Some stumbles for NJ Transit during fare-free week

Free train rides meant to compensate for earlier summer disruptions faced delays and some cancellation this week. (Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor)

NJ Transit riders seeking to take advantage of fare-free trains meant to make up for summer service disruptions have faced a series of delays and a handful of cancellations amid power, track, and signal issues this week.

NJ Transit pointed to issues with Amtrak, which owns and maintains the rail tracks that host NJ Transit’s northeast corridor line, to explain some disruptions, while Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration repeated Murphy’s hope that the fare holiday will be of some consolation to riders.

“As we work diligently with Amtrak to investigate and address the issues that have occurred this summer, especially on the Northeast Corridor, we hope this fare holiday offers commuters some relief,” Murphy spokeswoman Natalie Hamilton said.

The fare holiday began Monday and ends on Labor Day.

On Monday, power issues disrupted service between Hoboken and Secaucus, causing delays of up to 90 minutes late into the day.

On Tuesday, Amtrak repairs to tracks running underneath the Hudson River caused delays spanning nearly an hour during the afternoon rush. A spokesperson for NJ Transit said Amtrak saw the need for additional repairs while performing track maintenance.

Mechanical issues caused a series of train cancellations and some smaller delays Wednesday. Amtrak Signal issues and an unruly rider who needed to be removed by police at Princeton Junction Station caused delays Thursday morning.

“When factoring out Amtrak-related delays, [Tuesday’s] NJ Transit on-time performance would have been 96.64%. We regret any inconvenience these delays caused our customers,” said John Chartier, a spokesperson for NJ Transit.

Jason Abrams, a spokesperson for Amtrak, said trains in and out of New York Penn Station were halted because of repairs to a track defect.

NJ Transit needs a long-term fix, not a weeklong gimmick

NJ Transit faced significant and repeated delays through much of the summer, especially during repeated and lengthy heat waves in June and July.

Excessive heat can deform rail tracks and the overhead wires that power trains, and it can cause certain train parts to fail.

Assemblyman Mike Inganamort (R-Morris), a member of the chamber’s transportation committee, repeated a call for an outside audit of NJ Transit in response to the latest disruptions. The state earlier this year awarded a $6.7 million contract to North Highland, a consulting firm, to cut costs and streamline agency operations.

Inganamort added that federal officials at Amtrak and some others needed to provide answers on why that infrastructure has failed during the summer months.

“My bottom line is we didn’t ask for a free ride. We asked for a full audit, and I think that’s where our attention needs to be,” he said. “These free rides are essentially an admission, an acknowledgment that New Jersey Transit has failed New Jerseyans for too long.”

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