(Newsday posted the following Associated Press article on its website on October 19.)
GLEN RIDGE, N.J. — Leaves on the tracks have forced a New Jersey Transit train to pull up a few cars short of the platform so the commuter train’s locomotive can get a 200-foot running start to climb a hill.
The solution to the slick tracks, caused by oils from crushed fallen leaves, has prompted complaints from riders about longer waits as passengers exited the train single file.
“They have these bigger and more powerful locomotives and they have to stop 200 feet short in the station to get a running start? It’s a major inconvenience for us,” commuter Glenn Ball told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark.
Because of such complaints, NJ Transit has revised its approach, with engineers bringing the train at least two or three cars up to the Glen Ridge station.
“If it doesn’t work, we might have to go back to the original plan,” said Angel Soto, a general superintendent for railroad operations.
Engineers will continue to take a running start at the Bernardsville station, where the slope is steeper, while fallen leaves continue to pose problems.
NJ Transit used to manage the autumn problem by clearing tracks with sand and metal brushes. But slippery tracks caused hundreds of delays last year, and some trains had to be canceled because they couldn’t top hills.
This year, NJ Transit has trimmed trees along tracks to minimize the leaf problem and is using a water cannon-like device, called Aqua Track, to blast the rails and clear off the oils.
Transit officials adopted the running start approach at the Glen Ridge station Oct. 1 in case the Aqua Track technique wasn’t effective.
Conductors have urged riders heading to Glen Ridge to sit in the first few cars to hasten their departure from the train.