MOM Rail Service

R&DB wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:08 pm The majority of posters on this topic continue to refer to it as MOM. MOM was conceiveed in the "80s as a relief of highway traffic on Rte-9 . Obviously it has never happened. The original concept was commuters. Not going to happen due to travel time, faster to drive. I know, commuted from sw Howell to North Jersey for 18 years..
As several poasters have reconized the real need is regional trasnsport.

Even if it's faster to drive, it would probably be cheaper in terms of gas, parking, you could even do work on the train, freely use the bathroom etc... Too bad people don't know that giving up a bit of speed would really make the journey more pleasurable/productive.

I regularly give up the speed of driving over taking the train from red bank. and I WORK for the railroad. The time i spend on the train i catch up on phone calls, read books, magazines and save a ton of cash on tolls fuel and wear and tear on my car. id choose it any day over driving to NYC.

That is true. There is nothing like using a long train ride, even if it's a lot slower than driving, to catch up on phone calls, reading magazines, and books. Those people who live along the Coastline have that advantage. However, if the train ride is going to be a lot slower than driving, that's still an issue at the end of the day. That's why many people who live near Newark are reluctant to take it to the beaches served by the dieselized stretch of the Coastline. If the MOM service were to be a lot slower than driving, the train wouldn't do well with ridership. People who live along the Rt. 9 corridor still have rail options but it does require a lot of driving-Aberdeen-Matawan or Metropark. I think many people who live along the lower end of the Coastline and between Freehold and Lakewood who want to use the train to the city drive to Metropark since there is more frequent service. Residents of Jamesburg and Monroe Twp probably drive to New Brunswick to get the train when heading into the city. However, in a couple of years, they will be able to go to North Brunswick for the train.

As @R&DB put it, any new versions of MOM proposals need to focus less on NYC, and include more regional options (getting people in center Monmouth County to the shore in the summers, getting people to New Brunswick), and have a Trenton/Philly option.

A two or single pronged MOM would cover a fast amount of territory in NJ that needs more public transportation.

The route by way of the Monmouth Jct, Jamesburg, Englishtown, Freehold, Lakewood, and Lakehurst would be fine for a suburb to suburb rail route. There are many people who live in the Lakewood/Freehold area who probably work in New Brunswick so having a suburb to suburb train would help. Of course, this involves playing around with Amtrak on the NEC.

Throw in Farmingdale-Red Bank and you have an "express" to NYC option.

NJT is one of the largest commuter railroads in the world, and they completely neglect some fast-growing communities in the south and central part of NJ. If NJT is so cheap with money, maybe they should just hire a private company like C&D to run shuttles, similar to BNSF running a lot of Chicago's commuter rail. Shuttles to points where you could go to NYC, or either NYC or Philadelphia. In some places, it wouldn't be faster to driving at all, and in some places (closer to Red Bank and Monmouth Junction), it would. Overall it would be an option for people.

So the Gateway Tunnels are for sure happening.
The Raritan River Bridge replacement project is in full swing.

The latter means the Coastline could probably handle an expansion of service if the Farmingdale-Red Bank MOM line was completed, and the former means really any proposal of the MOM line could go through as once the tunnels are complete, there is significantly expanded capacity.

What does this mean for MOM directly? On another forum I follow, someone mentioned how in/around February 2020, the Federal Transit Administration "issued notice of a study" regarding the MOM project. Tried Googling the guy's claims but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know of anything regarding that?

If MOM were to ever run on the Coastline if it even happens, I would love to see a third track added at least down to the Perth Amboy and South Amboy Area. This would help express trains travel around locals. Yes Gateway is happening-not a matter of if-it's a matter of when and around next year, the shovels will start digging. In order for MOM to happen, Gateway must be completed.

Didn’t they say Gateway would take at least 7 years to get done recently??

I read 2030 for the 2 new tunnels, rehab of existing 2 to be completed around 2035, so presuming one existing tunnel taken out of service at a time, no additional traffic before 2030. Additionally other parts of gateway probably take precedence over MOM as far as increased tunnel usage goes. So unless MOM riders transfer to an existing train, I don't see any one-seat rides MOM-NYPenn.

I believe a large chunk of NJT trains end in Newark or Hoboken before riders can get into NYC.

Right now, many of the trains on the NWK Division go into NYP. The weekend RVL line trains only go as far as NWK Penn. I don't think there are any more trains that run between Bay Head and Hoboken. If MOM were to start running right now, those trains would probably end up terminating in either NWK or Hoboken. There is no room at NYP to have many new NJT trains terminating there.

Weekend service from NWK to NYP is going to be severely restricted. Amtrak's announced weekend closures of one tube for emergency repairs will severely limit traffic once Amtrak is able to resume full post C-19 service.

Few trains, if any, originate in Bay Head and terminate past Long Branch. The NJCL south of Long Branch is basically a glorified shuttle.

MOM should honestly follow the same structure at first, if/when it ever gets completed. Have whatever station is at/past the junction of MOM and whatever line it joins up with become a mini-yard like Long Branch is, have MOM terminate there.

njtmnrrbuff wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 9:48 am If MOM were to ever run on the Coastline if it even happens, I would love to see a third track added at least down to the Perth Amboy and South Amboy Area. This would help express trains travel around locals. Yes Gateway is happening-not a matter of if-it's a matter of when and around next year, the shovels will start digging. In order for MOM to happen, Gateway must be completed.

Considering the Right of Way restrictions in grade seperated areas between GRAW and WOOD, a third track wouldn't exactly be feasable without reconstruction of numerous over/underpasses, as well as the Avenel Station and potentially the Woodbridge Station.