Why are NJ Transit trains so slow?

Amtrak is so much quicker. Even the NEC express trains are slow. The tracks are good for 125, and NJ Transit goes around 60-90.

ehh ever try to get 450 tons to 125 between stops ??.

Schedule is also limited due to max speed of Arrows being only 80 mph

How much more energy does it take to get 450 tons flying another 25 mph faster, multiplied by however many stops on the schedule? And for the 3 or 4 minutes shaved, is it worth it?

Some here in the past have said (including Jtgshu) dispatchers not paying attention causes some unnecessary slowdowns, though I am hoping that is not a common occurrence. Some others have "boasted" of NEC's safety record (and safety is paramount), but if you slow everything to a crawl, you certainly can prevent accidents as well. Riding NJT all these years you come across different engineers. Some care and try to make up time, some simply do not (but they're all good engineers of course ).

Multilevel push-pull sets are slower and have less "pickup" than Arrows. Riding the latter, even on Gladstone locals, the pickup between stations is apparent.

Im going to take advantage of this thread to add a similar question:

I regularly see trains arrive in New Brunswick from Princeton 2-5 minutes early, and have to sit there until departure time. Not sometimes, but very, very frequently.

Why?

Why not adjust the schedules so the trains leaves NB earlier or leaves Trenton later? Why force customers to sit and wait?

Why force customers to sit and wait?

Because it's better than standing and waiting when the train is 2 minutes "late" due to an unreasonably tight schedule.

Some trains can leave early but are marked so on the timetable. Those that aren't, wait.

In some cases certain trains may be designated with "L" or "may leave ahead of schedule". This usually occurs with outbound PM peak trains at outlying stops, especially if passenger traffic has unloaded and there are not many new passengers boarding.

The CEO has not spent much time in NJT lately as he has been trying to maintain his sanity. But I'll drop in a snarky retort here and see if my mods notice:

"Because the hamster is old and tired?"

If you can get somewhere by an NJ Transit train even remotely as quickly or inexpensively as you can by automobile, then NJ Transit considers its service a failure and adjusts it accordingly (raise fares and slow the trains down to make the service less attractive to the average user).

The only Transit trains I take that impress me are the expresses that I used to take with my father and kids on weekend excursions from Hoboken that stop at Secaucus and then run amazingly quickly to Route 17 up in Ramsey. Don't take those anymore because it's now almost $100 for the four of us. Friggin' ridiculous.

i wish they did go faster, but part of the problem is the train reaches max speed, then breaks for the next stop. I think only new Brunswick to Princeton junction is the fastest the train ever gets.

When I see questions like this, I often wonder what the motivation is behind it. Are you fellow rail enthusiast that wants to bolster NJT's appeal? Get the service how you want it? Send a letter to a politician? Criticism fodder? (which is fine) Perhaps it is a statement enveloped in a question (too darn slow!).
No wrong answer. I am not an NJT apologist. Just curious.

abc8251 wrote:Amtrak is so much quicker. Even the NEC express trains are slow. The tracks are good for 125, and NJ Transit goes around 60-90.

1. NJT is trying to get people off its services so it can shut them down.
2. Railroads these days are run by people in glass towers with little or no idea of how a railroad works because they got their job as a result of buying off someone somewhere as opposed to people who would be in towers along the line.

no these days lawyers run everything and need to protect public from themselves.
if they figure trains still running they keep on traveling and then sue railroad when they get stuck ??