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Murphy Taking Action To Deal With NJ Transit Train Overcrowding

 

Governor Phil Murphy is taking steps to ease overcrowding on New Jersey Transit trains.

Murphy says the public deserves immediate relief.

Acting Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scacetti says New Jersey Transit has been 37 train cars short of the number needed for full daily service.

She says 20 train cars that have been sitting in rail yards waiting for installation of Positive Train Control equipment are being put back in service.

“They don’t need to stay there and wait. So they are going back into service. And the idea here obviously is to increase capacity and allow our commuters to sit down on the train as opposed to stand in crowded trains.”

20 other rail cars will be leased from the Maryland Transit Administration.

“What that does is it allows us to have some cushion so that if there are mechanical difficulties or any other issues and we have to take a car off, we an immediate replace a car and we’re not putting cars out that aren’t full sets.”

Governor Murphy says some repair work is being outsourced and New Jersey Transit is meeting with its suppliers on ways to have more parts available.

“The goal is to ensure a ready supply of parts before, I emphasize before, they are needed so repairs can be made sooner and cars can more rapidly be returned to service.”

And to deal with concerns about staff shortages, recruitment efforts are being increased to get skilled repair workers and engineers.

Murphy says those steps won’t solve all of the agency’s problems but should begin to alleviate some of the biggest headaches for commuters.