Super Bowl Rail Service

lirr42 wrote:

CentralValleyRail wrote:

lirr42 wrote:I probably turned several heads at SEC earlier today when I went sprinting through the concourse and down the stairs in an attempt to catch a connection that I managed to see take off right in front of me (the first train was late arriving upstairs, and they didn't have the decency to hold the second train, but this is NJT, again).

Makes you wonder what's going on with dispatch and or communications between the two. Several times the conductors on upper level trains PROMISED they were holding the connections that they had "radioed ahead" to ensure that. Not believing the conductor anyway I would run up and down the whole SEC maze in less than 60 seconds the train would already have left the station. Occurred 4/4 times in the past 6 months when the connection was "promised"

I enjoy riding the trains a lot but the lack of on-time and the awful connections almost make the drive worth it might seriously start reconsidering taking the train, NJT has gone downhill big time since 2008.

I don't know if they have an usher at Secaucus (they should) and it is their responsibility to make sure that all connections have arrived before allowing trains to depart the station. Tons of timed connections are coordinated everyday at Jamaica, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem (especially on the lower level where they are not at the whim of Amtrak and can do whatever they want.

An NJT employee working at SEC told me that Main/BCL dispatch is very anal in regards of holding trains the only time they do seems to be rush hour (and even then it's questionable) but yet on the weekends when another train is in an hour 5 more minutes is a big no no in their book.


LIRR is a much better run system I'm sure you can attest to that running from Montauk everyday.

Definitely noticed an increased presence of cops of all ilk today, National Guard in NYP - cops on every light rail I was on, though not a single ticket inspection, DOC at Bound Brook (didn't stop people from walking in the tracks watching freights - nor did the cops say anything either *shrug*) as well as the train back to Newark from there, NJT police out the wazoo in Secaucus...I was shooting pretty openly right in front of cops pretty much everywhere I went, not a peep was said.

Except by some crazy old woman on the train from Newark Broad to Secaucus who thought I was taking her pic even though I clearly was aiming away from her...but anyhoo...

runningwithscalpels wrote:Definitely noticed an increased presence of cops of all ilk today, National Guard in NYP - cops on every light rail I was on, though not a single ticket inspection, DOC at Bound Brook (didn't stop people from walking in the tracks watching freights - nor did the cops say anything either *shrug*) as well as the train back to Newark from there, NJT police out the wazoo in Secaucus...I was shooting pretty openly right in front of cops pretty much everywhere I went, not a peep was said.

Except by some crazy old woman on the train from Newark Broad to Secaucus who thought I was taking her pic even though I clearly was aiming away from her...but anyhoo...

Remember yesterday when i had two beggars ask me for money in less than 30 seconds? Yeah, we got some crazies down here. Lol.

This image from Secaucus Today shows a little about the security they had in place this morning. To the left of this photo they had a table where they were asking random people to go over and have their bags swabbed for explosives. They also had two detectors of some sort mounted on tri-pods. Add that to the dozens of police officers from various agencies and a train load of passengers from a late arriving Southern Tier train dash upstairs because their New York connection is showing "all aboard" even though the train hasn't left Newark yet and you have a pretty busy scene at Secaucus Transfer:

Well, this is going to be fun to navigate tomorrow XD

Use the elevators tucked in the back corners of the upper level concourse, there wasn't a soul by those.

Well, the day of the transit Super Bowl is upon us.

Have fun & be safe if you're going. And any NJT folks on here... Good luck.

25Hz wrote:Well, the day of the transit Super Bowl is upon us.

Have fun & be safe if you're going. And any NJT folks on here... Good luck.

Second that as well. Fan railer good luck to you today haha.

It sounds like the people are moving very slowly through SEC and the air conditioning isn't necessarily keeping up with the crowds.

Earlier in the afternoon they were posting track numbers 30 minutes head of time. Now there is nothing on the board and the next train up to Trenton (departs in 5 mins from this posting) is listed as "STAND BY." Perhaps they're putting the hold on outbound trains to SEC until the crowds die down.

From Twitter user @GreenNYellow32:

Mbta fan wrote:

25Hz wrote:Well, the day of the transit Super Bowl is upon us.

Have fun & be safe if you're going. And any NJT folks on here... Good luck.

Second that as well. Fan railer good luck to you today haha.

Back. Security was tight as hell. Got away with two clips on the lower level before heading up to the upper level. Security was screening EVERYONE, even people who were just going from lower level to upper level for a transfer. Was told on the upper level that I'd need to fill out paper work if I wanted to continue filming, so I figured given my schedule, I'd just leave and call it a day. Not a complete loss though. Got half of what I came for. Clips will come later.
EDIT (clips):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY46MkSpVpk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Shuttle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRcwVuXKLeg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Some other stuff.

An Article from NBC 4 Makes Secacus sound like a nightmare right now:

Super Bowl Crowds Strand Mass Transit:

Football fans bound for the Super Bowl in New Jersey on Sunday began crowding onto mass transit hours before the game began, and there were reports of jostling and unhappy passengers stalled in stations.

New Jersey Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said passengers began arriving at the Secaucus Junction rail station around 11 a.m., and by mid-afternoon there was an uncomfortable crush of passengers at the station.

There was no word of serious injuries, but people were squeezed together in an enclosed stairwell in front of airport-style security machines that did not seem to be equipped to handle the crowd volume.

hi55us wrote:An Article from NBC 4 Makes Secacus sound like a nightmare right now:

Super Bowl Crowds Strand Mass Transit:

Football fans bound for the Super Bowl in New Jersey on Sunday began crowding onto mass transit hours before the game began, and there were reports of jostling and unhappy passengers stalled in stations.

New Jersey Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said passengers began arriving at the Secaucus Junction rail station around 11 a.m., and by mid-afternoon there was an uncomfortable crush of passengers at the station.

There was no word of serious injuries, but people were squeezed together in an enclosed stairwell in front of airport-style security machines that did not seem to be equipped to handle the crowd volume.

I was only there for a little bit (went through security at 2pm), but it was no where nearly as bad (as I passed through) as the article is making it sound. However, while I was on the upper level waiting for my train back to Convent, (2:05-2:25) a total of 5 more trains pulled into the upper level and dumped their load of rowdy football goers into the station, so I can imagine that it became quite a mess around 2:30. The first shuttle, which was scheduled to depart at 1:41 from the lower level, did not arrive until around 1:50, and I do not believe it departed until it was jam packed, around 2:05 (it was still sitting on the lower level when I finally got onto the upper level platform).

But to be honest, what did people really expect? You're cramming a bunch of tourists (amped up footballers for that matter) from areas of the country that do not have the sophisticated mass transit system we have here, and you are expecting them to stay civil while they wait to be screened in a confined area? It is already ridiculous the amount of security that they had set up for this thing.

Reports are saying they suspended the security screening at 2:45 to try and get people moving. Also reports of not anough trains going to the stadium.

It doesn't look like many left early by the end of the game ... Now the real crunch comes for NJT ...