Pulling into Hoboken Question

[james1787]

I've noticed that once in a while as we pull into hoboken station sometimes they will have a red signal as they are 1/3 the way down the platform and they have to stop. Why is this? Is the signal just working a little slow? It's not like a train is going to fall out of the sky and take up the track.. there's nothing there but track and a bumper. Yesterday we sat there for a good 20-30 seconds waiting for the signal to turn. The platform and tracks were clear.. just something that peaked my curiosity..

[Allan]

The signals are on timers with the intention to make absolutley sure that the train is not going faster than recommended speed - even if it means the train has to stop and wait for the signal to change.

Example: let's say the recommended speed at the middle of the platform is 5 MPH, just before the train enters the station when it passes over a particular insulated rail joint a relay will start the timer. It is timed so that if the train is going 5 MPH by the middle of the platform the signal will clear and that the train doesn't have to stop. If the train is going faster than 5 MPH it will get to the middle of the station before the timer has run out and the engineer has to stop the train and wait.

The idea is to prevent potential station overruns (which have happened) .

[henry6]

This signal system is not just block and interlocking system but also traffic control/speed control. Signals won't clear unless and until you are approaching at the proper speed. I believe there is a bell or sounder in the control cab to warn the motorman, too. So although there may be "clear blocks" ahead, if the train is going too fast for speed restriction, track speed, or schedule, then signal(s) will not clear up until train is "under control".

[communipaw]

After coming across under the Hudson, the tunnel to Hoboken turns northwards and then sharply eastwards so that the Hoboken station winds up being perpendicular to the river. This set up blocked any easy extension of the Tubes northwards to, for example, the ferry terminals at [Hoboken's] 14th Street or on to Weehawken and the West Shore Railroad Terminal.

Has anyone ever read why the Hoboken station was set up this way? If the station had been placed at the end of the northwards running tunnel, there still would have been easy access to Lackawanna Terminal and the commercial district of Hoboken; only the pedestrian access to the ferries [a competitor] might have been less convenient.

[4 Express]

I guess so you can have an easier transfer at Hoboken Terminal.

[Lackawanna484]

After coming across under the Hudson, the tunnel to Hoboken turns northwards and then sharply eastwards so that the Hoboken station winds up being perpendicular to the river. This set up blocked any easy extension of the Tubes northwards to, for example, the ferry terminals at [Hoboken's] 14th Street or on to Weehawken and the West Shore Railroad Terminal.

Has anyone ever read why the Hoboken station was set up this way? If the station had been placed at the end of the northwards running tunnel, there still would have been easy access to Lackawanna Terminal and the commercial district of Hoboken; only the pedestrian access to the ferries [a competitor] might have been less convenient.

This varies from the Erie connection with H&M at Pavonia. There, the H&M is at a right angle to the Erie, and access was from the midpoint of the train platforms. It would have easier for H&M to build a similar connection at Hoboken, I'd suspect, than what they eventually built.

[MACTRAXX]

Guys: The terminal is set up so that any train that is moving too fast will "trip out" and grind to a halt. Just before the end of track there is a tripper that is permanently up to stop a train before it makes contact with the bumper block if need should be. A system of this sort also is in effect on the PATH as you arrive at 33rd street also. Just a redundant safety feature.

[Idiot Railfan]

I can think of at least two times in the past few years a PATH train rammed the stopping block in Hoboken