time wrote:Newark Broad is an important transfer station. Transfers from Eastbound Hoboken locals to MidTown Direct. Transfers from Morris & Essex and Gladstone Westbounds to Montclair Line. Transfers from Morris & Essex Midtown Directs to Gladstone Westbounds. Transfers to Newark Light rail, access to Newark Penn Station. Oh, yeah ... Newark is still NJ's largest city. Build the three tracks - don't propose cutting back service. There are so many transfers at Broad Street, the middle island platform can go from empty to hundreds standing back to empty in 5 minutes or less. It's impressive.
I was not proposing skipping Newark Broad. I was just responding to his question if there is any excess capacity over the current schedule. As we discussed with you in the past the pinch point is at the two track bridge, there is no question about that. I guess he is more worried about the point where the two lines merge. Green, Ampere and Roseville interlockings form a set that allows almost all possible combinations of running three trains at the same time. That is as long as one does not insist on trains in certain direction using the same platform at all times. For the most part the way things are currently run, trains to NYP and Hoboken always use platform 1 at Broad forcing crossing of all three tracks at grade. It is clear why NJT does this -- for passenger convenience when transferring, but it also eats some of the track capacity.