After months of taking hits for its non-response to the threat of Sandy, New Jersey Transit announced storm-preparedness plans that will better protect its rolling stock. As The Star-Ledger recently reported, the rail agency has identified two new locations to house trains in the event of a flood threat. “We have an agreement with Conrail. It’s a lease agreement, basically, for that property,” NJ Transit Executive Director Jim Weinstein said of storage yards in Linden. “We also have made improvements at our facility in Garwood, which will be able to house a couple of hundred of the rail cars. Between Linden and Garwood, we can do 450 vehicles.”
During Sandy, New Jersey Transit saw damage to nearly 350 rail cars, and the agency has vowed to remove trains from vulnerable areas, including the Meadows Maintenance Complex, if forecasts dictate. As of last week, 46 of the 70 locomotives and 141 of the 272 rail cars had been repaired and placed back in service.
By identifying new storage facilities that are on higher ground, New Jersey Transit is hoping to keep its rail cars both protected and available. Numerous car sets were stranded after Irene when storage areas were cut off by flooding and track wash-outs, and Sandy swamped other storage yards. The agency can’t store trains along the right-of-way due to concerns over downed trees. Perhaps the next discussion should focus around clearing trees from the ROWs.
5 comments
Hmmm, shows what idiots NJT has in Management.
I don’t understand this sentence, especially the “vowed trains” part. What do you mean?
Read it again now that I’ve fixed the typo.
The excuses continue. Downed trees or “stranded” equipment are temporary and inexpensive to fix.
Their excuse doesn’t even pass the 8th grade logic test. Let’s see how this works:
=== “If we move’m them away from the water, they might be out of service for a short time until we move them back”
=== If NJT doesn’t move them, they’ll be royally *&^$’d up and out of service for months. Then we get to buy NJT a total teardown, replace and rebuild.
—- If trees are down, the line is out anyway until they’re cleared… or just hit them with the plow on the loco and the the wheels clear the track surface. A 150 ton loco vs the average trackside tree.. I’m not betting on the tree.
-Was the tumbling trunk about to crush the train? Not many trees are large enough to significantly damage rail cars by falling on the roof. Sure, NJT prevented 3ft thick Redwoods falling from California landing on a passenger coach. But perhaps Weinstein does not deserve credit for that.
— If tracks were washed out enough to get the equipment “stranded” then either the passenger line is out or the yards are cut off. Either way, someone’s train is late.
Right. They don’t really care — their jobs are secure, and they get federal taxpayers to pay for any damage their negligence causes.