NCS to Broad Street Station ("Newark Light Rail")

Looks a lot better, Ryanov. I'm counting on being able to ride the line in July when it's 95 degrees and I don't feel like schlepping to Broad St in my suit for the ride home.

ryanov wrote:I hear a lot of horns in my apartment now.

Those horns...I realize they need to be loud to alert traffic...but did the operator really need to LAY down on it at Washington Station when I was walking five feet away on the sidewalk? My ears rang for five minutes. There was no reason to even blare the thing at that time. He was leaving the station! He was not crossing a road! It was a good five-second blare!

They should have two horns. One for regular everyday sidewalk friendly use. And, one for get the $%&$ out of my way you stupid $^%& this is an active railway.

I can hear those horns from my work, three blocks away inside a concrete WWII bombshelter of a building with no windows in an inside room.

Also, the horns sound terrible, IMO. Psshhhhamtbblllllaaaaare! Sounds like the horn on a model T ford.

Around 8:30am, I just missed my NCS from Penn Station. I heard another train coming, so I hustled down the stairs. I was surprised to see the train coming in on the track next to the track that the outbound NCS usually leaves from! The LED signs said 'Broad Street Station'! The train stopped, openede the doors, played announcements, and split.

Pretty exciting stuff. I took some pictures on my camera phone, if I can get them uploaded, I'll post them here.

Cars were running during the morning rush. Not sure if they are revenue runs — I doubt it — but they are definitely doing more than afternoon testing now.

geoffand wrote:They should have two horns. One for regular everyday sidewalk friendly use. And, one for get the $%&$ out of my way you stupid $^%& this is an active railway.

They do, as a matter of fact. The other "horn" is a "clang clang" on the bell. Don't know why he would have used the horn when not crossing a road -- they don't even use it for road crossings in Belleville.

There testing them. It's like the service will be starting very soon and I'm sure that that's reality.

A couple of hours ago I was on a car from Penn station to Branch Brook Park. They replaced the voiceover with a male one. Finally. That other one was very annoying. Also at Broad St. Station they had a customer service table with people giving out pamplets and flyers.

I'm sure we will see service well under way with passengers within a couple of weeks well before the 4th of July when more people will want to avoid the roads and take mass transit to wherever people want to go. I'm sure within a couple of weeks the kinks will be worked out and even most drivers will know not to have their cars on an active grade crossing. Proper signage and gates required of course...This is NJ after all. It would help to have Newark and NJT Police to monitor the crossings to have the offenders ticketed and make some extra revenue

NJTRailfan wrote:I'm sure we will see service well under way with passengers within a couple of weeks well before the 4th of July when more people will want to avoid the roads and take mass transit to wherever people want to go. I'm sure within a couple of weeks the kinks will be worked out and even most drivers will know not to have their cars on an active grade crossing. Proper signage and gates required of course...This is NJ after all. It would help to have Newark and NJT Police to monitor the crossings to have the offenders ticketed and make some extra revenue

The State, not Newark, gets most of the ticket revenue so State Troopers could be assigned. Seriously, it would be logical to assign police officers for the first week or so of service to allow regular drivers in the area to become familar with the streetcar setup and operations.

I'm sure within a couple of weeks the kinks will be worked out and even most drivers will know not to have their cars on an active grade crossing. Proper signage and gates required of course...This is NJ after all.

Gates? Where? From what I understand, there will not be gates ANYWHERE on the new alignment.....

geoffand wrote:Also, the horns sound terrible, IMO. Psshhhhamtbblllllaaaaare! Sounds like the horn on a model T ford.

Turns out, one horn on these brand new light rail vehicles is already broken. I thought the above sound was the usual, but now that more are running it turns out this particular vehicle has a frog in its throat.

I noticed the lighr rail cars running during Friday afternoon. I guess there are doing the final tests runs by running on the proposed schedule for regular service? So when will NJT announce when the first day of service is? I saw the security cameras being wired up at Broad Street on Friday afternoon.

patsteven71 wrote:So when will NJT announce when the first day of service is?

I came across this news story, which says the first day of service will be July 17.

Happened to be on Broad Street this morning as an LRV crossed Broad Street and moved into the Broad Street station. Took a couple of shots:

Crossing Broad Street

Standing by at the station

The driver confirmed the first day of service will be 7/17.

That's great. The pictures looked great esp with the LR Train infront of the restored Broad St Station. Can't wait to see Broad St Station complete along with the Lincoln Motel demolished and something else built in it's place like a retail/condo complex. The retail will be great esp if the stores will service commuters like a resteraunt, Rite Aid or even a book store and a Hudson News.

I would love to see this project taken further like a LR line between Newark Penn to EWR. This will also service the Newark Symphony. If expanded further then that then you've got the Jersey Gardens Mall and Elizabeth. I don't know how much the Feds will give us for that one.

NJ-ARP respecfully would reiterate that a light rail project's worth is not, and should not be, determined solely, or even primarily, by the willingness of the federal government, to dispense its (our!) tax dollars for its advancement.

New Jersey officials seem to hinge too much on that argument, even as numerous other states continue to explore the need -- even the desirability -- of ignoring precious fed funding altogether if they must.

Is federal funding nice? Justified? Desirable? A boon? NJ-ARP agrees: Sure. Is it a must? See the River Line. Tacoma. Houston. San Diego's first line.