MOM Rail Service

[themallard]

I think that a connection to the NJCL would be a smart idea. This way, commuters have a cross-state link from the shore to Trenton, much easier than having to drive across 195. If NJT wants business, make a stop at Six Flags, it will get business.

-Phil

Phil, I think you may be misunderstanding the options here. A connection to the NJCL would never come near Trenton. If you intended to say NEC, it should also be noted that at least for now, there are no plans to create a "wye" at Monmouth Junction in order to allow trains to also travel westbound down the NEC from the MOM line to Trenton.

Isn't the wye already in place, save for new ties?

[geoking66]

I meant that by using Monmouth Jct., passangers can transfer easily to a Trenton bound train, essentially an indirect cross-state link.

-Phil

[jb9152]

Isn't the wye already in place, save for new ties?

Yes, but the existing wye isn't enough - I should have been more clear. Remember that you'd have to construct *another* grade separated connection (an "underground wye", if you like) for trains to go west on the NEC...that's another tunnel through a wet area, and another long lead track with associated cost and constructibility issues.

The current plan, as I understand it, creates connections to send and receive trains from the *east* end of the NEC (i.e. Newark area), and not to Trenton.

[jb9152]

I meant that by using Monmouth Jct., passangers can transfer easily to a Trenton bound train, essentially an indirect cross-state link.

-Phil

Understood, but Monmouth Jct. is not on the NJCL, it's on the NEC. I think you just mis-typed; I get what you're saying now.

[Jishnu]

I meant that by using Monmouth Jct., passangers can transfer easily to a Trenton bound train, essentially an indirect cross-state link.

-Phil

Understood, but Monmouth Jct. is not on the NJCL, it's on the NEC. I think you just mis-typed; I get what you're saying now.

Right, since there are no plans to build a new station on the NEC at Monmouth Jct., they would be able to transfer at New Brunswick (or at some potential new South Brunswick station on the NEC) to Westbound trains on the NEC. They will unfortunately have to walk through the underpass to get to the Westbound platform from the Eastbound platform there.

[geoking66]

I meant that by using Monmouth Jct., passangers can transfer easily to a Trenton bound train, essentially an indirect cross-state link.

-Phil

Actually, I thought that they were going to build a type of "Transfer Station," kind of like Secaucus. I guess they aren't.

-Phil

[hsr_fan]

Here are a couple off the wall ideas: If the cost of constructing bridges/tunnels at Monmouth Junction is too great, how about building a transfer station there and running a "Dinky" style shuttle service to Freehold and Lakewood, perhaps with a DMU?

Also, as an alternative to the unlikely restoration of the Freehold - Matawan branch (which is now a bike trail), has anyone proposed using the active freight line that runs from Jamesburg to South Amboy?

[Douglas John Bowen]

In the late 1980s, the Jamesburg-South Amboy segment was in fact discussed and pondered as a "MOM" option, but was not pursued too vigorously due to discouragement by Conrail, which indicated it expected increased freight movement on the route.

To NJ-ARP's best knowledge, no one has championed this potential option since then.

That includes NJ-ARP. The Jamesburg-South Amboy route, among other shortcomings, misses New Brunswick. MOM serves New Brunswick. All the other ones ... don't.

However, this is (or was) a MOM fantasy thread. So if one wants to spruce up a Rahway transfer to serve New Brunswick (or Philadelphia!) here in fantasyland, and say it's the best way to go, we'll go along for the ride!

[OCtrainguy]

Any updates on MOM? The last I remember, another study was being done to predict ridership if a rider could have a one-seat ride from Lakehurst to New York.

And we're still waiting for the DEIS, correct?

[Douglas John Bowen]

By mutual agreement, the numerous sides on the MOM issue have postponed an imminent decision while each moves to reinforce its own position.

For New Jersey Transit, that means (in NJ-ARP's view) a successful stall-and-delay penalty for MOM which buys NJT two years, and allows it to focus on other issues (including but not limited to stall-and-delay measures elsewhere) more pressing to the corporation.

For anti-MOM forces in Middlesex County, it allows time, energy, and money to be funneled to bus "solutions" for Jamesburg, without having to focus on (or be tagged with the label of) "anti-rail" pronouncements.

For pro-MOM forces in Ocean and Monmouth counties, it allows fresh energy and resources to be applied toward (re)justifying population and ridership projections for "true" MOM, and to explore funding and other options once the (presumably upbeat) study results are published.

The DEIS, meanwhile, may or may not be affected by such activity, as it has (or has not) during MOM's two-decade-plus history.

NJ-ARP considers the added focus on "one-seat ride to Manhattan" to be a tactical error, though not a fatal one. We believe MOM is clearly superior on the existing merits and existing infrastructure capabilities. Access to New York is always nice, and we'll always take it, but it's not a must for MOM's success. New Brunswick, New Brunswick, New Brunswick.

