amount off the Mt Arlington-NYC commute, it could suck cars right off the highway:

Ok, it's about 1 hour and a half between there and Penn (with transfer) via the current schedules. Now, let's assume electrification of the MBL wins us back the time lost at Rt 23, and saves another 5 minutes by dumping the transfer at Broad Street.

Better yet, for napkin-math, let's just say 1.5 hours.

Mt Arlington to Midtown <b>by car</b> in 1.5 hours? I can't see it during the rush. Heck, even out of the rush, that's tight.

It's a known fact that when the train's faster than driving, people will flock to it (look at the Trenton line!). Let's say we can attract, via scheduling, etc, 20% of those 15,000 cars. That's 3000. That's a bit of a garage.

Really, we're talking about a potentially huge increase in ridership that a well executed station could bring. And frankly, I think electrification's going to be part of the catalyst here. And once things get going, you're going to need a Hamilton-sized garage and then some.

Done right, Mt Arlington could provide a good, cheap short term reflief. What's needed is a bit more speed, and a lot of trains. With Penn capacity right now, Hoboken's gonna be a logical location for a lot of trains, but that shouldn't be a disadvantage - actually, if we look at revived Hoboken/Jersey city, it very well could be an advantage...

We're all making like NJT, fixated on NYC passengers only. Has anyone thought about how many cars on I-80 are traveling to/from NJ destinations like MSU, Morris Plains, and a few of the other local employment centers near the rail lines? If NJT was smart they reconfigure M&E schedules to use Mt. Arlington as a terminal for a late rush hour train like 605/622 to provide a less-crowded train from the P-R to M&E stations and attract the local riders.

Ken S. wrote:We're all making like NJT, fixated on NYC passengers only. Has anyone thought about how many cars on I-80 are traveling to/from NJ destinations like MSU, Morris Plains, and a few of the other local employment centers near the rail lines? If NJT was smart they reconfigure M&E schedules to use Mt. Arlington as a terminal for a late rush hour train like 605/622 to provide a less-crowded train from the P-R to M&E stations and attract the local riders.

Yrah, I'm one of them, except I get off in Denville.

And I agree that certain morning westbounds, such as 605, be extended to Mt. Arlington and then turn east from there rather then Dover..