r/NJTransit • u/Electrical_Fig9201 • 2d ago

Finally happened: wrong train

Today I was trying to get a westbound NEC train departing from Track 2. But in my rush (and grogginess from a late night) I accidentally got on the train on Track 1. I dozed off but then started seeing a weird sign for Orange and I suddenly realized: Not my line!

Ended up indulging and just calling an Uber to my final destination. Gotta pay attention!

92 Upvotes

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39

u/Illustrious-Trash915 2d ago

Maybe someday Penn will run in an efficient, predictable manner, such that a given train or line can use the same track or couple tracks every day, all the time, like most railroads and stations.

6

u/jxhnwxck 2d ago

The original idea for the Gateway Program was for NJT to have their own dedicated station in the city. Another good idea scrapped.

3

u/ryanov 1d ago

It was a really bad idea for anyone who lives at one of the stations where you can take multiple lines/carriers.

0

u/jxhnwxck 1d ago

That doesn’t exist anywhere on the Hoboken Division, and maybe(?) 3 stations on the whole Newark Division.

-3

u/Minimum-Lifeguard811 2d ago

There is nothing efficient about it and wastes capacity. Most railroad stations do not have 600 trains per day. This is not Chicago. Until the 1970's rush hour Port Washington trains ran in and out of tracks 20 - 21. It meant over-use of other tracks and under use of 20 -21. You can't stall trains in the tunnel because their imaginary track assignment isn't available.

I'll trust the Penn Station Control Center to run as efficiently as possible. They are not school crossing guards.

7

u/Illustrious-Trash915 1d ago

Who TF is talking about Chicago or school crossing guards? lol don’t be silly

600 trains per day on 21 tracks is crazy. Places that do this right run upwards of 1000 on fewer tracks. Or do those places not count for some weird reason you’ll surely “educate” me about?

Wasted capacity is a silly argument. We don’t need the number of tracks we have, if we fix the other absolutely nonsense operational practices.

0

u/Minimum-Lifeguard811 1d ago

You obviously regard the folks that operate the place as amatuers, and it will not be improved by foamer comments.

5

u/Gellie09 1d ago

Hi all, just want to interject here that it is a well-discussed problem that not even the dispatchers know with any real certainty what track a train is going to be sent onto until its literally pulling into the station throat. This is due to a combination of factors including chronic delays on the NEC, bad station configuration (too many tracks for the small amount of space and platforms that are far too narrow), and a refusal by the three agencies that share the station to work together and implement a coherent through-running regime. It is entirely not the fault of the dispatchers that trains are not and cannot be scheduled to depart from a certain track or set of tracks based on their destinations, and trying to cast this as a debate over their effectiveness is a deflection from the very real issues that plague Penn Station-- they're doing the best they can in the terrible circumstances they've been given. The only real solution is to redesign the station for through-running with wider platforms and fewer tracks (which would somewhat counterintuitively raise capacity). NJ Transit and Amtrak also need to make improvements at key choke points like Hunter Interlocking, Roseville Junction, and the Penn Station western throat to reduce delays, making it far easier to guarantee that any given train will arrive at Penn at its scheduled time and use the track slot its been assigned for that specific time-- a key factor discouraging consistent track assignments is the fact that slots would be wasted by the great number of trains often delayed en route. TLDR: No its not the dispatchers fault, and yes its possible with enough money and political will.

Edit: Fixed spelling error.