MOM Rail Service

Oh yea that stuff i have to stop get out and remove. you arent going over it at any speed

Bracdude wrote::

Assuming you’d want to go from South Amboy to Farmingdale by train, it would be possible to do it in the same amount of time, but that train would have to make very little stops and be moving pretty fast between stations.

NJT's preferred route for MOM is through Freehold and Jamesburg to the NEC. Not through Red Bank to the Coast Line. Going via Monmouth Jct means you have to go through Lakewood, Freehold and Jamesburg. You are not gonna get 30mph in those towns as it is essentially street running. And going to the NEC is wasting time travelling West to go North. That time would have to be made up with speed, and I'm talking 125mph where possible. Hence Class 6.

@R&DB Last I heard they were just gonna put catenary wires up on the Southern Secondary and go from Lakehurst to Red Bank as that would be the cheapest option.

Don’t ask me why they would go that way and completely bypass Freehold!

The entire purpose of MOM is to reiieve traffic on Rte 9. The NJT preferred route through Freehold and Jamesburg would remove the most traffic. But it is the longest and slowest.

That was one of three proposed routes, but wasn’t the Jamesburg routing met with heavy NIMBY backlash? And yes it’s definitely out of the way as far as going to NYC. It would only be faster if trains made very little stops once getting on the NEC, but knowing NJT that would never happen.

Why not go north to Matawan from Freehold and connect with the Coast Line that way? Would be way more direct.

@Bracdude, NJT did comprehensive studies to determine the biggest interest by passengers with least environmental impact and determined it would be the Jamesburg NEC routing.

Freehold to Matawan required too much reconstruction and just dumped everyone back on the Coastline and more importantly, ran directly through the backyard of some very well off and influential people (much more so than Jamesburg/Monroe.

Farmingdale to Red Bank did not provide enough adequate passenger traffic expansion for the expense and just dumped people back on the Coastline as well.

I am not sure if the MOM thru Jamesburg was going to be considered a serious commuter route for NYC bound passengers, but it did provide a healthy connection to New Brunswick. And depending on how they built the connection with the NEC, if they used a transfer station, it would also provide a healthy connection to Trenton & points south.

The main problem with all routes was availability of slots on the NEC for more trains. The multilevel cars were introduced to ease the traffic burden and the new tunnels will help with also. But as to running on the NEC in general, it is a very busy railroad as it now stands. that's why a transfer station somewhere around Monmouth Junction could be ideal (be similar to Long Branch).

@CJPat I too was looking into the Jamesburg route for a while. I’m fairly certain that there was some NIMBY outcry when they first proposed it.

Another problem is the Amboy Secondary between Jamesburg and Monmouth Junction. Due to the E-commerce boom generated by the pandemic, all the rail served distribution centers on that line have been getting way more cars as of late. The trains bringing them in have been 25-30 cars long, the longest Dayton has seen in years.

Now that the line has been bringing in considerable money for Conrail I doubt they will let NJT run on it. Remember that relations between Conrail and NJT are part the reason why we haven’t had MOM yet.

The Amboy Secondary between Jamesburg and Monmouth Junction has a wide ROW and could be double tracked if NJT wanted to (I think the PRR did have it double at one time). Does Conrail or NJT own the ROW? I know many lines in NJ considered to be Conrail's are actually the property of the State and Conrail is the State's designated freight opoerator. FIT comes to mind. as does most of the Southern Secondary.
I was doiing a research project on both of those a few years ago and Called Conrail for permission to enter the properties. They told me to call NJT who wanted me to higher a flagman and NJT cop and pay for a full day for both.

EDIT: With C&D looking too re-route the freight off the Coastline, wouldn't MOM service through Freehold be incompatible? Especially if sand trains start.

@R&DB Conrail has 100 percent ownership of the Amboy Secondary. You could double track it but there’s customers on both sides. So if one track was NJT Conrail would need to cross over at several points.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:39 am @R&DB Conrail has 100 percent ownership of the Amboy Secondary. You could double track it but there’s customers on both sides. So if one track was NJT Conrail would need to cross over at several points.

Time seperate them. Works on the Riverline.

I believe the intent with MOM was to run out all the way to the NEC and then run north. If freight capacity has picked up, then i would expect they would install passing sidings. Penn Central had freights hoping on/off the NEC all the time while serving myriads of customers on either sides of their trackage.

If the sand trains ever happen, they may continue to run to Red Bank and then North. Unit trains like the sand train would probably head all the way to Newark before entering a yard (just a guess). The NEC is more opposed to freight by Amtrak than the NJT is on the coastline. The biggest issue with sand trains and MOM is the sand trains will take a heavy maintenance toll on the tracks due to their weight.

@CJPat Strange, from what I can tell the complete opposite is going on.

As far as I know NJT wants absolutely no freight whatsoever. Obviously Amtrak doesn’t want a whole heap of long, slow, heavy freight trains on their tracks, but they understand that there will be situations where freight trains must share tracks with passenger trains. So they try to accommodate where possible. They seem okay with trains like ME-2 and OI-32 provided that there isn’t too many of them. It helps when you have four separate tracks at your disposal. It gives faster traffic a passing lane.

#1580397 by CJPat
Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:10 pm

Weight limits are currently 263,000lbs no matter what kind of car.

@R&DB That depends on what section of track you are referring to. The entire Amboy Secondary and a significant portion of the NEC are good for 286k cars. The Southern, Freehold, and Hightstown lines cannot take anything over 263k for a number of reasons.

All of the Coast Line is 263k due to the age of the many bridges on the line.

@Bracdude, I was only speaking of the lines in Monmuth and Ocean, mostly due to the Raritan River and Navesink Bridges. The Amboy Secondary RARLY gets 286,000 as it has to come in from the NEC.