Mount Arlington Station

blockline4180 wrote:

Dangerous-Boy wrote:I hope they do strike. We won't get more rail improvements without some kind of stimulus such as gas shortage or even this strike.

What kind of improvements you looking for?? If your looking for electric service to Port Morris you'll probably have to wait a long time.

my wishlist:
1. elecfrication to PM
2. weekend service from MT. arlington
3. one seat ride to midtown from MT. arlington
4. lakawana cutoff completed
5. connection from west trenton to bridgewater
4. longer night service on the weekends
6. an express train from MT. arlington

that's mostly it

Nice list

Heres mine

1. Lackawanna Cutoff completed
2. Weekend and one seat ride servicing Mt Arlington and Lake Hopatcong via an electrification to go as far as PM Yard.
3. Mt Arlington and Lake Hopatcong should get the same amount of service as Dover to NYP currently gets once the line is electrified.
4. MOM and W Trenton should come on line.
5. All light rail projects should also come on line.
6. Better service (weekends and one seat rides) on Boonton Line esp since it has a potential to become the next M&E so it should get service either as the same or close to the M&E Line.

guys, come now, let's stay on topic.

say, does anyone have photos of this station? please?

I wish the Phoebe Snow, the Broadway Ltd., The 20th Century Ltd, The Lake Cities, the Super Chief and the City of Everywhere still ran. I wish that the last of 13 cars of old DL&W MU's still whipped through the crossovers from one to three at Roseville Ave. at track 50mph! That the Broker was still hauled by Sharks or K4's and that the milk trains were fun to watch at night. But economics changed all that. Today you can wish for what you want, but unless market research and the resultant planning show the economic feasibility and sensability, you only have railfan dreams. Mt. Arlington Sta., like Wa;yne, Ramsey 17, and MSU are there because planners see the need in the future that makes them feasible and not as places for railfans to have a platform to take pictures.

I would doubt if economic feasability, sensability, and market research had anything to do with the RiverLINE...

Like I said before, wires to PM will make Mount Arlington a huge success.

SemperFidelis wrote:I would doubt if economic feasability, sensability, and market research had anything to do with the RiverLINE...

Like I said before, wires to PM will make Mount Arlington a huge success.

clearly, you've never ridden it or seen the ridership numbers for it, or else you wouldn't make a statement like that...

Economic feasability, market research, and economic sense don't drive many, if any of NJT's decisions. If it did, the wouldn't have built MSU, SEC, Wayne, and the HBLRT would never have been built the way it was, and they wouldn't be looking at a non LRT design for the Northern Branch.

Electrification of the MBL and out to Port Morris is a no brainer, as is wiring up to Bay Head. Everyone knows it (including NJT), but it's not politically sexy, so they won't do it.

I can't help but wonder if things will change regarding electrification to Bay Head now that the northern Jersey Shore is reawakening...

(edited (9:21PM)

lensovet wrote:

SemperFidelis wrote:I would doubt if economic feasability, sensability, and market research had anything to do with the RiverLINE...

Like I said before, wires to PM will make Mount Arlington a huge success.

clearly, you've never ridden it or seen the ridership numbers for it, or else you wouldn't make a statement like that...

I don't think he's talking about the ridership. Something tells me he's talking about the capital costs.

Feasability, market reasearch and sensability!?! Oh please! If the planners were really following that then we already would've had the cutoff, MOM and W Trenton along with most if not all of the light rail projects up and running.

The amount of trees chopped down to print study after study is a joke. What is it now? A forest equivilent to that of the Pine Barrons chopped down to print all those environmental studies and all of the other reports just to get one of these projects up and running is ridiculous.

I could've saved the tax payers money and trees from being cut by just taking those planners on a road trip along Rts 80, 46, 10, 287, GSP, NJ Turnpike, Rt 135 and whatever other highway on any given day to have these people realize that we needed these projects 10 years ago not 10 years from now!!!

How many more multi car/truck accidents tying up entire highways and backroads must we be stuck behind for hours on end loosing money from our jobs, time with our families and gas wasted in our vehicles!?! How many more pointless road work projects get fast tracked while the more important rail projects get side tracked yet again must we endure before the politicians finally come to their senses and finally listen to the remaining people who are toughing it out in this state.

Rode it on the first day of operation and on four (maybe three) seperate occassions since. Saw the ridership numbers for it.

Clearly, your so biased to your own opinion that you're making statements that would better be phrased as questions. Such as:

Have you ridden the line? Have you seen the ridership numbers?

My opinion, something we value from each other in mature converation, is that it was not a sensible project. Rather than simply making allegations about other people's experiences and intent when making statements concerning rail projects in New Jersey, we should instead read what other people have to say and then add something positive to the conversation.

My opinion about sensibility is otherwise when it comes to Mount Arlington. Since opinions here are to be qualified by experience I will state, lest there be any misunderstanding, that I have not ridden a train from the station, done a passenger count of riders, spoken to anyone who has ridden a train from the station, seen a train at the station, been on the platform, flown over or tunnelled beneath the station, or have anything other than my opinion upon which to form a position.

I believe this will be a very valuable project once the electrification is extended to Port Morris and Midtown Direct service is available.

Wikipedia wrote:Ridership

The River Line is currently exceeding final ridership estimates of 5,500 passengers per day, with an average of 7,350 weekday, 5,550 Saturday, and 3,600 Sunday average passenger trips during FY 2006. As of the fourth quarter of 2007, the daily weekday ridership has grown to an average of 7900 trips.[2]

Seems OK to me, so I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Not sure what the original projections were, but it appears things are coming along.

What does the riverline have to with North Jersey? it stops at trenton unless they're going to connect it to phillipsburg.

I think mt. arlington would be a thriving station as well. But it won't be until electrification is done. I know they will one day but i'll probably be dead by then or move somewhere else.

I've the parking lot during the day and it is full but I think that's for the buses. If electrification gets done they before fix the parking beforehand. otherwise, it's going to be a mess.

The RIVER LINE, for those of you who don't know, was built by politicians and forced on NJT without regard to market research. So Semper, you are right and Lens, heed history. As for the Cut Off, MOM, W. Trenton, Sparta, et. al., market research and planning are virtual givens but politics and NIMBYISM get the front page attention and become the anchor that slows the process. And Dagerous, just more trains more often would help any station, especially Mt. Arlington, it doesn't necessarily need a wire overhead.

For a line that was just 'built', the Riverline's doing awfully well, which seems to suggest that there's a HUGE latent demand for quality transit in this state (i.e., fast, frequent, passenger friendly), that NJT's simply not bothering to tap.

As for not having overhead at Mt Arlington? The bigger question is, why, in this day and age, does one of the most densely populated states in the US even HAVE any diesel mainlines? NJT should have gone all-electric 15-20 years ago.

As for NIMBY, maybe if NJT's trains weren't so intrusive, they'd be more welcome? The PL-42's at least a start, but the older diesel fleet's obscenely loud, never mind horn noise, poorly designed grade crossings, and stations that are excessively overbuilt. Nobody wants a lousy neighbor moving in next door. The fact that there is opposition to rail lines moving in says a LOT about the desirability of the service to the general public.