All aboard for Light Rail April 15th?
Glitches in system being worked outThe shiny new light rail cars that have been darting along Bayonne and Jersey City streets - and disturbing neighbors - will begin passenger service on April 15, according to the governor's office.
Although NJ Transit officials refuse to give an official starting date for the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Transit System, a spokeswoman for the governor's office said yesterday the system would begin running by mid-April.
Hudson Bergen Light Rail Transit System cars have been doing trial runs for more than a month now as glitches are still being worked out of the $1.1 billion system that stretches, for now, from 34th Street in Bayonne to Exchange Place in Jersey City, but will ultimately travel north to Ridgefield.
NJ Transit officials had said about a month ago that a ceremonial opening date would take place on a Saturday and the official opening for weekday commuters would take place on a Monday, but yesterday the company's spokesmen would not comment.
Officials are conducting tests gauging the levels of vibration and sound the 90-foot-long and 9-foot-wide cars make as they breeze through a historic Jersey City neighborhood. The trains hit average speeds of about 15 miles an hour during testing, but residents have said the trains move much faster during the evening hours.
Arthur Connelly, a civil engineer who lives on Essex Street in the city's Paulus Hook neighborhood, said the rumblings of the trains rip through his home and wakes him nearly every morning.
"If I can feel it then it must certainly have an impact on my (building) and the rest of the buildings along Essex Street," Connelly said.
In 1996, before any of the 29, $3 million light rail cars were built, a noise and vibration study was conducted on Essex Street using buses. The test showed that the bus traffic did not create any structural damage to the buildings. Yesterday, a handful of residents gathered along the curb as the testing was conducted and many said they expected the vibrations created by the trains to be stonger than those of the buses.
Although once on line the trains will only run from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., NJ Transit is testing the system and train operators 24-hours-a-day.
But if it's not the rumbling of the trains, it's the thundering air horn and trolley-like bell that are getting residents riled up, according to Dorcey Winant, a resident of the Claremont Condominium building.
"It's one or two in the morning and these drivers are blowing their horns," Winant complained to NJ Transit officials gathered for the testing yesterday. Officials said they have repeatedly instructed their drivers to use the air horns under certain circumstances only, but admitted some operators persisted.
The Newport station is set to open late this year, while the Hoboken station is set for 2002.
NJ Transit expects the system will serve 25,000 riders this years and 100,000 riders by 2010.
Individual tickets, good for 90 minutes, will be sold for $1.50 and 10-ticket packages will sell for $13. Monthly tickets, to be sold for $53, will also be valid for connecting NJ Transit and other private bus companies.
Durning peak hours, the trains will stop at the stations about every seven and a half minutes and every 15 minutes during off-peak hours. Along the systems western spur, from Exchange Place to West Side Avenue, trains will run every 15 minutes.