Some NJ Transit rail has been disrupted because of storm damage, the operator has announced.
Maryland’s MARC is also experiencing major storm-related disruptions, with one line suspended and two operating on reduced schedules.
On NJ Transit, service on the North Jersey Coast Line has been suspended since Thursday night (June 19) and will remain halted through this morning (Friday, June 20) because of downed trees on tracks and overhead wires near Middletown. N.J. The agency said in a service advisory that crews are “working around the clock to safely clear debris and restore service as quickly as possible.” NJ Transit rail passes and tickets are being cross-honored elsewhere on the NJ Transit system and by private bus operators.
The “Princeton Dinky” shuttle between the Northeast Corridor’s Princeton Junction station and the town of Princeton is also suspended because of downed overhead wires, and at least one Northeast Corridor train— No. 3720, a 9:02 a.m. departure from Jersey Avenue — has been cancelled because of equipment availability resulting from the North Jersey Coast shutdown.
The 38-mile, 20-station North Jersey Coast Line offers service from Bay Head, N.J., to Penn Station, with the line itself separating from the Northeast Corridor at Rahway, N.J.
MARC changes
MARC’s Brunswick line is not operating today, after most of its equipment and crews were forced to remain in Washington on Thursday because of storm damage. Camden Line crews eventually reached their destination, the Maryland Transit Administration said in a service advisory, but were unable to meet their federally mandated hours of rest. As a result, the Camden and Penn lines will both operate on the “R” (reduced service) schedule, with the Penn Line seeing additional late trains — 9:25 p.m. from Baltimore Penn Station and 10:55 p.m. from Washington Union Station — that are not included in the R schedule. Schedules are available here.
— Updated at 8:12 a.m. CT with MARC information
It appears that CSX is not making good faith efforts to clear its ROWs with many locations having trees down system wide. Now NJT does not appear to have either. Of course, on NJT some wires might come down for other reasons such as debris or weak poles but overall probably mostly trees falling onto the tracks.
This all goes back ~~ 30 years as signaling pole lines were eliminated. The RRs naturally no longer see any reason keep trees away. They just deal with the ones that storms keep dropping on their tracks. Here in the south the pine trees fall over in any stiff wind.