In the third and last installment of my series posting sample commuter rail schedules for New York (part 1, part 2), let’s look at trains in New Jersey. This is going to be a longer post, covering six different lines, namely all New Jersey Transit lines that can go to Penn Station, including one that currently does not (Raritan Valley) but could using dual-mode locomotives.

As on Metro-North and the LIRR, very large improvements can be made over current schedules, generally reducing trip times by 30-43%, without straightening a single curve. However, electrification is required, as is entirely new rolling stock, as the electric locomotives used by NJ Transit are ill-fit for a fast schedule with many stops. Moreover, all low platforms must be raised to provide level boarding and some must be lengthened to avoid overuse of selective door opening, which may require a few new grade separations on the North Jersey Coast Line. As a first-order estimate, 50-something trainsets are required, each with 8-12 cars. This is not quite free, but the cost is low single-digit billions: about $1.5 billion for trains, maybe $400 million for 160 km of electrification, and around $700 million for what I believe is 70 low- or short-platform stations.

The timetables

Here is a spreadsheet detailing speed zones for all New Jersey Transit lines passing through Newark. In support of previous posts, here are other similar spreadsheets:

New Haven Line (express schedule, add stop penalties as appropriate for locals) – the spreadsheet is about a minute too fast, missing some slowdowns in the terminal, and the version in my post (part 1) corrects for that

Harlem Line

Hudson Line locals and expresses

LIRR Main Line (including Port Jefferson, not covered in my posts)

Line by line schedules

The New Jersey Transit timetables are less consistent than the east-of-Hudson ones; I attempted to look at local midday off-peak outbound trains whenever possible.

Northeast Corridor

Station Current time Future time New York 0:00 0:00 Secaucus 0:09 0:06 Newark Penn 0:18 0:10 Newark South Street — 0:12 Newark Airport 0:24 0:15 North Elizabeth 0:27 0:17 Elizabeth 0:30 0:19 Linden 0:35 0:23 Rahway 0:39 0:25 Metropark 0:45 0:29 Metuchen 0:49 0:32 Edison 0:54 0:36 New Brunswick 0:59 0:39 Jersey Avenue 1:03 0:41 Monmouth Junction — 0:47 Princeton Junction 1:16 0:53 Hamilton 1:23 0:58 Trenton 1:35 1:01

This fastest rush hour express trains do the trip in 1:12-1:13, and Amtrak’s Regionals range between 0:55 and 1:04, with trains making all nominal Amtrak stops (including rarely-served New Brunswick and Princeton Junction) taking 1:15.

North Jersey Coast Line

Station Current time Future time New York 0:00 0:00 Secaucus 0:09 0:06 Newark Penn 0:19 0:10 Newark South Street — 0:12 Newark Airport 0:24 0:15 North Elizabeth — 0:17 Elizabeth 0:29 0:19 Linden 0:35 0:23 Rahway 0:39 0:25 Avenel 0:45 0:29 Woodbridge 0:48 0:31 Perth Amboy 0:55 0:34 South Amboy 1:00 0:37 Aberdeen 1:08 0:42 Hazlet 1:12 0:45 Middletown 1:19 0:49 Red Bank 1:25 0:53 Little Silver 1:29 0:56 Monmouth Park — 0:59 Long Branch 1:39-1:42 1:01 Elberon 1:46 1:04 Allenhurst 1:50 1:07 Asbury Park 1:54 1:09 Bradley Beach 1:57 1:11 Belmar 2:01 1:14 Spring Lake 2:05 1:16 Manasquan 2:09 1:19 Point Pleasant Beach 2:15 1:22 Bay Head 2:24 1:23

In electric territory, that is up to Long Branch, my schedule cuts 38% from the trip time, but in diesel territory the impact of electrification nearly halves the trip time, cutting 48%.

Raritan Valley Line

Station Current time Future time New York (0:00) 0:00 Secaucus (0:09) 0:06 Newark Penn (0:18) 0:10 Newark South Street — 0:12 Union 0:27 0:17 Roselle Park 0:30 0:19 Cranford 0:35 0:22 Garwood 0:38 0:24 Westfield 0:41 0:25 Fanwood 0:46 0:28 Netherfields 0:49 0:30 Plainfield 0:53 0:32 Dunellen 0:58 0:35 Bound Brook 1:03 0:39 Bridgewater 1:06 0:41 Somerville 1:12 0:44 Raritan 1:15 0:47 North Branch 1:21 0:50 Whitehouse 1:28 0:54 Lebanon 1:34 0:58 Annandale 1:39 1:01 High Bridge 1:52 1:04

The Raritan Valley Line does not run through to Manhattan but rather terminates at Newark Penn because of capacity constraints on the mainline, so the New York-Newark trip times are imputed from Northeast Corridor trains. So really the trip time difference is 1:34 versus 0:54, a reduction of 42% in the trip time thanks to electrification.

