(The following article by Tom Hester Jr. was posted on the Trenton Times website on May 4.)
TRENTON, N.J. — NJ Transit could begin its first extended rail service into Pennsylvania under a plan that calls for it to take over operation of Amtrak’s Clocker trains, which travel daily between Philadelphia and New York City during rush hour.
But while rail advocates are excited that the impending switch offers the possibility of low-cost, one-seat rides from Philadelphia through Mercer County to New York, NJ Transit said it hasn’t decided whether it’s going to continue running Clockers between Trenton and Philadelphia.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington said.
NJ Transit is expected to take over the Clockers in 2006.
“Hopefully we’ll see something come about that would benefit the region,” said Donald Nigro, president of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, which hopes NJ Transit continues running the service between the two major cities.
Still, a New Jersey state senator won’t be as enthusiastic if NJ Transit funds rail operations into Pennsylvania to Philadelphia.
“That’s something I’m going to be keeping a very close eye on,” said Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Lawrence, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Amtrak and NJ Transit said it’s sensible for NJ Transit to assume responsibility for the Clockers because most of the people who ride those trains board them in New Jersey and use NJ Transit passes.
According to Amtrak, from October through March, 975,501 people rode the Clockers, an average of about 162,580. Of those riders, about 86 percent used NJ Transit monthly and weekly passes, according to statistics provided by the national railroad.
“It is just more logical for NJ Transit to operate the service,” said Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel.
Warrington said NJ Transit would also save $6 million per year by taking over the Clockers, which run three times in the morning and four times in the evening.
“There’s always the opportunity to save money,” Warrington said, adding taking over the Clockers also gives NJ Transit more control over their reliability and service.– — —
Clockers terminate their runs at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Station in New York, making stops, depending on the train, at North Philadelphia, Cornwells Heights, Trenton, Princeton Junction, New Brunswick, Metropark, Newark Liberty International Airport and Newark.
The Clocker service features three northbound trains in the morning and four southbound in the evening. The Clockers have a one-way fare of $49 for a trip from Philadelphia to New York that, according to the schedule, takes about one hour and 50 minutes.
Taking SEPTA and NJ Transit – including the Trenton Train Station transfer dubbed the “Trenton shuffle” by rail advocates – to New York costs $17.40 one-way and takes nearly 2 1/2 hours.
Another option would involve taking PATCO from Philadelphia to Camden, then taking the River Line to Trenton and transferring to New York, but that would take nearly three hours and involve two transfers, though it’s the cheapest trip at $12.65.
Warrington said Amtrak began cross-honoring NJ Transit monthly and weekly passes on the Clockers in the 1980s, when NJ Transit faced capacity problems and Clockers served as an alternative to crowded Northeast Corridor trains. He said NJ Transit has been reimbursing Amtrak about $12 million per year for that service.
Once NJ Transit takes over the Clockers, it won’t have to reimburse Amtrak but will spend about $6 million per year in operating costs, leading to the $6 million in annual savings, Warrington said.
While the agreement between the two agencies calls for a 2006 switch, Warrington said he has challenged his staff to see if it can be completed sooner. Once NJ Transit takes over the trains, Warrington said, Clocker fares will be switched to NJ Transit rates, and the schedule is expected to remain the same.
“In a relative sense, they behave as express trains,” he said.– — —
While it would give up the Clocker, Amtrak would retain its 11 other routes that run from Philadelphia through Trenton to New York, including the Acela, Regional and Keystone services.
But a recent study for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission mentioned NJ Transit’s impending Clocker takeover as a possibility to offer inexpensive, one-seat train service between Philadelphia and New York, as opposed to more costly Amtrak runs and the SEPTA-NJ Transit trip that requires a Trenton transfer.
The study said several funding and other issues would have to be resolved if NJ Transit ran Clockers into Philadelphia, including funding the operating costs in Pennsylvania, access rights to SEPTA’s service area and NJ Transit’s plan to store the trains at its Morrisville Yard, rather than in New York or Philadelphia.
Warrington estimated NJ Transit would decide in the next few months whether to continue running Clockers into Philadelphia. NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said the agency hasn’t decided whether NJ Transit would pay for rail service in Pennsylvania, should it run Clockers to Philadelphia.
“It’s very premature to say who or what would pay for anything,” Hackett said.
SEPTA didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Turner said she would be concerned if NJ Transit continues Clocker service to Philadelphia with New Jersey money.
“We shouldn’t be subsidizing people who live in Pennsylvania by any means,” Turner said. “If they’re going to share in the benefit of having that line, they should share in the cost of paying for it.”
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission study estimated one-seat commuter rail service between Philadelphia and New York would attract at least 1,924 weekday passengers. It found room for 16 one-way trips per day between the cities, with the trip taking about one hour and 50 minutes with a $25 one-way fare.– — —
Nigro, who was involved in the group that initiated the study, said there’s a “huge market” of middle-class people waiting for inexpensive train travel between the two major cities. He said the association hopes NJ Transit won’t just continue Clocker service between Philadelphia and New York but expand the service beyond weekday rush hours.
Nigro said the Clockers are fast but too expensive for most, while the SEPTA-NJ Transit transfer in Trenton is cheaper but inefficient and the trip too long. The Trenton transfer also poses the risk of missing a train, he said.
“Few people have patience for the Trenton shuffle, and the middle-class doesn’t have the wallet to travel on Amtrak,” Nigro said.
Douglas John Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, said the switch would be logical and relieve Amtrak of having to carry NJ Transit customers, but raised concern about cutting the Philadelphia run out of the Clocker service.
“Even discussing jettisoning Philadelphia kind of defeats the purpose,” Bowen said.
He said it makes little sense for NJ Transit to take over the Clockers if running trains to Philadelphia doesn’t continue and said his group doesn’t oppose NJ Transit spending money to carry passengers to Philadelphia.
“We’re not beholden to being held by the Delaware River,” he said.
Warrington said NJ Transit would have moved years ago to take over the Clockers if it had enough capacity to handle the switch. He said the agency has been addressing that in recent years with locomotive and rail car purchases.
NJ Transit’s board authorized $164 million to buy 29 new electric locomotives, including five for the Clocker takeover, and $243 million to buy 100 multilevel cars with an option to buy 131 more, including 46 that would be used to replace the Clocker.