PVL passing sidings/off-peak trains

northjerseybuff wrote:yea..thats a great idea..i had thought about that as well..although does NJT have money to buy the land up?
I thought NJT was going to build a park and ride near route 4 in north hackensack?? I still can't get an answer from anyone as to what happened to that project.
be that as it may..NJT just opened 2 park and rides on two big hiways..if they want NJT to grow, more will be needed, in bergen county and eastern bergen county..the two mentioned..along rt17 and rt 4 would be good.
Will the new meadowlands station be a park and ride during the week??

You keep wondering to what happened to N. Hackensack. That was supposedly a set deal and was supposed to start already. As for NJT having the money to purchase the land who knows. But who knows if the land is contaminated at all? that would be i think the biggest obsticle.

I kept thinking about this last night. To think how many people probably go to try and use teterboro/wood-ridge only to not be able to park anywhere. They have very little parking available after 8am. I wouldn't go nuts with parking at this dreamed up P&R, maybe 2 decks but wide decks with ground parking aswell. This station could also serve that huge quest diagnostics too. Look how many people work there 24/7.

northjerseybuff wrote:yea..thats a great idea..i had thought about that as well..although does NJT have money to buy the land up?
I thought NJT was going to build a park and ride near route 4 in north hackensack?? I still can't get an answer from anyone as to what happened to that project.
be that as it may..NJT just opened 2 park and rides on two big hiways..if they want NJT to grow, more will be needed, in bergen county and eastern bergen county..the two mentioned..along rt17 and rt 4 would be good.
Will the new meadowlands station be a park and ride during the week??

You keep wondering to what happened to N. Hackensack too? That was supposedly a set deal and was supposed to start already. As for NJT having the money to purchase the land who knows. But who knows if the land is contaminated at all? that would be i think the biggest obsticle.

I kept thinking about this last night. To think how many people probably go to try and use teterboro/wood-ridge only to not be able to park anywhere. They have very little parking available after 8am. I wouldn't go nuts with parking at this dreamed up P&R, maybe 2 decks but wide decks with ground parking aswell. This station could also serve that huge quest diagnostics too. Look how many people work there 24/7.

And the meadowlands station is not supposed to be P&R. And at this rate they'll be lucky to even have a station.

Took my first trip today on the PVL. Nice ride on a beautifull day and a quick ride at that. Cought the 11:55 or well 11:48 (a tad early) spring vally express. It was pretty cool to see all the old siding thats are partially buried, or where tracks lead off to old industries, parking lots, grass. Line must've been a busy place back in the Erie days.

But i have a question. After leaving the Nanuet station right along the passing siding there there was a spur that was no longer attached to the main and looks like its been oos for a while. But it went up a hill which had a pretty steep grade from what it looked like. Does anyone know what this was?

And as for amount of riders getting on? me at woodridge, nobody at teterboro,essex street had like 3 or so, 4 or so got off. Anderson street 1 on/off. North hackensack 3 off, none on. The NY stops i dont remember. But I was the last person on the train when we got to spring valley. Return trip, myself and someone else got on at spring valley and 2 or 3 more at the rest of the NY stops. North hackensack to woodridge i think maybe 5 total. Even though it was low ridership, its still good to see that people are using the service.

I took one of these trains the other night -- I feel like at about 10:15 in Secaucus toward Hoboken. There seemed to be about 20-30 people on it. It may not be that so many are using it from Spring Valley, also, but it does provide another Hoboken connection in Secaucus.

Steve F45 wrote:But i have a question. After leaving the Nanuet station right along the passing siding there there was a spur that was no longer attached to the main and looks like its been oos for a while. But it went up a hill which had a pretty steep grade from what it looked like. Does anyone know what this was?

That was Lederle Pharmaceutical. There were two spurs into the plant, both of which came out about 15 years ago.

coming into nanuet on the sweeping curve from Spring Valley on the left(east side) before the station, the old piermont branch heads east(now a parking lot) behind the post office. there used to be a Y with a semaphore with a switch up until the late 70s/80s at this location. Check out the 1996 NJT railpace book..sooooo much different at nanuet junction back then

finally took my first ride a week ago (my girl and I went to the nanuet mall).

beautiful scenery. beautiful everything!

what's the lake that lies between emerson and oradell?

Since it was near Emerson, my girl and I humourously called it Lake Palmer...

firthorfifth06 wrote: Since it was near Emerson, my girl and I humourously called it Lake Palmer...

HAHAHAHAHAH That took me a minute, but then I got it...........

HAHHAHAH

firthorfifth06 wrote:finally took my first ride a week ago (my girl and I went to the nanuet mall).

beautiful scenery. beautiful everything!

what's the lake that lies between emerson and oradell?

Since it was near Emerson, my girl and I humourously called it Lake Palmer...

dont get it. but its part of the oradell resevoir.

Steve F45 wrote:

firthorfifth06 wrote:finally took my first ride a week ago (my girl and I went to the nanuet mall).

beautiful scenery. beautiful everything!

what's the lake that lies between emerson and oradell?

