With all due respect, so what? None of its route is on former rails that the CNJ owned.
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Moderator: Franklin Gowen
firthorfifth06 wrote:but in terms of the service restoration, I think NJT is most likely for the fastest way to get to AC, not the most direct. I forget who on the NJT board said it, but, think of it like this. So you're tooling along at track speed, then you hit Union interlocking, so you have to slow down for the merge onto the coast line. Then, you can do up to a max of 60 on the coast line (?). Slow down again to cross RIVER and MORGAN and then at Southern Yard. Then, you can do maybe 70-80 on a restored Southern Secondary. But alas, you'll have to slow down again at Winslow Jct., just to get up to the ACL and do 70 again, not counting any times for stop signals. It would mostl likely take a good 3-4 hours just to get to AC.That was me (several times, I might add) on one of the various NY-AC service threads on both the NJT and NJ Railfan boards.
Going via SHORE, the trip is cut to a more reasonable 2.5 to 3 hours
firthorfifth06 wrote:but in terms of the service restoration, I think NJT is most likely for the fastest way to get to AC, not the most direct. I forget who on the NJT board said it, but, think of it like this. So you're tooling along at track speed, then you hit Union interlocking, so you have to slow down for the merge onto the coast line. Then, you can do up to a max of 60 on the coast line (?). Slow down again to cross RIVER and MORGAN and then at Southern Yard. Then, you can do maybe 70-80 on a restored Southern Secondary. But alas, you'll have to slow down again at Winslow Jct., just to get up to the ACL and do 70 again, not counting any times for stop signals. It would mostl likely take a good 3-4 hours just to get to AC.You have the top speeds on the ACL and NJCL wrong. Track speed on the NJCL east (north) of Long Branch is 80 mph, not 60 (it's 60 from Long Branch to Bay Head). Also, track speed on the ACL is 80 mph (down from the 90 mph that Amtrak operated at; yes, the Atlantic City service that they used to operate and that NJT is being induced to duplicate). Furthermore, you'd be continuously moving on the former Southern Division, versus coming to a dead stop (for how long?) and reversing at Shore (and the speed across the Delair Bridge and through Pennsauken is not that fast, perhaps 50 mph max, slower on the bridge, which still is awaiting repairs). As for stop signals, the ACES train via the former Amtrak route would get stopped at them too, if they have to encounter them.
Going via SHORE, the trip is cut to a more reasonable 2.5 to 3 hours
Jtgshu wrote:While its strange to think that going into PA is actually faster, which it is, but some folks simply don't want to think that, and insist that the Blue Comet route would be fasterIt would be. It'd have the entire route to itself, without having to dance around Amtrak.
On the Coast Line (getting to the "Blue Comet route"), the ACES trains would be tangling with Coast Line trains....it WOULD NOT have the route "all to itself"That's about 26 to 27 miles, and at the time of day the ACES is supposed to run, the number of TPH is 2 to 3 (in one direction). I don't see a two-track route involves that much entanglement (especially judging by the TPH on the High Line at any given time of day). From Red Bank to Winslow, the train would have at least 75 miles of track to itself. (Assuming MOM wasn't already operating, that is.) If the estimate of 140 miles for the CNJ route is correct, then that's over half the route.
the printed running times on the ACES train are going to be longer than realityThat'll be a first for NJT. With all due respect. Especially with such a big chunk of running on someone else's territory.
The only slow down on the NEC would be the Elizabeth S curves and Metuchen Curves and the curves by Torresdale StationThere are curves by Bristol too, and by Van Sciver Lake in Wheatsheaf, as well as the ones where the Trenton Cutoff diverges.
The High Density Signal system (562 signals) on the High Line allows for MANY more trains per hour than the Coast Line with its "regular" signal systemI know that, but at the times the ACES runs, density is not particularly heavy. It's no Lehigh Line, whose signaling is similar IINM but train density is greater.
Once again, the amount of time it would take to be at Shore interlocking from NY, is about the same amount of time it would take to get to Red Bank from NYUnless things have gone drastically wrong, it doesn't take 1½ to 2 hours to get from New York to Red Bank (locals after 8 pm are timetabled for 1 hour 20 minutes, with stops at Secaucus, Airport, North Elizabeth and Avenel included), and unless the measurements of the map are wrong, the ACES is going to have to run at a way faster average speed than Acela currently runs, between Newark Penn and Shore (way faster than 90 mph average speed to make up for the average speed between NYP and NWK, and this is from New York to Shore), to get there in an hour. As for NJCL "expresses", for the most part, they run local from Perth Amboy outwards, and most stop at Woodbridge, so they are not quite "express" in nature.