Better Maintenance Can Prevent Train Delays

This morning I arrived at New York Penn Station to find out there was a major delay on New Jersey Transit caused by an overhead (catenary) wire problem near the station.  It was not as bad as the situation in the phot above, but it created delays of 30-45 minutes for trains entering or leaving New York.  PATH was cross honoring NJ Transit ticket, so I took that option instead of waiting it out.

In any event, I feel that an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  I hope that Amtrak who is responsible for the rails expends more effort in maintaining the entire system.  I uderstand that the switches and wiring is old, but they have an obligation to the riders to minimize delays.

How Much Money is Lost by “Forgetful Conductors” ?

I have written in this blog about the primitive and cost ineffective ways of collecting fares on commuter railraods,  Today I went to a professional meeting at Rutgers in New Brunswick.  I used my monthly ticket for the portion of my ride from NYC to Newark.  At that point I took out my ticket from Newark to New Brunswick.  The train was not crowded, but the conductor did not come aaround after the train passed Newark,  On a number of occasions when Karen and Lee went to NJ Devils games the conductors did not collect tickets.  How much money is lost this way?  Can’t NJ Transit, MetroNorth, and the Long Island Railroad modernize fare collection?