Great news mentioned that is planned! All of the components to the Gateway Project are obviously very important. Hopefully this will not only enable double the peak hour NJT rail capacity into and out of NYP. This will also help NJT seriously think about adding off peak and weekend express trains to NYC from the outlying points in the system and then adding locals on those lines to serve many of the stops that the express trains would skip. Here is a breakdown at what I mean.
A. North Jersey Coast Line
1. Have every train that begins in Bay Head make all local stops to Long Branch and then skip many stops from Long Branch to NWK. Between Long Branch and NWK Penn or even EWR, have the train stop at Monmouth Park(racing season), Red Bank, Aberdeen-Matawan, maybe Perth Amboy, and Woodbridge before running express the rest of the way to one of the NWK Stations. At Long Branch, passengers heading to local stations like Middletown, Hazlet, and Avenel plus the Elizabeth Stations would switch to a local train.
2. A friend of mine suggested this idea and I like it a lot. All of the off peak and weekend trains that start out in Bay Head could run local to Aberdeen-Matawan and then run nonstop from there to either EWR or NWK Penn Station. At Aberdeen-Matawan, people can switch for a local train that would make all stops to EWR.
B. Morris & Essex Line
1. A friend suggested this and I agree with it a lot. For the trains that run between Dover and NYP, run local to Summit and then run express from Summit to NWK Broad St. At Summit, passengers wanting to go to the Oranges can board a local train that makes every stop to NWK Broad from Summit-either going to NYP or HOB(maybe have the trains heading to HOB on weekends operate as Gladstone locals).
2. When NJT runs to Andover, these trains should really operate as a super express on the M&E, maybe stopping at NWK Broad St, Summit, Madison, Morristown, Denville, and Dover and then make the existing stops west of Dover to Andover.
C. Northeast Corridor
1. Run more of those semi-express train that make Metropark as their first and last stop to and from NWK seven days a week. During various times of the day, run daily 3900 series trains that make New Brunswick, Princeton Jct, Hamilton, and Trenton.
D. Raritan Valley Line.
1. All trains on that line should be able to run into Manhattan. Maybe if the weekend service only goes as far west as Raritan, keep the stop patterns the same way that they presently are.