State officials say New Jersey Transit will restore continuous service to midtown Manhattan on a popular rail line, thanks to an increased number of qualified engineers and strides in installing positive train control, a federally-mandated automatic braking system.
At a Monday press conference, Gov. Phil Murphy said the so-called one-seat rides would resume during off-peak hours on the Raritan Valley Line on November 4.
“This service restoration means the elimination of major headaches for thousands of train riders. It means that the staffing and equipment required for reliable and sustainable service have been secured. It means more time actually getting where you need to go and less time waiting,” Murphy said.
NJ Transit has struggled in recent years with staff shortages and chronic delays in service. Murphy has vowed to graduate more train engineers and make needed upgrades to the state’s transportation infrastructure.
Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, said restoring one-seat service on the Raritan Valley Line would not come at an extra cost.
“I don’t know that I would say there’s a cost. It was service that we were providing, so we’re just filling vacancies with engineers. I really can’t say that there is an incremental increase in cost,” she said.
The announcement comes the same week as the transit agency plans to graduate its newest class of seven train engineers, part of a continuing effort to beat back a longstanding staff shortage.
NJ Transit is still working on meeting a December 31,2020 deadline for complete implementation of positive train control. That’s the automatic braking system that drew national attention after the deadly derailment of Amtrak Train 188 in Philadelphia.
Many said PTC could have prevented that crash that killed eight people and injured 200. At the time, many commuter rail systems were struggling to meet an earlier PTC deadline.
Congress extended the deadline for completing the work after that 2015 crash.