[Eric Kreszl]

I would Love to be able to ride on a commuter train down the Southern Secondary down to Lakehurst if this plan ever went through. My personal opinion is that they should use the Red Bank to Lakehurst portion because they could use Red bank Yard as a layover yard as I know they have got the room to expand. Also the advantage to that is they could run a shuttle train back and forth between the two locations. But thats just my opinion.


Eric

[Jtgshu]

Article in todays (8/21) Asbury Park Press about the ridership statisticis and how they are almost completed, and what the next steps will be (hopefully)

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... /608210325

Good to see progress, however slight, on MOM.

[lensovet]

article:

AWAITING NEW STUDY
Progress on rail line being made on paper
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/21/06

BY LARRY HIGGS
STAFF WRITER

FREEHOLD — Monmouth County planning officials expect to have new ridership figures for the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line by the end of the month and plan to meet with NJ Transit officials in mid-September.

A report by DMJM Harris, a transportation consultant that is part of AECOM Inc. of Arlington, Va., is expected by the end of August, and county officials hope to review those figures with NJ Transit, said Bonnie Goldschlag, assistant Monmouth County planning director.

"We're hoping by mid-September to have another meeting with NJ Transit and go over the new ridership numbers and hopefully get their buy-in," Goldschlag said.

The numbers for Monmouth and Ocean counties won't be released publicly until county and NJ Transit officials meet, she said.

"We want them to have an opportunity to look at them and respond," she said. "We want to see if they agree or disagree."

The new ridership studies include the three routes being considered for the line, through Red Bank, Matawan or the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, but it factors in a one-seat ride to New York through the proposed Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel.

Previously, trains on the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line would have ended up at Newark Penn Station, and passengers would have changed trains there to go to New York.

NJ Transit officials are waiting for new ridership information to continue working on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed line.

"With our new ridership numbers, we will factor the impact of the THE Tunnel and direct service in and out of NYC," said Dan Stessel, NJ Transit spokesman. "We will also incorporate county information to provide the best estimates."

Ridership information from the counties also will include employment numbers and workplace locations, he said.

A timetable for completion of the draft environmental impact study and scheduling a public hearing is based on when NJ Transit officials receive and review new ridership information from Monmouth and Ocean counties, Stessel said.

The idea of including ridership numbers for THE Tunnel as part of the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex draft environmental impact study came from George Warrington, NJ Transit executive director.

"There was a lot of disparity between the (original) NJ Transit numbers and ours," Goldschlag said. "One recommendation from George Warrington was to hire an independent ridership consultant to work in Monmouth and Ocean counties' assumptions into the ridership numbers."

Working in favor of the counties is that the consultant, DMJM/AECOM, was recommended by NJ Transit and has worked with the agency, she said.

Monmouth and Ocean officials are still backing the Monmouth Junction route as the preferred alternative.

"McLaughlin and Associates did a phone survey in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties, and 78 percent of the residents (who were called) favor the Monmouth Junction alignment," Goldschlag said. "To me that shows a lot of support for it."

Three municipalities in Middlesex County have opposed that alignment. But the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers endorses the route.

NJ Transit officials don't plan to select a route until after public hearings are held on the impact study.

That study will include the three potential routes, Stessel said. Once the study is complete, public hearings will be held. Once those comments are reviewed, a decision on one route will be made, Stessel said.

So far $6.7 million has been budgeted for that study, Stessel said. In 2001, a contract was awarded to Systra of Bloomfield, which has been working on the impact study since then, he said.

Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.

[Tom V]

NJ Transit studying hybrid trains

Plan could mean fewer connections
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/21/06
BY LARRY HIGGS
STAFF WRITER

For riders of NJ Transit lines requiring passengers to change from diesel to electric-powered trains in mid-commute, a one-seat ride might be coming down the track.

NJ Transit officials are considering using dual-mode locomotives — which can be powered either by diesel engine or overhead electric wires — as a way to give an uninterrupted ride to passengers on the Raritan Valley Line and the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Mid-dlesex line.

NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington said dual-mode locomotives also could be used to extend service on the Montclair-Boonton line west to Port Morris, Morris County, and possibly for seven to eight miles on the Lackawanna Cutoff into Sussex County.

All this is predicated on the implementation of the hybrid locomotives and the building of the proposed $7.2 billion Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, called THE Tunnel, which is gathering support and funding, Warrington said.

"We would be sacrificing a huge opportunity if we didn't plan the railroad system in New Jersey to use that capacity," War-rington said.

http://app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AI ... /608210333

[lensovet]

tom, could you edit your post to include the whole article? thanks...