Fixing ‘Unacceptable’ Rail Service

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Jun 27, 2024

In the face of rail line delays and cancellations over the past few weeks that have left Northeast Corridor riders stranded, most recently for several hours at New York Penn Station, Gov. Phil Murphy and leaders from Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT held a press conference in Newark today saying the service delays are “unacceptable” and that Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT are working in tandem to fix these issues.

Murphy said the rail problems are the result of decades of underinvestment from both Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT and that both organizations are “making up for lost time.” He added there is “an absolute commitment from both organizations, from my office, and from me personally, to get [things] fixed.”

Amtrak issued a press release with a series of steps it will take, some along with NJ TRANSIT, to resolve some of the issues. The effort will focus on both Amtrak infrastructure — including the electric traction system that powers trains, the catenary (the system of overhead power wires that are part of the electric traction system), signals, and switches — and NJ TRANSIT equipment, including the pantograph system that connects to the catenary and draws power for the train.

Amtrak Chairman Anthony Coscia said the agency is moving “heaven and earth” to determine the precise cause of delays and other issues. “In the meantime, we’ve taken mitigation efforts to try and minimize [delays] from happening again,” he said. “We’re doing everything in our power, whether it’s committing people, money, or resources, etc.”

He said that over the last three years, “Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT have invested over a half a billion dollars in upgrading the infrastructure to make sure that these occurrences are limited. However, we are operating an older rail line that has many issues. … But we will fix these problems. We will get to a place where the operations are much better than they have been these last several weeks. We’re hoping that was an anomaly that we don’t have people experience again,” he said.

Touching upon NJ TRANSIT’s ongoing fiscal problems, Murphy pointed to multi-pronged approaches to help fund the agency and its capital investments, including the $1B Corporate Transit Fee – a 2.5% tax that would be imposed on businesses with net income of $10 million or more (which the New Jersey Business & Industry Association opposes) – and NJ TRANSIT fare increases. He said that NJ TRANSIT is no different than any other large transit agency in the nation when it comes to fiscal challenges, pointing to New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Association (MTA), which was seeking to implement a congestion pricing plan in lower Manhattan to solve its fiscal woes.

Murphy also touched upon the level of teamwork between Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT on the “game-changing” Gateway Tunnel project that will ease rail burdens on the Northeast Corridor. He said that the same level of teamwork is needed on the minute-to-minute details of daily operations. “I’m happy to say that everybody in this room is committed to that,” he said.

Overall, the governor said the rail agencies and his administration will do everything they can to address the service issues. “We will accept no standard less than outstanding customer satisfaction,” Murphy said. “Everybody at this table is committed to that.”

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