Morristown Line

Station Current time Future time New York 0:00 0:00 Secaucus 0:10 0:06 Newark Broad Street 0:19 0:11 Newark 1st Street — 0:13 East Orange — 0:15 Brick Church 0:25 0:17 Orange 0:28 0:19 Highland Avenue — 0:21 Mountain — 0:23 South Orange 0:33 0:25 Maplewood 0:38 0:27 Millburn 0:42 0:29 Short Hills 0:45 0:31 Summit 0:49-0:50 0:34 Chatham 0:55 0:39 Madison 0:59 0:41 Convent 1:03 0:44 Morristown 1:07 0:47 Morris Plains 1:11 0:50 Mount Tabor 1:18 0:54 Denville 1:21 0:56 Dover 1:32 1:00 Mount Arlington 1:40 1:06 Lake Hopatcong 1:45 1:09 Netcong 1:53 1:12 Mount Olive 1:58 1:15 Hackettstown 2:14 1:22

This timetable is cobbled from two different train runs, as electric wires only run as far out as Dover, so trains from New York only go as far as Dover, and trains to Hackettstown serve Hoboken instead. Observe the 35% reduction in trip time in electric territory despite making a few more stops, and the 48% reduction in trip time in diesel territory.

Gladstone Branch

Station Current time Future time New York (0:00) 0:00 Secaucus (0:10) 0:06 Newark Broad Street (0:19) 0:11 Newark 1st Street — 0:13 East Orange 0:24 0:15 Brick Church 0:26 0:17 Orange 0:29 0:19 Highland Avenue 0:31 0:21 Mountain 0:33 0:23 South Orange 0:36 0:25 Maplewood 0:39 0:27 Millburn 0:42 0:29 Short Hills 0:45 0:31 Summit 0:50 0:34 New Providence 0:55 0:37 Murray Hill 0:58 0:40 Berkeley Heights 1:02 0:43 Gillette 1:05 0:46 Stirling 1:08 0:48 Millington 1:11 0:50 Lyons 1:14 0:53 Basking Ridge 1:17 0:56 Bernardsville 1:20 0:57 Far Hills 1:26 1:02 Peapack 1:30 1:06 Gladstone 1:37 1:08

As the line is entirely electrified, the time saving is only 30%. Note that Gladstone Branch trains do not run through to Penn Station except at rush hour, so I’m imputing New York-Newark Broad trip times using the Morristown Line.

Montclair-Boonton Line



Station Current time Future time New York (0:00) 0:00 Secaucus (0:09) 0:06 Newark Broad Street (0:20) 0:11 Newark 1st Street — 0:13 Newark Park Street — 0:15 Watsessing Avenue 0:26 0:18 Bloomfield 0:28 0:19 Glen Ridge 0:31 0:21 Bay Street 0:34 0:23 Walnut Street 0:37 0:24 Watchung Avenue 0:40 0:26 Upper Montclair 0:43 0:28 Mountain Avenue 0:45 0:30 Montclair Heights 0:47 0:31 Montclair State U 0:50 0:33 Little Falls 0:56 0:37 Wayne-Route 23 1:00 0:40 Mountain View-Wayne 1:02 0:43 Lincoln Park 1:07 0:46 Towaco 1:11 0:49 Boonton 1:18 0:53 Mountain Lakes 1:22 0:56 Denville 1:27 0:59 Dover 1:34 1:04

Beyond Dover, a handful of evening trains continue to Hackettstown. Interestingly, the saving from electrification is only 32% – and the train I drew the current schedule from is a Hoboken diesel train. Electric trains run from New York to Montclair State University, but are for some reason actually slightly slower today than the Hoboken diesels on the shared Newark-MSU segment. I suspect that like the LIRR, NJ Transit does not timetable electric trains to be any faster than diesels on shared segments even though their performance is better.

Discussion

There are specific patterns to where my schedule outperforms the existing one by the largest margin and where it does so by the smallest margin.

Terminal zone

Between New York and Newark, I am proposing that trains take 10-11 minutes, down from 18-20 today, cutting 45% from the trip time. This comes from several factors. The first is avoiding unnecessary slowdowns in terminal zones: Penn Station should be good for about 50 km/h, ideally even more if there are consistent enough platform assignments that the turnouts can be upgraded to be faster; Newark should not impose any speed limit whatsoever beyond that of right-of-way geometry.

