Non-Amtrak NEC Status (Re: NER 188)

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SEPTA (specifically regional rail operations) (https://twitter.com/septa)%C2 NJ Transit will, needless to say, be very busy the coming days (https://twitter.com/njtransit). Both have already provided service updates.

MARC has put out an official statement (https://twitter.com/mtamaryland/status/598327315014246400)%C2 that all their train services should be running normal, but that Amtrak #151 and 181 which serve MARC ticket and pass holders from Perryville to points south, will not operate.


I do not expect that VRE (https://twitter.com/varailxpress), MNRR (https://twitter.com/metronorthtweet), CDOT/SLE (https://twitter.com/shorelineeast), and MBTA (https://twitter.com/mbta) will need to change service levels.


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Presumably the Northeastern bus providers will see an immediate uptick in demand beginning tomorrow morning. This will include both publicly-supported commuter buses (like NJ Transit's commuter buses) as well as private intercity operators, like Greyhound, Megabus, Boltbus, etc.


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Also, I presume that the business travel segment of the market will be switching to flights, so expect shuttle flights, but DCA-NYC and NYC-BOS to really be crammed in particular.
 
And of course there is the River Line from Camden to Trenton which is likely to get a lot more business over the coming days as the investigation continues.
 
Won't Amtrak be able to operate from NYP- BOS and between PHL 30th Street Station and WAS?

And will the LD Trains have to terminate in WAS or PHL instead of NYP!
 
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As far as the LDs are concerned, it seems that it's to Amtrak's advantage to get their passengers as close to the disrupted area as possible, so PHL would be the place to originate / terminate the LDs. There's a yard there, and it's a shorter non-train ride for folks going north of the derailment site. Service / stocking the equipment might be an issue, though.

Once a couple of tracks open up, could Amtrak conceivably operate the LDs with diesel up to Newark where passengers could transfer?
 
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This is the latest from the Amtrak site about their service, but I wonder what trains (Amtrak, SEPTA, NJT) have to be cancelled because equipment required is north of Philadelphia or in Philadelphia/south and cannot go north?

On Wednesday, May 13, modified Amtrak service will be provided between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston. There will be no Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia, but New Jersey Transit will honor Amtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton.

Other Amtrak Service between New York and Albany-Rensselaer; New Haven and Springfield, Mass., and other points will operate.
 
I came through TRE on my morning commute, and the NJT cross-honoring of Amtrak tickets seemed to be working well for anyone who was able to find another way as far as Trenton. There were customer assistance people (not usual at TRE), and, except for one NJT train cancelled because of equipment failure, the regular NJT commuter trains between Trenton and New York were running on time. (I was there between 7:30 and 8:00.)

At that time, they said SEPTA was not going to run at all today. RiverLine light rail (which is on the NJ side of the river) was fine, and Patco's website says it is running. But Patco to RiverLine to NJT is a long, long commute--by the time you'd get to work, it would be time to turn around and go home!

Sorry to post so late about this, but I posted it in the "breaking news" thread before I realized this one was here.
 
Clarification--sorry: They said SEPTA was not going to run at all between Trenton and Philly today. (I didn't mean not running anywhere at all!) (I can't find an update on their website, so don't know what the latest status is.)
 
SEPTA has a statement that extra trains are running on the WEST Trenton Line (it's an ex-Redding I believe Railroad and arrives at the Market East end of the downtown tunnel, not the 30th Street end).
 
SubwayNut said:
SEPTA has a statement that extra trains are running on the WEST Trenton Line (it's an ex-Redding I believe Railroad and arrives at the Market East end of the downtown tunnel, not the 30th Street end).
Click to expand...
Are there still tracks between West Trenton and Bound Brook? I recall that back in the good old days the Reading ran a couple of trains from Philly to Newark/Jersey City via West Trenton and Bound Brook. I wonder if they could run some Regionals From Philly to NY by routing them to the upper level at 30th St., through the Center City tunnel, then SEPTA to West Trenton, and NJT to Newark, where the train could then continue to NYP. Of course, the track between West Trenton and Bound Brook needs to be there. Plus, the coordination required between Amtrak, SEPTA, and NJT might be too much as well. And I'm not sure that all of the track is electrified, either, so they'd need to use a diesel loco in places. Oh well, it's an idea....
 
jis said:
MARC Rider said:
Are there still tracks between West Trenton and Bound Brook?
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Yes. And no the track between West Trenton and CP Hunter on the NEC via Bound Brook and Aldene is not electrified
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In that case an eastbound train would terminate at Newark. Everybody would pile out and onto a PATH train or take one of the regional trains to New York. Same thing in reverse, going west.

jb
 
Looks like bus bridges are the best temporary solution for Amtrak between PHL and NYP!

Anyone who has commuted on PATH, NJT and SEPTA trains would probably agree more passengers are not needed on these trains!

Disclaimer: it's been 20 years since I lived in the NE so I could be wrong??
 
