Massive Amtrak, NJ Transit Repairs Are Paying Off: Gov. Murphy

NEW JERSEY — Amtrak and NJ Transit train riders had a bumpy ride last spring, but things are looking much better after a massive repair program that spanned 240 miles of track from Trenton to New York City, officials announced this week.

In June, a frustrating series of train delays between North Jersey and New York left thousands of commuters stranded during a brutal heat wave. The travel woes took place on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), which serves both Amtrak and NJ Transit, and is one of the most notorious bottlenecks in the region.

Amtrak owns and maintains the corridor, a situation that complicated the effort to get trains back on track. NJ Transit pays the company more than $100 million to upkeep a section of the busy railway corridor, state officials previously noted, linking the fate – and performances – of both agencies. See Related: Amtrak, NJ Transit Search For Cause Of Train Delays

With rider frustrations soaring and several elected officials breathing down their necks, including Murphy and 11 Congress members from New Jersey, the beleaguered travel agencies joined forces in an effort to solve the problem.

Amtrak and NJ Transit issued an update on the situation in August, and released another update this week.

On Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy praised the two agencies’ joint effort, saying it will go a long way towards curing the “unacceptably long and disruptive rail delays” that took place through the spring and early summer of 2024.

According to the governor’s office, the agencies have made the following improvements over the past five months:

• Amtrak performed 240 track miles of catenary system inspection on the Northeast Corridor between Trenton and NYC and renewed approximately 2,000 hardware components within the area
• Amtrak conducted helicopter inspections of the entire NEC overhead catenary system between Trenton and the North River Tunnel, right outside New York Penn Station and made 839 hardware replacements from the defects identified from the 2,000+ catenary structures captured from the photographs taken during the inspections
• Amtrak performed photo inspections via special hi-rail vehicle of tunnels and tracks within New York Penn Station
• Amtrak identified and remediated electric traction components and replaced overhead wire to ensure reliability
• NJ Transit and Amtrak increased equipment inspections and used high-definition video on top of locomotives to document the interaction of NJ Transit equipment with Amtrak wires
• NJ Transit also completed visual and hands-on inspections of approximately 82 route-miles of overhead catenary system on its territory

“While the fundamental challenge facing our mass transit system continues to be aging infrastructure, we believe that these completed repairs – and the infrastructure investments to come – will make sure New Jerseyans have an easier time getting where they need to go when they need to get there,” Murphy said Thursday.

Amtrak and NJ Transit representatives said the agencies will continue to strive for improvements.

“[We] will continue to conduct inspections, make short-term repairs and seek more funding to fully modernize all aspects of our infrastructure over the long term, including our electric traction system, catenary, signals, switches and more,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said.

“While we are pleased with the progress that has improved reliability for tens of thousands of NJ Transit rail customers, our joint efforts will continue,” NJ Transit president and CEO Kevin Corbett agreed.

“In addition to the work we are doing to add fiberglass protectors on our pantographs to protect them from impact damage on the NEC catenary, NJ Transit will continue to support Amtrak’s efforts to accelerate the work to upgrade the most vulnerable infrastructure along the NEC,” Corbett said.

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Murphy hasn’t been the only New Jersey politician who has been trying to get the agencies cracking on a solution to their infrastructure issues.

In October, a bipartisan group of mayors and local elected leaders from across New Jersey’s 11th District gathered to hear from families who were impacted by the delays.

“New Jerseyans deserve better than a ‘Summer of Hell’ year after year,” U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill said, referring to the major track renovations that took place at New York Penn Station in 2017.

Earlier in November, a New Jersey Assembly committee gathered to hear testimony from NJ Transit and Amtrak leaders, asking for more information about last spring’s delays.

The hearing got a mixed reaction.

Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips (NJ-40) bashed the session as being a “rushed formality” – reporting that it took “less time than commuters waste each day standing on freezing platforms waiting for canceled trains.”

According to DePhillips, a Republican who represents several towns in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, lawmakers’ questions were limited and they were asked not to make statements.

