NCS to Broad Street Station ("Newark Light Rail")

[lensovet]

All the more interesting for you, all the more annoying for the people who have to ride it every day.

lol, try asking one of the operators why they changed the procedure.

[geoffand]

All the more interesting for you, all the more annoying for the people who have to ride it every day.

lol, try asking one of the operators why they changed the procedure.

You mean the one talking on her cell phone while approaching Broad Street Station yesterday?

[ryanov]

I'd ask a different one.

[Septaman113]

liability is my guess, so that there is never a situation in which there are passengers inside the LRV with an operator not being at the controls.

however, this is strange...i don't remember them doing this when i visited last summer.

I was up in Newark yesterday, so I decided to take the NRL. First I went out to Grove St, and when the engineer came out to switch ends, he didn't say anything about to me for just staying on board. He went somewhere and then came back and then headed back towards Penn Station.

After I arrived back to Penn, I went on the Broad St train. I can't believe how they built that area up. It looks alot better than it did years ago. I went inside Broad St station,watch a few trains go by then headed back to Penn. I also checked out Prudential Center, the Devils new arena and that looks like its going to nice. Now we be able to Go to Flyers-Devils games and be close to Penn Station instead of having to drive to the Meadowlands.

[geoffand]

All the more interesting for you, all the more annoying for the people who have to ride it every day.

lol, try asking one of the operators why they changed the procedure.

So I asked. And I got a "cause thats what we do" response.

Sadly, just as I expected.

[JXMintz]

Per the NJ Transit Press Release

NEWARK LIGHT RAIL GETS NEW, IMPROVED WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Better weekend access to downtown destinations with improved frequency and new “thru service”
May 17, 2007
NJT-07-048
Contact: Dan Stessel 973-491-7078

NEWARK, NJ — Getting around downtown Newark on the weekends will be easier for many Newark Light Rail customers, thanks to a new schedule that will double weekend service on the extension to Broad Street Station beginning Saturday, June 9.

“We are adjusting weekend service to provide better access to the recreational, entertainment and shopping destinations in downtown Newark,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Richard Sarles. “The new schedule provides more frequent service for customers traveling between Newark Penn and Broad Street stations, and enhances convenience for customers who will no longer have to change trains to connect between Newark Light Rail services.”

Starting June 9, on both Saturdays and Sundays, Newark Light Rail will operate on a 15-minute schedule, providing more frequent early-morning and late-evening service for all customers and doubling the existing service level on the extension to Broad Street.

The new 15-minute schedule will provide new connection opportunities for Morris & Essex Lines customers and better access to weekend events at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), Newark Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, The Newark Museum and other downtown destinations.

NJ TRANSIT will also introduce “thru service” between Grove Street, Newark Penn and Broad Street stations, enabling weekend customers to travel between the Newark Light Rail’s main line and the extension to Broad Street without changing trains at Newark Penn Station.

[geoffand]

Wow, that is awesome. Weekend service was dismal on the Broad Street extension. Now it is somewhat acceptable.

I also like the idea of thru service. Too bad the thru service can't be accomplished during the weekday as well. If the extension had the same service levels as the City Subway line, I think you would see a lot more people use it not just between Broad and Penn but the intermediate stops as well. Right now, if you just missed the last LRV, it is quicker (and cheaper) to walk to Penn from Washington Park station than it is to wait for another LRV to arrive--assuming you have no disability. Of course, I don't know if the extension could handle the same service levels as the City Subway line with all the grade crossings and a stub end at Broad Street.

[geoffand]

I suspect the reason that the trains all make the Stadium stop is to allow people who are trying to get on a bus northbound to avoid sitting at the road crossing for 5 mins as their bus passes by.

I just experienced that last night. As we approached the Stadium stop, about 10 people got up to leave. There was no game that night. As we waited to cross Broad, I saw at least 8 of those people walk to the northbound bus stop. This bus stop seems to be very well used. Often there are at least 30 if not 50 people waiting for their bus during peak rush.

Hate to say it, but they probably don't need the Atlantic Ave. stop. A stop at the Stadium serves the same purpose.

[kilroy]

I would image the Atlantic Street stop is for the IDT building as well as the Verizona and Wachovia buildings nearby.

[geoffand]

I would image the Atlantic Street stop is for the IDT building as well as the Verizona and Wachovia buildings nearby.

They should have put the stop at the other end of Atlantic Street...closer to Verizon. Or, placed the Atlantic street stop on the stadium side of the street right at the intersection--that would have made the most sense.

I'm guessing politics were behind having the LRV stop at the Stadium's front door.

[geoffand]

Does anyone know how the switches on the Broad Street extension work? Is it centrally controlled?

How does the LRV operator know they will be switching tracks; is there a signal aspect that indicates this?

