(The following article by Joe Malinconico was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on April 21.)
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit is adding 34 trains to revised schedules that take effect Sunday, but some passengers are unhappy about impending cutbacks in rush-hour service.
Under the new schedules, commuters from the New Brunswick area will lose an express train during the evening rush hour. Instead, that same train will run express between Newark and Princeton Junction, bypassing stops in Middlesex County.
Meanwhile, construction on a $65 million project at Newark Broad Street station will force elimination of three trains on the Morris and Essex Line.
The new schedules also had included the elimination of a morning rush-hour train on the Montclair-Boonton Line, but transit officials late yesterday backed off that plan after getting numerous complaints from riders.
“It is stressful enough having to commute via (NJ Transit) and, quite frankly, having them limit the options we have is even more than this commuter can take,” said Ilene Mates, a rider on the Montclair-Boonton line.
Overall, NJ Transit’s rail schedule will expand from 692 trains per day to 720. That includes elimination of six trains, the majority of which run during rush hour, and the addition of 34, many of which will run during off-peak hours.
“The adjustments are made to address capacity issues,” NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said.
When cuts have to be made, Hackett said, the changes are designed to “accommodate the greatest number of people.”
Railroad officials struggled to rearrange the schedules to work around the project at Newark Broad Street Station, where one of the three tracks will be closed for much of the next two years. NJ Transit is building new high-level board platforms there to comply with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
In addition to the trains that are being eliminated, other trains will no longer stop at Newark Broad Street because of the project. To compensate for that and to prevent overcrowding, passenger cars may be added to those trains that will continue to stop at Broad Street, officials said.
The new schedules affect each rail line differently.
On the Northeast Corridor Line, NJ Transit is creating a new morning rush-hour train that will run express between Princeton Junction and Newark. Riders from stations in Trenton, Hamilton and Princeton also will benefit from NJ Transit’s plan to change stops made by an evening peak train.
Train 3963, which leaves Manhattan at 5:01 p.m., now runs express to New Brunswick. But starting next week, it will become a Princeton Junction express. That change doesn’t sit too well with New Brunswick riders.
“Maybe it’s paranoia, but I have noticed in the new schedule that while there are now zero express trains to New Brunswick between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., there are now six express trains to Princeton during that time period,” said James Biancamano, a commuter who takes trains from the Jersey Avenue station in New Brunswick.
Hackett said the changes in the Northeast Corridor schedules were designed to handle the large number of riders who commute from the stations at the southern end of the line.
The new schedules are available at NJ Transit’s Web site at http://www.njtransit.com/. Among the other highlights:
# NJ Transit is adding seven new trains on the Montclair-Boonton Line — all during off-peak hours — to handle riders at the new Montclair State University Station.
# The railroad is expanding midday service on the Main and Bergen County lines by having trains run hourly between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., instead of every other hour.
# The Raritan Valley Line is getting a new 9:27 a.m. train from Newark Penn Station to Raritan to fill a gap in outbound service during the morning peak period.
# The North Jersey Coast Line is getting a 3:17 a.m. train from Long Branch to Bay Head, extending overnight service an extra hour in that part of the state.