“The only obvious development that came out of the hearing, after listening to the non-answers, is that New Jersey Transit needs new leadership,” DePhillips said.

“Riders deserve a legitimate legislative hearing,” the lawmaker added. “This wasn’t it.”

Meanwhile, the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters said the hearing offered more proof that the state needs to invest more money in public transportation and “take more cars off the road.”

“We were pleased when after years of neglect Gov. Murphy and the Legislature committed to the first-ever five-year dedication of funding for NJ Transit,” said Ed Potosnak, the group’s executive director.

Potosnak said the group urged lawmakers to make the funding permanent.

“New Jersey stands at the nexus of the regional economy, and it is essential we get reliable, affordable public transit right – for our economy, our mobility and our environment,” Potosnak said.

• See Related: Tax Corporations, Fund Trains: Shoving Match Intensifies In New Jersey

MORE FUNDING FOR TRAINS

Last week, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker announced that New Jersey will get a big boost from $444 million in federal grants from the Federal Railroad Administration’s FY24 Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail-Northeast Corridor Program.

Booker said that Amtrak and NJ Transit will get funding to carry out six projects to improve regional rail infrastructure, advance the Gateway Program – including the long-awaited Gateway Tunnel – and “improve reliability for the tens of thousands of New Jersey commuters that depend on the Northeast Corridor each and every day.”

Booker wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in June stressing the need for “urgent investments” in electrical infrastructure and a USDOT assessment of workforce development needs for electrical engineers along the corridor. The senator also wrote letters in support of these individual grant applications in September.

Here’s how the funding breaks down, Booker said:

New York Penn Station Reconstruction Project: $72,548,687

1. This project will improve safety, railroad functions and the overall customer service experience within the existing Penn Station facility by modernizing and expanding the capacity of North America’s busiest rail station.

Gateway: New York Penn Station Expansion Project: $71,977,500

1. This project will double the capacity of peak-hour rail capacity between New Jersey and New York. Once completed, this project will increase service frequency, improve reliability, and enhance customer experience for hundreds of thousands of daily passengers.

County – Newark Catenary Upgrades: $13,418,592

1. This project will modernize essential infrastructure along a 23-mile stretch of the corridor in Northern New Jersey, and would fund the completion of the design and the environmental review of the project including NEPA analysis. Once completed, the project will result in the replacement of almost 90-year-old catenary structures. The existing catenary system is prone to failures that directly impact the reliability of the corridor.

Kearny Substation 41 Replacement: $80,277,321

1. This project will construct a new substation 41 on an elevated platform that will improve the reliability and resiliency of intercity and commuter services along this heavily traveled segment in Kearny, NJ. The project will also raise the access road and install new transmission and signal wires. The project will decommission and remove the existing substation that frequently floods and was severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

County to Elmora Upgrade Signal System 562 Project: $18,639,205

1. The project will modify the existing signal system along 26 miles of the NEC between the County and Elmora interlocking, spanning the corridor between New Brunswick and Elizabeth, NJ. These improvements will allow for increased train throughput and improved speeds. The removal of redundant equipment will result in reduced maintenance and testing, as well as allow more efficient signal progressions.

Sawtooth Bridges Replacement PM/CM, CMAR, and Final Design: $187,507,268

1. This project will be used for supplemental final design and for pre-construction support services for the replacement of the 115-year-old Sawtooth Bridges in Kearny, NJ. This application was for supplemental funding because the project has undergone changes since the FY 22-23 FSP-NEC grant was awarded. These changes include the decision to deliver the project as a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), include an Independent Cost Estimate (ICE), the need for Project Management/Construction Management services, and an addition of 0.8 miles to the project area.

The funding is part of a new round of funding through the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was passed under President Joe Biden’s tenure in 2021 – and which got a thumbs-up from every Congress member in New Jersey. See Related: Here’s What NJ Will Get From $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

The bill will invest nearly $1.5 billion in 19 passenger rail projects along the Northeast Corridor, with $444,368,573 in funding for projects impacting New Jersey, according to Booker’s office.

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