NJ Transit schedule changes take effect Monday

NEWARK — Several NJ Transit routes are temporarily changed, starting Monday, to allow for Positive Train Control installation and "critical safety upgrades."

The changes will affect the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line, Morris & Essex Line, and Pascack Valley Line. The Coast Line is the most affected line, with four outbound routes temporarily suspended in the afternoon.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder earlier told New Jersey 101.5 that about 2,000 passenger trips will be impacted out of a total of 308,000 weekday passenger trips.

The latest Federal Railway Administration report showed that as of March 31, NJ Transit had a long way to go in order to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to complete installation of PTC equipment. Only 13 percent of its hardware had been installed, and 172 of 1,000 employees were trained, according to the report.

NJ Transit executive director Kevin Corbett said in May that the overnight test of the system on tracks in Morris County had been successful, and that he was more confident than he had been when he assumed his job in February. But he stopped short of saying NJ Transit would meet the Dec. 31 deadline.

PTC is an advanced system designed to automatically stop a train before certain accidents occur. In particular, PTC is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, and derailments caused by speeding trains and misaligned track switches.

Amtrak said that it would not allow NJ Transit trains to access Penn Station if PTC installation was not completed.

The NJ Transit changes that go into effect on June 4 are:

Northeast Corridor (NEC)

INBOUND
Train 5822, the 7:05 a.m. departure from New Brunswick to Newark Penn
Earlier option departs at 6:59 a.m. (Limited additional capacity)
Later option departs at 7:10 a.m.

OUTBOUND

• Train 3811, the 4:51 a.m. departure from PSNY to Trenton
  Earlier option departs at 4:17 a.m.
  Later option departs at 5:07 a.m.
• Train 5869, the 6:03 p.m. departure from Newark Penn to Trenton
  Earlier option departs at 5:56 p.m. (Limited additional capacity)
  Later option departs at 6:11 p.m.

North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL)

INBOUND
Customers may take alternate service to Secaucus and transfer to service to Hoboken at no extra charge

• Train 2300, the 4:49 a.m. departure from Bay Head to Hoboken
  No earlier option between Bay Head and Long Branch. Earlier option departs Long Branch at 4:58 a.m. (Train 2300 departed Long Branch at 5:27am)
  Later option departs Bay Head at 4:57 a.m.
• Train 2602, the 6:05 a.m. departure from Long Branch to Hoboken
  Earlier option departs at 6:01 a.m.
  Later option departs at 6:19 a.m.
• Train 2312, the 2:05 p.m. departure from Bay Head to Hoboken
  Earlier option departs at 1:10 p.m.
  Later option departs at 3:05 p.m.
• Train 3274, the 6:55 p.m. departure from Long Branch to PSNY
  Earlier option departs at 6:33 p.m.
  Later option departs at 7:20 p.m.

OUTBOUND
Customers may take alternate service to Secaucus and transfer to service to Long Branch/Bay Head at no extra charge

• Train 2303, the 2:12 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Bay Head
  Earlier option departs at 2:02 p.m. from Newark Penn (From Newark Penn - 2303 departed Newark at 2:36 p.m.)
  Later option departs at 3:05 p.m. (From Newark Penn)
• Train 2607, the 4:55 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Long Branch
  Earlier option departs at 4:54 p.m. from Newark Penn (From Newark Penn – 2607 departed Newark at 5:18 p.m.)
  Later option departs at 5:25 p.m. from Newark Penn
• Train 2611, the 5:43 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Long Branch
  Earlier option departs at 6:04 p.m. from Newark Penn (from Newark Penn – 2611 departed Newark at 6:10 p.m.)
  Later option departs at 6:22 p.m. from Newark Penn
• Train 2313, the 6:21 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Bay Head
  Earlier option departs at 6:22 p.m. from Newark Penn (From Newark Penn – 2313 departed Newark at 6:40 p.m.)
  Later option departs at 6:47 p.m. from Newark Penn

Hoboken changes

The following trains will be restored to/from PSNY and will no longer operate to/from Hoboken. The trains were diverted to Hoboken in January as part of Amtrak track work at PSNY.

• Train 3318 will depart Bay Head at 5:40 a.m. and arrive at PSNY at 7:42 a.m.
• Train 3269 will depart PSNY at 5:45 p.m. and arrive in Long Branch at 7:24 p.m.

Morris & Essex Lines (M&E)

Schedules were adjusted on several M&E trains in an effort to mitigate the service impacts on customers to the greatest extent possible. Customers are strongly encouraged to review the printable M&E pdf schedule.

INBOUND - Change in Origin Stations

• Train 608, the 5:45 a.m. departure from Dover to Hoboken has service eliminated from Dover to Chatham. Train originates in Summit.
  Earlier option departs at 5:33 a.m. (Requires transfer at Newark Broad for Hoboken)
  Later option departs at 5:54 a.m. (Requires transfer at Newark Broad for Hoboken)
• Train 626, the 8:28 a.m. departure from Dover to Hoboken has service eliminated from Dover to Morris Plains. Train originates in in Morristown.
  Earlier option departs at 8:08 a.m. (Requires transfer at Summit for Hoboken)
  Later option departs at 9:06 a.m. (Requires transfer at Newark Broad for Hoboken)

OUTBOUND - Temporarily Discontinued

• Train 609, the 6:42 a.m. departure from Hoboken to Dover
  Earlier option departs at 6:15 a.m.
  Later option departs at 6:55 a.m. (Requires transfer at Summit for Dover)
• Train 645, the 5:08 p.m. departure from Hoboken to Dover.
  Earlier option departs at 4:42 p.m.
  Later option departs at 5:12 p.m. (Requires transfer at Newark Broad for Dover)

Pascack Valley Line

INBOUND

• Train 1618, the 7:59 a.m. departure from Spring Valley to Hoboken. (Metro-North express)
  Earlier option departs Spring Valley at 7:37 a.m.
• Train 1620 moves 5 minutes earlier to depart Spring Valley 4 minutes later than the discontinued #1618. Metro-North customers arrive in Hoboken 13 minutes later than the current #1618

OUTBOUND

• Train 1639, the 7:20 p.m. departure (M-TH) from Hoboken to Spring Valley (Metro-North express)
  Earlier option departs at 6:48 p.m.
  Later option departs at 7:29 p.m.
• Note: Train 9653 which currently operates only on Friday afternoons and before specific holidays (departing Hoboken at 2:58 p.m.) will operate only on 7/3, 8/31, 11/21, 12/21. On those dates, train 1633 (departing Hoboken at 5:58 p.m.) will not operate.