Dinky train service suspended (again), then started again in the afternoon
Update: Dinky service resumed at 3:02 p.m.
The Dinky train is not operating on Monday, Aug. 26, due to “engineer availability,” according to NJ Transit. Substitute buses are being provided.
Commuters should also expect delays today and large crowds at Penn Station, Secaucus Junction and Newark Penn Station because of the the Video Music Awards. The ceremony is being held in Newark. There is a potential for gridlock conditions in the area.
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.
Author: an article without definitions? What in the world is a “Dinky” train?
“Engineer availability?” Heck, I’ll drive the freakin’ thing. How hard can it be?
I’ll go out on a limb here and guess Mr. Kenny is from out of town.
you don’t know what the dinky is?where are you from mars?
Can’t they just automate it? It makes no stops but the start and end.
I’m not sure why engineer availability is in (scare?) quotes. To me that’s believable, since of course people take vacation on the last Monday of the summer, few new graduates of the 20-month engineer training program are yet working, and the Dinky train is one of the least unreasonable to change to buses when train engineers are scarce (at least while the Alexander Road bridge is open).
Pave the route and make it a bus-way . . . i.e. no stop lights. One bus driver.
Then allow some of the buses at the Princeton terminus to go thru the campus (Elm Drive), or via University Place to/from Palmer Square, etc.
It’s too obvious a solution. Sorry.
Nothing is meant by the quotes in terms of being believable, Bob. I’m quoting NJ Transit’s announcement.
The Dinky ought to be extended not only to its former terminus, but to Nassau Street, adding a loop out to The Shopping Center, and from there, across to Bayard Lane and Witherspoon Street, with car-width euro-style trams. Had not GM bought up and ripped out all the trolleys in 1932, most of the parking meter and traffic debates would be moot. Come on, Princeton – lead by example!
DINKY—Switch engine without tender, used around back shop and roundhouse, or any small locomotive. Also a four-wheel trolley car.
According to wikipedia, it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States.