Wesmont Station

Most trains skip Garfield already. The new station will probably make even fewer trains stop there.

They are building a walkway from where Highland Avenue makes a turn to the northeast to the station. It goes along the back of the houses on Joselyn Avenue. It seems like that it will be just about as wide as a sidewalk and probably constructed in such a manner. It is most certainly doable by May 15th.

Walkway from street is complete. It is bare asphalt (cheapest thing they could do). This probably means that the station will actually open with the next schedule change for walk up customers. There is no visible activity on the parking lots (I suspect the contracts are not even awarded yet given that NJTransit has no money to pay for them).

New fence on the north side of the pedestrian walkway separating it from the future parking lot has been installed. The south side had already been fenced by the virtue of bordering private residences in that direction.

With the opening of Westmont Station less than 3 weeks away who wants to put some fun bets on how many trains are going to be axed from Garfield. Since the new parking lot is not open yet, a full axing may not be in effect yet which will make the betting interesting. I'm going to say 6 trains on weekdays (3 each way will be chopped) and 2 trains (one each way) on weekends... One should note that the Garfield Station parking lot has been closed for some time now. (not sure how long that's been) but I noticed it a week or two ago..

Does some know how many cars the platform fits? I estimate no more than 4. I guess the annoying "walk back to exit" is not going away. Given that it was a new station why didn't they make it at least 6 cars? Are they not trying to get rid of that "walk back to exit" that no matter what they do will delay trains because someone will always not be paying attention and not walk back early enough?

As for the axing, if the lots at Plauderville are not fully sold out, they should axe it now, otherwise they should axe it once the lots open and everyone who used Garfield is given the option of driving and parking at Wesmont. Anyone who walked to Garfield and cannot drive is going to lose out unfortunately. Nevertheless, I think you are right and it will not be axed now. They will wait for another 2-3 years reducing service periodically until only a few walk up customers are left.

The new station seems pretty long, are you sure it does not accommodate 6 train cars? I guess I am preparing to the fact that my daily commute is going to be at least 10 minutes longer per day. Oh well... Any idea which BC will be stopping at Wesmont?

The idea that one should have to obtain a car to get to a new station when there was a walk-up station downtown is ridiculous.

According to Google Earth ruler calculations from a October 2014 snapshot, the station platform is roughly 290 feet long.

GojiMet86 wrote:According to Google Earth ruler calculations from a October 2014 snapshot, the station platform is roughly 290 feet long.

Thank you for the measurement. A Comet V car is listed on Wikipedia at 85ft, so the platform fits about 3.5 cars. With the first and the last car opening only one door at the platform that means they can platform all sets up to 5 cars, but not the ones with 6 cars which will have one car with all doors off the platform. I believe I have not seen a regularly scheduled 7 cars or longer set that runs local. I think Plauderville is longer and platforms 6 car sets with only the rear door of the first car on the platform.

ryanov wrote:The idea that one should have to obtain a car to get to a new station when there was a walk-up station downtown is ridiculous.

I agree with you, but the reality is that Garfield should have done something about it way back when...Maybe allow redevelopment of the area around the station to increase the number of rail users or find space for a meaningful parking lot (the existing one was laughable; it is not as of the area does not have a bunch of unused industrial buildings and lots). I suspect it is too late now.

EuroStar wrote:

GojiMet86 wrote:According to Google Earth ruler calculations from a October 2014 snapshot, the station platform is roughly 290 feet long.

Thank you for the measurement. A Comet V car is listed on Wikipedia at 85ft, so the platform fits about 3.5 cars. With the first and the last car opening only one door at the platform that means they can platform all sets up to 5 cars, but not the ones with 6 cars which will have one car with all doors off the platform. I believe I have not seen a regularly scheduled 7 cars or longer set that runs local. I think Plauderville is longer and platforms 6 car sets with only the rear door of the first car on the platform.

ryanov wrote:The idea that one should have to obtain a car to get to a new station when there was a walk-up station downtown is ridiculous.

I agree with you, but the reality is that Garfield should have done something about it way back when...Maybe allow redevelopment of the area around the station to increase the number of rail users or find space for a meaningful parking lot (the existing one was laughable; it is not as of the area does not have a bunch of unused industrial buildings and lots). I suspect it is too late now.

That's NJ Transit for you. Pretty Stupid. MNRR has a 7 car that occasionally runs local during the midday hours.

Unfortunately they are setting it up for a Great Notchn'. Until then yes I would estimate at least 2-3 minutes more to the commute which almost puts the BCL at a dead even tie for time with the Main Line. Weekend runs from Ridgewood to Secaucus are currently 37 minutes MAIN vs. 33 minutes BCL.

6 cars is the max for Bergen Line trains and I would think 6 would be for very few trains during an average weekday. If the 7 car MTA train was running during off peak hours, probably only 3-4 would be open. Nevertheless, if they had the room, I don't know why they wouldn't have just made at least the westbound platform longer.

There is now a page about the new station on the NJT website: http://www.njtransit.com/var/var_servle ... =WesmontTo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The new schedules are on the website. Two minutes were added to all trains that stop at Wesmont. A few trains actually skip the station. Garfield seems to not have lost any trains unless I missed something.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/sing ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A clear focus is placed on transit-oriented development, the two partners say, with pedestrian and cycle routes being developed to serve local residential areas. However, the station will also feature a 215-space car park,‘This station will be primed to provide easy connections for nearby residents to get anywhere in the tri-state region and beyond.’

Aside from being shocked that this warranted an article on railwaygazette, Seems a little glossy to what is actually going on. Also no note made of the irony of a supposed "Transit Oriented Development" including massive Surface Lot