NJ Transit gets back on off-peak track
Trains on one NJ Transit route that had been curtailed last year as the agency scrambled to finish installing a federally mandated braking system will finally be restored.
Transit officials and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy (photo) said Monday that off-peak direct service on the Raritan Valley Line to New York will resume in three weeks. The trains serve towns in Essex, Union, Somerset and Hunterdon counties.
The service was halted last fall to accommodate the systemwide installation of the braking system, called positive train control, that had to be completed by year’s end.
The work also caused delays and individual train cancellations on other lines and prompted NJ Transit to suspend service to Atlantic City.
Atlantic City service resumed in May.
Contributing to the delay in restoring the Raritan Valley Line service was an engineer shortage that officials have blamed on underinvestment in training by former Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
NJ Transit undertook an aggressive recruitment effort last year and currently has several classes of engineers undergoing the 20-month training.
One class graduated 12 engineers in May, while another is scheduled to graduate seven more this week. Several additional classes are scheduled to graduate by next spring.
That should help NJ Transit reach a level of staffing sufficient to accommodate unscheduled absences and vacations, New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Diane GutierrezScaccetti said Monday.
Until then, the shortage continues to be a problem: 13 trains were canceled Monday, for example, most due to lack of engineer availability.