(The following article by Khurram Saeed was posted on the Journal News website on October 30.)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — This is the time of year when New Yorkers turn their clocks back one hour and NJ Transit riders receive new train schedules.
Both happened today.
“It happens every six months, whether you like it or not,” Metro-North Railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said of the scheduling changes. Metro-North contracts with NJ Transit to provide train service to New York riders.
Commuters need not worry, as no drastic changes are in store.
Most trains on the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines will be affected by a few minutes – if that.
For example, the train that left at 5:28 a.m. from Suffern now leaves at 5:36 a.m., arriving in Secaucus three minutes later. Some Pascack Valley trains will leave Secaucus later, such as the 6:39 p.m., which now departs from the New Jersey station at 6:41 p.m.
Riders who travel to and from New York’s Pennsylvania Station via Secaucus Junction are most likely to experience changes in connection times – up to 7 minutes earlier or 8 minutes later.
About 1,000 riders from Rockland and Orange counties transfer at Secaucus in the morning and evening.
Riders are asked to check schedules for the new times.
Joel Hershkowitz was relieved to hear that the Pascack Valley evening express train to Rockland would not be affected.
The New City man, who uses the Nanuet station, said NJ Transit’s recent moves had made it easier to get better connections to Manhattan and left enough time to get from one train to another.
“They’re doing the best they can with the equipment they have and the space they have,” said Hershkowitz.
Usually, schedules are adjusted to accommodate track work, nearby construction or to create local or express routes.
Because NJTransit is adding a couple of trains to its weekday Northeast Corridor and NorthJersey Coast lines, it has had to tweak the timing of its other trains. The trains are slotted in a particular order so they can share the crowded rails and the Amtrak-owned tunnel under the Hudson River.
“When you make adjustments to trains by even just a few minutes, it can have a rippling effect,” NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said.
The new timetables are available at NJTransit stations, Secaucus Junction and Penn Station.
The timetables should be good through next spring.