Since it was near Emerson, my girl and I humourously called it Lake Palmer...

dont get it. but its part of the oradell resevoir.

Oy vey.........these kids these days.........HAHAHHAHA

From Wikipedia........

Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup. In the 1970s, the band was extremely popular, selling over 31 million albums[citation needed] and headlining huge concerts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_lake_and_palmer

Jtgshu wrote:

firthorfifth06 wrote: Since it was near Emerson, my girl and I humourously called it Lake Palmer...

HAHAHAHAHAH That took me a minute, but then I got it...........

HAHHAHAH

Oh sure, you laugh at his jokes!

nothing personal nick :-p

So far so good. Seems to be building up slowly towards those additional siding for the future...
No word though on the North Hack garage.

Expanded service a hit on Pascack Valley Line
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Parking-rate hikes and service complaints haven't slowed the Pascack Valley Line's growth since NJ Transit added off-peak bi-directional and weekend service three months ago, officials say.

Riders are up nearly 4 percent since the service began Oct. 28, and NJ Transit says it has nearly met the agency's 12-month goal by transporting more than 20,000 off-peak passengers over the last three months.

The 31-mile, single-track line now moves about 6,400 riders a day, nearly doubling its performance from six years ago -- despite complaints that the new service also lacks enough trains and causes local traffic congestion.

"It's very encouraging," said NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett.

NJ Transit also says there hasn't been much public backlash since parking rates rose from $2 to $3 daily and $30 to $40 monthly at the Essex Street, Wood-Ridge, Teterboro and Anderson Street stations on Jan. 1.

Parking at the North Hackensack station -- which is operated by River Edge -- increased from $3.75 to $4 daily and $27.58 to $28.98 monthly.

Bassett Hackett said the hikes -- the first in eight years -- had nothing to do with the expanded service.

"We haven't had an increase in a while," she said. "Expenses have gone up, such as maintenance and insurance. The cost of running those facilities has gone up."

But the agency expects rates will remain steady as more riders discover that southbound trains to Secaucus -- where passengers can switch to a New York-bound train -- are available all day long.

The last weekday train now departs from Spring Valley, N.Y., at 9:10 p.m., instead of 8:06 a.m. On weekends, the first inbound train departs from Spring Valley at 6:07 a.m., and the last inbound departure is 8:11 p.m.

Transportation advocates said they're pleased to have the new service after being told for years that there wasn't enough demand or money to pay for expansion.

NJ Transit spent $19 million to install half-mile stretches of "passing sidings" in East Rutherford, Hasbrouck Heights and Hackensack, as well as Nanuet, N.Y., to allow trains to pass each other and travel in both directions.

"Whatever NJ Transit's faults, the good thing is that it wants to be more than a commuter railroad," said Doug Bowen, president of the NJ Association of Rail Passengers.

He noted that local communities initially resisted the expanded service because they believed the additional trains would cause more people to sit in traffic -- especially when two trains are passing by at the same time.

Indeed, some passengers say they're not pleased that no southbound trains are available during the late afternoon and early evening -- especially if they have to pay more for parking.

"When I found out there are no Hoboken trains available between 4 and 9:30 p.m., I had to call some friends I was meeting for dinner and say, 'Sorry, I'm a jerk -- I can't make it,' " said Brian Engravalle, who grew up in Montvale.

But NJ Transit officials said they have no immediate plans to add trains because of community resistance, as well as the danger of having too many trains moving in opposite directions on a single-line track.

"We operate [afternoon northbound trains] during the peak periods, so with a single-track line, you can't run too many trains in the opposite direction," Bassett Hackett said.

While they believe NJ Transit satisfied their initial concerns, some local officials oppose further expansion because additional trains could prevent emergency vehicles from moving freely within their communities.

"You can be tied up at an intersection six or eight minutes if you have both trains coming at the same time," said Montvale Mayor Roger Fyfe. "That's a long time, especially if you have emergency-service vehicles waiting.

In Hasbrouck Heights, motorists have complained about getting stuck for as long as six minutes at the Route 17 and Franklin Avenue traffic light because the Pascack Valley line crosses the intersection.

Local officials, however, say the problem has subsided since the state Department of Transportation adjusted the timing of the traffic light, which contains a device that turns the signal red when trains approach...
Many rail commuters, meanwhile, say they're pleased with the additional service after complaining for years that the Pascack Valley Line should cater more to commuters who have late-night work shifts in New York City....
By the numbers
Pascack Valley ridership:
* Monday-Friday: 1,150
* Weekend: 1,050
* Monthly: 140,400 in November 2007 (up 10 percent from November 2006) Source: NJ Transit

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Expande ... c=y&page=1

Good, very good. A nice success story NJT should be proud of. And it will only get better.

Re N. Hackensack Parking

In November I spoke with the boro clerk at Riveredge about parking at N. Hackensack. I was apparently one day late in entering the lottery for monthly parking passes and couldn’t get one, but she did say that all monthly passes will only be honored until April anyway, as NJT is taking over the parking from Riveredge at that time. She further stated that NJT was acquiring the land behind the station with the intention of building a parking area. No dates were mentioned.

Regards

Lancer