By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media

Relief for beleaguered PATH riders may come soon with the installation of a new safety system by the end of the year that will allow trains to run more frequently.

As any commuter can tell you overcrowding on PATH trains is out of control. Earlier this week a man who fainted didn't fall because he was wedged against other passengers.

The system, known as Communications Based Train Control, may be running by the end of 2018 or early 2019 at the latest, said Clarelle DeGraffe, deputy director of rail transportation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that operates PATH.

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How will the new system work?

CBTC is the alphabet soup name for a computerized signaling system that will allow trains to run closer together and permit PATH to run trains more frequently. Up to now, trains used an early twentieth century signal system that resembles traffic lights and leaves large spaces of track in between trains. Train operators wait until the light changes before moving.

CBTC can make more efficient use of that space because trains “know” the exact location of the other train, its speed and when it is stopping.

“It cuts down on headways (between trains and cuts down travel times,” DeGraffe said.

Simply said this system allows trains to communicate with each other, which means not as much space is needed between them. It also means shorter wait times between trains for riders and less crowded trains, officials said.

@PATHTrain PLEASE do something about these overcrowded trains! — Jordan Diddy ® (@KrisIsFresh) September 27, 2018

The promise of CBTC is the payoff for riders who’ve coped with reduced and sometimes suspended PATH service on weekend for its construction and installation.

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Overcrowding concerns Mayor.

Chronic overcrowding on PATH led Jersey City Mayor Stephen Fulop to meet with PATH officials after commuter Gary Toriello brought Wednesday’s fainting incident on the crowded train to his attention.

Fulop met with Port Authority officials and “made it really clear about it being a priority for him and made his concerns known to us,” said Kevin O’Toole, board chairman.

“The question of PATH capacity is front and center,” said Rick Cotton, executive director.

Thursday’s commute was no less crowded for Toriello, who was one of the commuters who came to the man’s aid after he passed out

“I waited as 4 full trains passed before I could squeeze onto one,” said Toriello of Jersey City, a PATH commuter for 13 years. “But at least no one fainted on to me. So I guess that is an improvement.”

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(Gary Toriello)

What else can be done about overcrowding?

This is what commuters see during rush hour. A train that arrives filled to the doors with no way to get on. PATH officials are looking at other short term solutions, while waiting for longer term fixes that will take years to come on line, Cotton said.

“We approved a number of new (rail) cars months ago and the effort with Positive Train Control should produce benefits for spacing trains and we are looking hard at other steps,” Cotton said.

It’s kind of messed up how much @PATHTrain warns us about terrorism & tells us to say something if we see something but us commuters are constantly forced on overcrowded platforms. I worry more about being pushed on the tracks by an overzealous jerk than I do about terrorism. — Scarina's Vault (@ScarinasVault) September 27, 2018

In June, the Port Authority approved buying 22 new PATH rail cars for $66 million to allow them to run longer trains to move more people. But it will be several years before those cars are built and running on PATH.

Still, Cotton and O'Toole said the agency is looking at "traditional and out of the box" short term solutions, which haven't reached the point of going out for a proposal.

"You'll hear something from us in a short time," O'Toole said.

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Short stations.

Even when the new rail cars are delivered, there is another problem in the way of running longer trains. The platforms on some stations are too short.

The shortest platforms are in Newport in Jersey City and Hoboken Terminal, which can only hold a seven-car train, DeGraffe said. The platforms at Grove Street and Exchange Place can accommodate an eight-car train, she said.

Those short platforms prevent PATH from running longer 10-car trains that would move more people and relive overcrowding. Forecasts done by PATH said that running 10-car trains would accommodate passenger growth up to 2040, DeGraffe said.

But longer 10-car trains could only be run on the Newark to World Trade Center line, she said. A new Harrison station under construction on that line is designed to handle a 10-car train, she said.

The 33rd Street line stations in New York would need “major reconstruction” to lengthen those station platforms, which would affect the neighborhoods, DeGraffe said. Lengthening the Grove Street station platform also would be a significant project, she said.

So far, platform extension projects aren’t funded in the Port Authority’s current $32 billion, ten-year capital plan.

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(Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

What about the big renovation project at four stations?

The Authority’s board of commissioners approved a $150 million renovation program for four PATH stations Thursday. It will repair problems such as water damage to columns in the Newport station seen here, but that work won’t address PATH’s chronic overcrowding problems.

The planned renovation is for Hoboken, Newport, Exchange Place and Grove Street Stations and is 90 percent funded by the Federal Transit Administration. That work is strictly to fix the lingering salt water damage from Hurricane Sandy that permutes the stations from platform to ceiling, Cotton said.

Although Hurricane Sandy happened in October 2012, PATH is still doing repairs. That includes the station renovation project to remove the latent salt that is eating away at everything. It might be easier to list what’s not being repaired, renovated or replaced.

The station repair and replacement list includes structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems and upgrading station fencing, railings and stairs, rehabilitating staircases, repairing station ceilings, walls and columns, including structural and tile work, and electrical conduit, cable and lighting replacement.

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How will that work affect my ride?

Final designs for the station renovations will be finished in 2019 and construction is scheduled to start in 2020 and finished by 2023, DeGraffe said.

That work will be done outside peak commuting periods to “minimize service disruptions,” she said. Plans are being developed to communicate project related disruptions to riders and PATH officials are looking for ways to accelerate the project.

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(Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Can they lengthen platforms as part of that project?

Sadly, the short answer is no. Here's why.

The station renovation project is only to fix storm damage such as this water damaged wall at the Exchange Place station because it uses federal funds earmarked specifically for Hurricane Sandy rebuilding and resiliency projects.

“The $150 million is for Hurricane Sandy related items and to fix Sandy damage,” Cotton said.

While it would make logistical sense to do the work to lengthen station platforms at the same time, PATH can't add that project on, even if they funded it, officials said.

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How bad is PATH overcrowding?

You mean beside the fact that a man passed out the other day on a train and didn’t fall to the floor?

It’s bad. Commuters said they constantly face trains that arrive packed to the doors that they are unable to get on, platforms crowded to the edge and some short tempers and near panic attacks from their fellow riders on cramped crowded trains.

It's not rider's imagination that more people are on the train. A record breaking 82.8 million riders squeezed on to PATH's trans-Hudson trains in 2017, 4.3 million more than in 2016, according to Port Authority statistics.

“Lengthening the platform might help, if and only if, they then run longer trains,” Toriello, said. “Obviously, just renovating an existing station without adding capacity improvements does nothing to help commuters.”

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(Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Development fuels ridership.

Overcrowding has been a constant complaint of PATH riders and the system is being overwhelmed with record numbers of riders from new residential developments in Hudson County such as this residential tower rising near the Grove Street PATH station

That’s led to complaints that trains arrive in stations packed to the doors and some stations have lines that snake out the door. All the while, new residential buildings continue to be constructed and advertise proximity to PATH as an amenity without contributing to help the transit system handle those new riders.

Other riders question how PATH will keep up with added passengers when a proposed extension from Penn Station Newark to Newark Liberty Airport is built?

@PATHTrain how are you ever going to provide capacity by extending the line to EWR, the new expanded Harrison station AND the number of residential units going up in Kearney, Harrison and Newark ? Positive train control ? What’s the plan #differentialcalculus #nullset #path pic.twitter.com/wE8ydLDFsE — Pete Tantillo (@tan409) December 15, 2017

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(Gary Toriello)

Read more:

You think PATH trains are crowded now?

Port Authority approves plan to fund PATH airport extension.

New trains could ease PATH's sardine can like crowding.

PATH struggles with delays because of train control system testing.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

