(The following article by Joe Malinconico was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger’s website on July 24.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Sure, July has tormented NJ Transit’s 100,000 rail commuters with tedious delays and aggravating cancellations, prompting the agency to hand out its first-ever wholesale refunds.
But passengers say this month’s woes are nothing new, just the latest in ongoing troubles that have made rail commuting in New Jersey an exercise in uncertainty. Indeed, NJ Transit’s own statistics show the agency has been in something of a slump.
Since October, NJ Transit missed its self-imposed goal of running 95 percent of its trains on time in every month except March. Over that same period, the agency’s on-time numbers came in lower than the previous year for nine of the past 10 months.
Just about everything has contributed to the delays. They started in the fall when wet leaves made the tracks slippery, and continued through the winter snowstorms. Even June’s brief hot spell slowed a few trains.
NJ Transit has had difficulties breaking in its newest trains and endured occasional breakdowns of its old equipment. A derailment, suspicious packages, a truck’s hazardous waste spill, a construction crane on a barge hitting a train bridge, water in a tunnel, frozen switches, stuck signals, people committing suicide on the tracks — you name it, they all have taken their toll on the rail schedules.
“Every month, there seems to be some new reason why they can’t run their trains on time,” said Tony Christiano, who rides the Raritan Valley Line.
“Why only July? That was my first reaction when I heard about the refunds,” said Eric Bray, who rides the Morris & Essex Line from Madison. “It’s been consistently bad before this. What’s going to happen in the fall when they have the wet leaves again? Are they going to give us another refund?”
Because of all the problems this month, the agency Tuesday announced it would give monthly ticket holders a 15 percent refund on their July passes.
NJ Transit officials say they want to operate the trains well enough so there won’t be a need for any more refunds. But running more than 650 trains a day along some of the busiest railroad tracks in the country can be intricate work, they said.
“Most of these delays were the result of extraordinary circumstances,” said agency spokeswoman Lynn Bowersox. “When one of these things happens, it gives you a cascading effect, especially during rush hour. The number of trains delayed become compounded.”
The agency’s executive director, George Warrington, took over in May 2002 emphasizing a “back-to-basics” approach, targeting problems like overcrowding, inadequate parking at rail stations and dirty trains.
Bowersox said customers also can expect improvements in the agency’s on-time performance.
For example, she said, the agency is purchasing high-pressure jet-sprayers that will clear the tracks of fallen leaves this autumn. Also, she said, the computer bugs that plagued new trains last fall have been resolved.
“We’re very optimistic. In fact, we’re confident that we’re going to see a good rebound in reliability,” she said.
Mary Beth Jahn decided not to stick around to see whether NJ Transit makes good on that prediction.
“I gave up on the trains,” said Jahn, who had been riding NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line from Long Branch for almost eight years until she changed her commute in June. “You get stuck on a train and you can’t get out. How many nights are going to ruin? You can’t keep doing that forever.”
Now Jahn drives to Jersey City, hops on a light-rail train for a short trip to the ferry to Manhattan. Kerry Harrington, another frustrated rail commuter, has considered switching to a bus from Morris County to Manhattan.
“Three years ago, when I started taking the train, it was good,” said Harrington, who rides the Midtown Direct. “The past year has been the worst. Absolutely. Maybe it’s good for two weeks and then two weeks it’s awful.”
Take Tuesday night, for example. Harrington said she heard there were 30-minute delays out of New York Penn Station, so she took a PATH train to Hoboken, figuring she would avoid the problem. But the train she caught in Hoboken changed its schedule and stopped at every station along the line. Instead of a one-hour ride, it took her 90 minutes to get from Hoboken to Morristown.
“I wish I had a better option,” Harrington said. “But the thought of taking the bus doesn’t thrill me.”
Some advocacy groups say NJ Transit has been hamstrung by inadequate funding to do all the maintenance needed to keep the railroad running smoothly.
“They have never been able to put enough money into a lot of things that need it,” said Bill Wright, a director with the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.
“It’s really Trenton that’s going to have to address this,” said Jon Orcutt, assistant director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a watchdog group. “The state has some catching up to do.”
For its part, NJ Transit is not blaming the delays on funding shortages.
Riders are eager for change, no matter what the reasons for the delays.
“Whatever small adverse condition they have, it completely throws them into a tailspin,” said Richard duBusc, who takes Midtown Direct trains from Short Hills. “They have been abysmal.”
Added Ken Dominski of Franklin: “For our $3,000 a year, just get us home on time.”