www.dailyprincetonian.com
Prof. Nigel Wilson at MIT used to make the point that transportation companies / authorities become obsessed with killing some minor operation and waste time and public relations fruitlessly. Higher costs are often hidden in major operations. It rang true when he said that as I recalled incidents that fit those descriptions.
My guess, having dealt with the geniuses from Princeton, is that they are saying Light Rail to placate the rail advocates. At the end of the day they will convert the line to a busway with BRT service and ditch the whole light rail idea using cost as an excuse to do so. For reasons unknown to me Princeton University has been working diligently to get rid of that branch line for decades now.
The journey downhill at NJT began after Jeff Warsh and Shirley DiLibero. The great George Warrington, whom NJT memorialized by naming the Plaza adjacent to Hoboken Station after him, played a huge role in ordering inappropriate equipment and in one fell swoop slowed down all suburban service schedule by 10 to 20 minutes. They tried to expand their fiefdom by trying to build a dead end terminal under the Macy's basement two blocks away from Penn Station, which was thankfully blocked even though possibly for the wrong reason. And then they drowned half their fleet in a Storm Surge during Hurricane Sandy while almost failing to meet the PTC deadline And the beat just goes on - or so it has seemed to those of us who have been at NJ-ARP for decades.
Definitely not after NECIP caused the Nassau universal crossover to be removed and Nassau interlocking discontinued. There is no way to get from/to the NEC from the branch without a reverse move and absolutely no way to get to the normally eastbound tracks at all other than by running down to either Ham or Midway on track 4.
Princeton would shut this down before that idea leaves a single persons mouth. The university paid top dollar to shorten the route to build additional buildings there. The U wants little to do with the dinkie, it’s mostly used during reunions and by commuters, only a tiny bit of the ridership is from students. I ride it 2-3x a week.
Big hill to climb from the station to Nassau street, there’s no parking to begin with and no place to add a light rail without killing traffic or displacing a Princeton U building (which wouldn’t happen in a million years). New station is a horrible idea because it would cut down frequency dramatically. Dinkie usually operates more trips each day than the schedule dictates (they just have to make the scheduled trips, they will often make an extra one if a train shows up early or late)
The June 1916 Guide shows at least two through trains, one round trip to Philadelphia and one round trip to Trenton. It is a bit hard to follow as it is squeezed into the NYP<>PHL schedules.
Both of those would have required reversal at Nassau interlocking just East of Princeton Jct.
On a day trip to Princeton, I passed by the old station (now a restaurant) and paced the distance from the old station to the new station -- about 1,000 feet (300 meters), or a 5-minute walk. The old station was nowhere near Nassau St., sp even in the old days, a considerable walk through the campus was required to get to the business district. That could be why the University has never been keen on the service. At least with the new station, there's a path to allow people to walk to downtown via a public street that avoids the campus, plus there's room for numerous bus connections.
It is possible that there was a wye at Princeton Jct. Would be worth looking such up. Upto now I have not come across it.