[jamesrileyjr]

Forgive me if someone's already answered this question or if the answer should've been obvious from the beginning (and it's a little bit of a long one too):

I'm a daily rider of the Light Rail in Newark (back and forth from Silver Lake station to Penn) and I've noticed the track connection (obviously inactive) to the Norfolk Southern line. Driving around the area, it looks like the same line splits off in two different directions - one parallels Grafton Avenue in Newark, then heads over the Passaic into Kearny and (from what I can see in the Google Earth images, at least) reconnects to the main Norfolk Southern lines later on, near Secaucus Junction, and the other heads off towards the north, into Bloomfield.

So, that being said, here's my question: would it really be troublesome to extend the Light Rail to Kearny (connecting with the future Kearny Station near Gunnell Oval) or Secaucus / Hoboken, or to Bloomfield (maybe I'm screwing something up but it looks like it goes to Lackawana Station near Montclair).

Thoughts?

[oknazevad]

The NLR extension that includes the Silver Lake station _does_ lead into the areas you mentioned. The extension sits on a former, minor Erie branch into the Oranges that now ends just west of Bloomfield Ave, past the Grove St. station (which is in Bloomfield, btw.)

The larger portion that extends to Kearny and Montclair was the Erie's Greenwood Lake branch, which was later merged with Lackawanna's Boonton Line to form the (eventual) NJ Transit Boonton Line. When the Montclair Connection opened a few years ago, this portion of the line was put out of service. Using it to connect the NLR to Kearney is not something I had ever thought of, but might work. Biggest problem is it's only 1 track, and not electrified, so upgrading it would take mucho dinero. But its feasible, as far as I can tell.

[jamesrileyjr]

Electrifying it might not be such a big task, and might not be necessary. Since the entire stretch is outdoors, a diesel line could run from Grove Street to, say, Arlington Station (abandoned station between Elm and Forest streets in Kearny). A second track wouldn't necessarily need to be run the full length immediately - perhaps, a special side loop (forgive my poor vocabulary with regard to these things - I know there's a name for it but I just don't know what it is) could be installed at certain points to allow trains to go around one another, or it could just be a straight shot - light rail trains are all designed to be double-headed for just such a situation.

Personally, I like the idea of a diesel line (or whatever new fuel NJ Transit wants to try) on a straight shot like that. Start at Grove Street, hit Silver Lake, cross Franklin Street and transfer to the extension, create at least two or three stations between Franklin Avenue and McCarter Highway (before it merges with 21). Good areas for consideration would be Mount Prospect Avenue and Washington Avenue. Mt. Prospect can be converted to a station with almost no effort - throw some concrete on and you've got a nice, open-air station. Washington Avenue (or Broadway as it's technicially known in Newark - this site is the newark/belleville border) needs a stairway and some concrete and it'll be ready to go.

The area at McCarter Highway is somewhat dilapadated, but it could easily be converted to parking lots for commuters (and it's a prime position - I'm not sure how familiar you are with NJ roads, but 21 is a major artery stretching from Elizabeth to Hawthorne and intersecting with most of the major highways in northern NJ). Crossing over the river, the bridge would probably need some repair work but frankly if the line formerly handled major trains back and forth, light rail trains would be more than supported all the way across.

On the other side, there's room for at least one, perhaps two stations before getting to Arlington. The first place would be at South Midland, where the bridge meets Kearny and the light rail would be making landfall. Another place would be Belgrove Drive, which actually has a very nice road block in place separating it from the tracks and preventing traffic from crossing the road. Still another place that would be a good spot would be right before the train would cross Kearny Avenue - I would imagine stairs going from the bridge down to the rails would make a great station (a similar setup is used at Kingsland Station on the Main Line out of Hoboken).

And then there's Arlington Station. Right now there's a parking lot from when it was a fully operational station (assuming it was NJ Transit station), which makes it perfect to take over as a major stop for this new extension. Past Arlington, the line goes through an apartment village before crossing into open land and making its way to a permanently-opened bridge under the Turnpike and going to Secaucus Junction.

Honestly, for a start it could just be the line to McCarter Highway, then another phase to Arlington Station, then the final phase out to Secaucus.

*deep breath* OK so what do you think? I'm debating contacting NJ Transit with this, but I'm not sure how to do it and who to talk to. I'm also not sure if I need to pay them something to bring this idea to them.

[Douglas John Bowen]

It's fun to watch someone's idea(s) unfold here, and its progenitor shouldn't apologize for being new to the field, or to the thread, or whatever. He's a local rider; he sees stuff; we're interested.

Approach NJT? Certainly. But we at the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers would respectfully recommend one also contacts Kearny officials to get their take on the idea in play.

We offer this because, in the past, Kearny expressed a vague and polite but very discernable "discomfort" with being linked by rail to anything Newark. We wish to stress that no one in political power within Kearny actually said that, but from NJ-ARP's vantage point they didn't have to. Others in Kearny (such as residents) were more forthcoming (even though some of them actually liked the idea of accessing Newark via, in this case, an LRT extension).

To that end, it's NJ-ARP's preference to grow LRT from existing cores, and going west to Montclair and east/north to Clifton remains a long-range interest of ours. Getting to Kearny has been less of a priority, but perhaps we, too, should revisit this, and if diesel shuttle or some other rail option is a better way, well, perhaps ...