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Mystic River Dragon said:
RiverLine light rail (which is on the NJ side of the river) was fine, and Patco's website says it is running. But Patco to RiverLine to NJT is a long, long commute--by the time you'd get to work, it would be time to turn around and go home!
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No good for a commute, but for people trying to get from DC to Boston or something like that, it would be the way to go.
 
jis said:
MARC Rider said:
Are there still tracks between West Trenton and Bound Brook?
Click to expand...
Yes. And no the track between West Trenton and CP Hunter on the NEC via Bound Brook and Aldene is not electrified
Click to expand...
The real problem is that the track between West Trenton and Bound Brook is still owned by a "freight railroad". Getting detour permission and being able to run on a schedule is therefore nearly impossible.
 
neroden said:
Mystic River Dragon said:
RiverLine light rail (which is on the NJ side of the river) was fine, and Patco's website says it is running. But Patco to RiverLine to NJT is a long, long commute--by the time you'd get to work, it would be time to turn around and go home!
Click to expand...
No good for a commute, but for people trying to get from DC to Boston or something like that, it would be the way to go.
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Good point, neroden. I'm so used to using NJT just for commuting that I forgot that it (and Patco) could be a helpful link for a longer distance.
 
I think Amtrak could get regionals from the upper level of 30th Street to West Trenton. There would have to be a diesel hauled bridge from there to Bound Brook. I'd vote for a diesel bridge between Woodbourne and NJT's Morrisville service facility - it's less than four miles, so you could just drop the pantograph and haul the train without HEP. It would still require the cooperation of SEPTA and NS, who runs a fair amount of intermodal over the cutoff. And I wonder whether Acelas could navigate the curves at30th St or Jefferson.

Oh, and CSX is currently building a third track north of Woodbourne, so there are slow zones there.
 
As expected, demand is shifting onto alternative modes in the Northeast, and quickly.

Greyhound has added ten round trips between Philadelphia and New York and is honoring Amtrak tickets - https://twitter.com/greyhoundbus. Delta and US Air are adding capacity on the DC-NY air shuttle service. No word on other major carriers in the region, but I presume that Boltbus and Megabus are also witnessing significant increases in demand. That said, unless you're willing to pay a significant price, you basically can't catch a flight between DCA-LGA - https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status/598566431949729795
 
May I shed a little light on the former Reading line to Bound Brook? I believe in the distant past corridor trains may have been diverted this way occasionally, but certainly not in recent times. This used to be the route that long distance Baltimore and Ohio trains would take to reach the CNJ Terminal in Jersey City, also distant history.

In the not so distant past there were two Reading trains per day, known as the " Wall Street " and " Crusader " that were two and three car RDC trains that operated from Philadelphia Reading Terminal via Jenkintown and West Trenton up to join the CNJ ( Central of New Jersey ) line ( now the Raritan Line ) terminating at Newark Penn Station and were stored during the day at Harrison Yard. New Jersey transit took over all these commuter lines on January 1, 1983. At that time the two trains from Philadelphia were dropped and were replaced by one daily train from West Trenton to Newark, which operated with a locomotive and two old CNJ coaches that were deadheaded to and from Raritan Yard via Bound Brook. When I was working as a Crew Dispatcher at Hoboken Terminal during 1983, I rode the engine from Newark Penn to West Trenton and back to Raritan. I remember exactly who the crew was that day, There was a loyal group of commuters.

Later in 1983, I don't remember exactly when, the trip to West Trenton was discontinued, which were Trains 5600 and 5601. I don't know the particulars, but I think it had something to do with Conrail wanted to single track the double track ex-Reading line, which was done and is how it remains today east of West Trenton. I also recall a few days before service ended, one of the CNJ conductors told me on the phone: " You wouldn't believe what I saw today. The train stopped at Belle Mead and a contractor was pouring asphalt for a new platform!" Isn't bureacracy wonderful?

I am staying in Princeton, NJ tonight and went for a drive mainly for the purpose of going up the Delaware River. I stopped at the beautiful old Hopewell station, now used as a community center and some kind of office is in there, and also West Trenton, which has the electrified SEPTA service to Philadelphia. There was a small midday crowd taking that train, some of whom had arrived in a taxi from Trenton station, due to the Amtrak wreck last night.

Some of the ideas presented in this thread about detouring Amtrak trains up this line, where I did see a freight train today, are I am afraid pretty far-fetched.
 
AlexandriaVATraveler said:
As expected, demand is shifting onto alternative modes in the Northeast, and quickly.

Greyhound has added ten round trips between Philadelphia and New York and is honoring Amtrak tickets - https://twitter.com/greyhoundbus. Delta and US Air are adding capacity on the DC-NY air shuttle service. No word on other major carriers in the region, but I presume that Boltbus and Megabus are also witnessing significant increases in demand. That said, unless you're willing to pay a significant price, you basically can't catch a flight between DCA-LGA - https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status/598566431949729795
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I wonder if Amtrak is paying for Greyhound to honor tickets, or if Greyhound is doing it as an act of good faith and maybe win over some new passengers in the process.
 
If Greyhound has any open seats, then it's no direct cost to them and they very well may see this as an opportunity to both be a good citizen AND indeed attract some new customers.

I find the DC-NY run to be quite fine. I'm pretty price conscious so I typically Greyhound/Peter Pan from DC to NY when traveling to NYC (or beyond in the Northeast). I mean, the PA Bus Terminal is nothing fancy, but is Penn Station really much better? And facilities are shared in DC (Union Station), so a push on the sound end.
 
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