New PATH line concept

Submitted by D_Empire412 t3_ztonlj in jerseycity

A few months, I made a lot of posts about how hard it is to take the train from Newport (where I live) to WTC on the weekends, and it appears that this whole sub unanimously agrees that my ideas are bad, and going back through those posts, I could definitely see how. However, some of the comments from these posts bring up a very interesting issue, the reason the NWK-WTC line can only run three times an hour on the weekends is because of the Harrison station redevelopment. Plus, this is the only PATH line that has to deal with drawbridges. However, let's take these two variables out of the equation and create a new line that goes from JC to WTC, in a loop. This line would combine the HOB-WTC and JSQ-WTC service into one line for the weekends and late nights, and I think it could work well. Here would be a sample schedule.

JSQ-HOB (via WTC)

  • Journal Square
  • Grove Street
  • Exchange Place
  • WTC
  • Exchange Place
  • Newport
  • Hoboken

HOB-JSQ (via WTC)

  • Hoboken
  • Newport
  • Exchange Place
  • WTC
  • Exchange Place
  • Grove Street
  • Journal Square

I believe this proposal would work perfectly as WTC is the perfect station for this. Unlike the JSQ-33rd Street via HOB line, where the conductor has to walk to the other end of the train in Hoboken, at WTC, the conductor could just continue along the tunnel, meaning a total stop time of around a minute or two, at most, should be enough. The trains would run in both directions of the loop simultaneously. The total trip time on the loop (from HOB to JSQ or vice versa) should be around 22 minutes, which would be even shorter than the JSQ-33rd Street via HOB line. For service to Newark and Harrison, there could be a separate train that could go to JSQ, where they would transfer to this new loop line.

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Knobbies4Ever t1_j1ge9if wrote

If PATH is planning years more construction between Harrison & JSQ, the idea of separating the NWK - JSQ service from JSQ - WTC on overnights & weekends could really help. Of course, PATH would need to commit the $$ to run more frequent service.

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D_Empire412 OP t1_j1gfruh wrote

It would be a lot easier with this loop line once you take Harrison and Newark out of the picture meaning no drawbridges or Harrison station redevelopment issues to worry about.

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HappyArtichoke7729 t1_j1gmkas wrote

Interesting idea. Not as useful as adding a north/south PATH line. But very interesting.

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D_Empire412 OP t1_j1gmy48 wrote

This wouldn't require any new tunneling.

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HappyArtichoke7729 t1_j1ig2y2 wrote

It wouldn't require new tunneling, but a cut-and-cover under the streets could make it a lot more useful.

But yeah, no tunnels under non-streets except perhaps in two specific places, or one specific place, just to get underneath an existing track.

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D_Empire412 OP t1_j1ind2f wrote

Building a new subway line along JFK Blvd using cut-and-cover would be massively disruptive. TBM would be better.

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jgweiss t1_j1hnpx9 wrote

are you the pedestrian tunnel guy? honestly this is a pretty good idea. much more straightforward turnaround than hoboken, and obviously a more in-demand station (though not by a ton!), and ideally would allow for a more straightforward JSQ-33rd train on the weekends...

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D_Empire412 OP t1_j1hzg2a wrote

>are you the pedestrian tunnel guy

Yes I am, and still believe that if money was no object, that would be a great idea. I see tons of people waiting in the Exchange Place and WTC stations for up to 20 minutes to literally spend four minutes on a train, meaning they could literally save nine minutes if there was just a walking tunnel to get between them. However, it would definitely cost an unrealistic amount of money and nobody would pay to walk the tunnel.

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>honestly this is a pretty good idea. much more straightforward turnaround than hoboken, and obviously a more in-demand station (though not by a ton!), and ideally would allow for a more straightforward JSQ-33rd train on the weekends...

The best part of this idea is that it could revive HOB-WTC service on the weekend. I much prefer to go to WTC than 33rd Street as all the trains I could ever need are there.

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Economy-Cupcake808 t1_j1mlhj4 wrote

If we lived in a perfect world the Port Authority would allocate some 15/20 billion to totally re do the midtown PATH lines.

They should re-align the tunnels so that it’s a straight shot between Hoboken and Christopher, allowing for 40mph speed for the entire journey, this would cut down travel time so it’s comparable to EXPL-WTC. This would allow trains to run NWPT-HBK-CHRS-Midtown in less time than it takes to get from Newport to Christopher currently. Added bonus of making the HOB-33 dedicated route redundant which eliminates the merge at the Newport junction and reduces train traffic. You could either leave Hob-Wtc the same or just run WTC-33rd depending on whichever has better terminal capacity.

The narrow tubes and curves at Christopher street are a big service bottleneck. The fact that trains must slow to what is essentially a walking pace before entering Christopher really screws up the train traffic situation.

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