The second is increasing superelevation and cant deficiency. The worst curve is the turn from Harrison to Newark; its radius is just shy of 500 meters, good for around 110 km/h at normal cant and cant deficiency (150 mm each), or even 120 km/h if the cant is raised to 200 mm in support of higher-speed intercity service. But the current speed limit is a blanket 45 mph, even on Amtrak, whose cant deficiency is fine. The Newark approach is then even slower, 35 mph, for no reason. It’s telling that on my schedule, the Secaucus-Newark speedup is even greater than the New York-Secaucus speedup, despite the Penn Station interlocking morass.

The third is reducing schedule padding. The schedules appear extremely padded for what NJ Transit thinks is a capacity problem but is not really a problem in the midday off-peak period. Between 9 am and noon, 18 trains depart Penn Station going west, 10 on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast and 8 on the Morris and Essex Lines and the Montclair Line.

Unelectrified lines

On lines without electrification, the time savings from electrification are considerable, with the exception of the Boonton Line. This is especially notable on the tails of the North Jersey Coast and Morristown Lines, both of which allow for 48% reductions in trip time, nearly doubling the average speed.

This is related to the issue of low platforms. These tails have low platforms, whereas the inner segment of the Raritan Valley Line (up to Westfield), which already has mostly high platforms, does not exhibit the same potential speed doubling. Outer segments may also not be well-maintained, leading to non-geometric speed limits. Between Long Branch and Bay Head the tracks are fairly straight, but the existing speed limits are very low, at most 60 mph with most segments limited to 40 or even 25 or less.

Upgraded lines

In contrast with the enormous slowdowns between New York and Newark and on unelectrified tails, the workhorse inner segments (including the entire Northeast Corridor Line) radiating out of Newark are only about 1.5 times as slow as they can be, rather than twice as slow. The Gladstone Branch, which runs EMUs rather than electric locomotive-hauled trains, manages to be only about 1.37 times as slow, in large part courtesy of low platforms.

Of course, 1.5 times as slow is still pretty bad. This is because no line on NJ Transit is truly modern, that is running all EMUs serving high platforms. But the electric lines manage to be less bad than the diesel lines, and the suburbs less bad than the New York-Newark segment with its excessive timetable padding and terminal zone slowdowns.

How to get there from here

NJ Transit has a problem: perhaps unaware of the new FRA regulations, it just ordered bilevel EMUs compliant with the old rather than new regulations. If it can cancel the order, it should do so, and instead procure standard European EMUs stretched to the larger clearances of the American (or Nordic) railway network.

Simultaneously, it should complete electrification of the entire Penn Station-feeding system, including the Raritan Valley Line even though right now it does not run through to New York. This includes some outer branches with low traffic, not enough to justify electrification on their own; that is fine, since the 31 km of wire between Dover and Hackettstown, 25 km between Long Branch and Bay Head, 27 between Raritan (where semi-frequent service ends) and High Bridge, and 30 between MSU and Denville permit a uniform or mostly uniform fleet with no diesel under catenary. EMUs are far more reliable than anything that runs on diesel, and if NJ Transit retires diesels and only runs EMUs on the most congested segment of the network, it will be able to get away with far less schedule padding.

In Boston, at Transit Matters we’ve likewise recommended full systemwide electrification, but with priority to lines that connect to already-electric infrastructure, that is the Stoughton branch of the Providence Line, the Fairmount Line (which is short enough to use Northeast Corridor substations), and subsequently the entire South Station-feeding system. By the same token, it is more important to electrify the outer edges of the Morristown and North Jersey Coast Lines and the entire Raritan Valley Line than to electrify the Erie lines not analyzed in this post, since the Erie lines’ infrastructure points exclusively toward Hoboken and not New York.

In addition to electrification, NJ Transit must replace all low platforms with high platforms. This should generally be doable with ramp access rather than elevators to save money, in which case a double-track station should be doable for about $10 million, if Boston and Philadelphia costs are any indication. In addition to speeding up general boarding, high platforms permit wheelchair users to board trains without the aid of an attendant or conductor.

All of this costs money – the infrastructure should cost somewhat more than $1 billion, and new rolling stock should cost about $1.5 billion at European costs, or somewhat more if there’s an American premium for canceling the in-progress contract for inferior equipment. But none of this costs a lot of money. New Jersey is ready to sink $2.75 billion of state money as part of an $11 billion Gateway tunnel that would do nothing for capacity (since it four-tracks the tunnel but not the surface segments to Newark); it should be ready to spend about the amount of money on a program that is certain to cut 25-50% off of people’s travel time and perhaps halve operating costs.