Dinky train service restoration delayed
Commuters and officials had hoped that Dinky train service would be restored by Jan. 15. But as of Monday night, no restoration date has been set yet and it is unclear when service will be restored.
Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said New Jersey Transit has not been able to get the Federal Rail Association to sign off on documentation for New Jersey Transit’s positive train control work and milestones for 2018 because of the federal government shutdown.
New Jersey Transit has also gotten behind on routine maintenance for other train lines and needs the Dinky engineers for regular maintenance work on the other lines, Lempert said. She said the town received the latest update on the Dinky in a letter. Officials will have another call next week to discuss the issue and receive another update.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
Makes no sense as the Dinky was exempted from PTC. NJ Transit has been behind on routine maintenance for the last decade. Now, it’s an emergency prompting them to deny Dinky service? Something is rotten in the state of New Jersey.
They aren’t doing PTC on the Dinky line but using the personnel from the Dinky to work on PTC for other lines. So there’s no staff to run the trains. It’s still annoying and seemingly unfair, but other lines have priority for NJTransit as they have more passengers.