NJ Transit director says he’s holding Amtrak ‘feet to the fire’ to ensure brutal weekday train delays don’t hurt passengers all summer — even as the two agencies trade responsibility for some of the problems.
On Friday, service to and from New York’s Penn Station was interrupted for hours during the morning rush hour and Midtown Direct trains were temporarily diverted to Hoboken. It was the third time commuters found themselves stranded and frustrated this week as a heat wave ushered in the summer season and sent temperatures into the 90s.
“Our riders don’t care who is ultimately to blame,” said Kevin Corbett, CEO of NJ Transit. “They buy a ticket. They want to get from point A to point B. They want to get to work on time. They want to get home or to their kids’ game on time, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s us or Amtrak.”
NJ Transit uses Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tracks in the northern part of the state. Corbett estimated that 60 percent of NJ Transit trains use the corridor for at least some of their trips. Amtrak has shouldered some of the blame, but the agency recently told Gov. Phil Murphy that it also believed some problems were caused by the NJ Transit trains’ pantograph — a device that distributes power to the top of the train — which was stuck in the Amtrak overhead cables.
In alerts Friday morning, NJ Transit blamed overhead wiring issues for the hours-long service interruptions. Amtrak alerts describing Amtrak’s own delays and cancellations pointed to a broken-down commuter train in New York. But NJ Transit said in a statement that the train was “thoroughly inspected” before leaving Newark and no problems were found, including with its pantograph.
In a statement Friday, Amtrak President Roger Harris apologized to customers for this week’s service delays in the New York area, which he attributed to “a unique combination of events.” .
“While we are always investigating the root cause of each delay, we know that yesterday a circuit breaker powering our trains experienced a catastrophic failure on one of the hottest days of the year and a serious fire “Bush damage also occurred near our tracks,” Harris said. “Additionally, we are working with our partners at NJ Transit to understand and resolve recent disruptions associated with NJT trains operating on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor infrastructure, which appear unique to the equipment and area. We have established a joint team with NJT to identify the source. of this damage and implement improvements.
Corbett said NJ Transit makes 700 train trips a day on 500 miles of track and most problems occur on a 10-mile stretch between Newark and New York. This section is owned and maintained by Amtrak.
He said the fundamental problem lies in the aging infrastructure of 100-year-old rail lines, which have not received the kind of investment needed to keep up with modern usage.
“Amtrak is trying to do the best it can, and they now have real money to start doing it, but there is a long litany of infrastructure challenges, particularly between Newark and New York Penn Station,” he said. Corbett said.
Until the system receives much-needed investments planned through the Gateway Tunnel project – which will build a second tunnel under the Hudson River for Amtrak and NJ Transit – transit agencies must find short-term solutions, a added Corbett. The Gateway project is not expected to be completed for a decade.
“We can maintain our system,” Corbett said. “I know we have a high level of confidence in our system. We want to work with (Amtrak). We’ve offered them our equipment, our expertise to help them if they need it. But there are a number of problems There is no quick fix that can solve this problem.
Tom Wright, director of the Regional Planning Association, a policy advocacy organization for the tri-state region, said Amtrak and NJ Transit have generally worked well together on projects like Gateway. But he said the problems facing rail services boil down to “decades of underinvestment”, and cited the government of the day. Chris Christie’s decision in 2010 to cancel the ARC Tunnel Project, a predecessor to Gateway that would have built a new tunnel under the Hudson River.
“The problem with these kinds of large, complex systems is that it takes a long time to make decisions, bad decisions that have been made in the past,” Wright said. That leaves the infrastructure that both NJ Transit and Amtrak depend on extremely vulnerable, he added.
“What we saw this week is that the system is only as strong as its weakest link,” Wright said. “Things like extreme heat – and we could have big storms this fall – can all disrupt different parts of the system. Whether it’s a signal outage, a broken train, catenary problems, a lightning strike, a fire, any of these events can really disrupt the system.
Travel to and from New York’s Penn Station was also slowed Tuesday by a broken train, and commuters were stranded Thursday due to power problems. Along with Friday’s disruptions, these are the latest issues since May 22, when service suspensions led to hours of delays during the evening commute, causing problems until the next morning.
In response to the May incident, Governor Murphy sent a letter to Amtrak requesting a meeting, and Amtrak and NJ Transit committed to better communication and collaboration. Earlier this month, the rail service announced it would create new protocols to share information and more effectively coordinate service adjustments to facilitate repairs and other maintenance. But Murphy said this week that the ongoing problems were “unacceptable” and pledged to look into them further.
“We told them we were willing to give more, to change our schedule to give them larger windows so we could make the necessary repairs,” Corbett of NJ Transit said Friday. “Let’s put the bullshit aside, get everyone in the same room. »
Another potential problem looms for NJ Transit commuters: Even after recently approved fair hikes, the agency faces a budget shortfall expected to reach $1 billion in the fiscal year beginning in July 2025.
Murphy proposed reinstating a version of a corporate tax surcharge to provide NJ Transit with a dedicated funding source. He and the New Jersey state legislature must agree on a budget by July 1.
Sean Carlson and Joseph Capriglione contributed reporting.