NJ TRANSIT ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN INCIDENT RESPONSE PROTOCOLS

Larger Focus on Customer Care, Comfort and Communications

NEWARK, NJ, July 31, 2003 – After much anticipation, NJ TRANSIT Executive Director George Warrington announced at today’s Board meeting that Saturday, September 6 would be the opening date for weekend-only service at the Secaucus transfer station. Weekday rail service at the station will be launched by the end of this year, following the opening of the lower Manhattan PATH station.

The $450 million Secaucus transfer connects 10 of NJ TRANSIT’s 11 rail lines, providing rail customers with new and improved regional transportation options to popular destinations such as New York, Newark International Airport, downtown Newark, Trenton, eight New Jersey universities and the Jersey Shore.

“The Secaucus transfer station creates new markets, generates job growth and sparks economic development for the State of New Jersey,” said NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman and State Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere. “The new hub also sets the groundwork for the next generation of transportation services, such as a new two-track tunnel under the Hudson River and 100 bi-level rail cars.”

“Since last year, we have been ramping up for the opening of the Secaucus transfer station by adding more service throughout our system.” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director George D. Warrington. “This phased-in approach helps to ensure for a smoother transition as we provide our customers with new commuting and leisure travel options.”

Typically, hourly service will be available on weekends at Secaucus, although there will be some variation throughout the day. Customers should check their train schedules closely. Among the schedule highlights:

Eastbound to Hoboken:

A
Main Line
NEWARK, NJ – Following a month plagued with a number of incidents causing extensive delays and inconvenience to thousands of customers, including severe thunderstorms, power outages, trespasser fatalities, downed wires, and a derailment, a task force was created to review NJ TRANSIT’s response to major incidents.
The 22-member task force, which included representatives from the United Transportation Union (UTU) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), has issued a host of recommendations to improve the Corporation’s customer care, comfort and communications including:
- Stopping the first available train to the incident to rescue passengers.
- Equipping trains and stations with bullhorns.
- Establishing new crew size standards for eight, 10 and 12-car trains.
- Creating regional six to eight-member “Go Teams” consisting of NJ TRANSIT managers who will be immediately deployed to incidents to provide care to customers involved in a major incident.
- Providing more immediate communication by equipping all train crews with radios to keep passengers better informed.
- Displaying emergency procedures on all trains, with accompanying panel cards available at major terminals and stations.
“It was clear that NJ TRANSIT’s response to the July 14^th derailment was inadequate,” said NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman and State Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere. “NJ TRANSIT customers deserve better and these recommendations do just that by greatly strengthening the Corporation’s abilities to respond to incidents train will stop at the station seven minutes after the hour.
A Bergen County Line train will stop 12 minutes after the hour.

Eastbound to New York:

A Morris & Essex Lines train will stop 20 minutes after the hour.
A Northeast Corridor train will stop 24 minutes after the hour.
A North Jersey Coast Line train will stop 29 minutes after the hour.

Westbound from New York

A North Jersey Coast Line train will stop 17 minutes after the hour.
A Morris & Essex Lines train will stop 20 minutes after the hour.
A Northeast Corridor train will stop 23 minutes after the hour.

Westbound from Hoboken

A Bergen County Line train will stop 31 minutes after the hour.
A Main Line train will stop 36 minutes after the hour.

Beginning September 6 and during the weekend-only period, passengers who have tickets or passes for Hoboken may use the new station to transfer at Secaucus for trains to New York at no additional cost. For example, consider the rates:

Radburn-Fair Lawn to Hoboken/New York City on the Bergen County Line. Monthly ($111), weekly ($33.50), off-peak round trip ($6), one-way ($3.95), one-way reduced fare ($1.80).
Ridgewood to Hoboken/New York City on the Main Line. Monthly ($154), weekly ($47), off-peak round trip ($8.25), one-way ($5.50), one-way reduced fare ($2.50).

NJ TRANSIT’s decision to gradually phase in service at Secaucus will facilitate a smooth and safe transition, allowing customers to get accustomed to new scheduand the needs of the customers.”

“Our customers and crews have spoken, and we have listened,“ said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director George D. Warrington. “These recommendations are between the eyes and from the bottom up. It’s important that our nearly 800,000 daily riders hear loud and clear that good customer service is paramount to our business,” Warrington added.

Recommendations during major incidents:

Communications:

Activate six to eight-member “Go Teams” to report to the incident to assist customers.
Activate Emergency Response Teams to report to major terminals to assist Customers – Hoboken Terminal, Newark Penn Station, Penn Station New York and Secaucus.
Assign non-operations staff to the Rail Operations Center to coordinate the dissemination of train status and delay information during a disruption.
Broadcast emergency alerts to train crews when an incident occurs.
Equip trains and stations with bullhorns to serve as back up to onboard and station announcements.

Operations:

Send the first available train to an incident to rescue passengers, including Amtrak trains.

Recommendations to improve day-to-day operations:

Staffing

Established new crew size standards, which includes one train crewmember for every three rail cars on 8, 10, and 12-car trains.
Redeploy non-operational manager to Rail Operations Center during peak periods (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.les and service patterns and the station building. Moreover, a staggered service plan will provide the time necessary to adjust service levels when PATH service is restored to lower Manhattan.
For further information, riders in North Jersey can call NJ TRANSIT between 6 a.m. and midnight at 1-800-772-2222 or at 973-762-5100 from out of state. In South Jersey, riders may call NJ TRANSIT between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. at 1-800-582-5946 or at 215-569-3752 from Pennsylvania. For persons with hearing impairments, the number is 1-800-772-2287. Riders can also visit the NJ TRANSIT website at www.njtransit.com.
NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 752,600 daily trips on 240 bus routes, two light rail lines and 11 commuter rail lines. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 161 rail stations, 28 light rail stations and more than 17,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
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) Monday through Friday to ensure information to customers is quickly and accurately disseminated onboard trains and at stations.

Communications:

Distribute handheld radios to all train crews within 90 days to better receive information and disseminate information to customers on board trains.
Within 30 days, install pagers in station ticket offices to help agents disseminate customer information during disruptions. This will augment public address announcements.
Install new emergency procedures posters on trains within 60 days, with panel cards available at stations and major terminals.
Compile a system-wide inventory of all defective public address (PA) systems and assess the need for more speakers within 45 days.
Institute a preventive maintenance program for the PA system.

Training/Drills:

Train all 100 rail operations managers on incident command and control within 90 days.
Conduct full-scale field emergency tabletop drill before the end of the calendar year with appropriate departments, including rail operations, police and Go-Team members.
Conduct hands-on field emergency drill before the end of the calendar year.
Provide train crews and ticket agents with advance customer service training beginning in 90 days and continuing over the next year.
Change the inspection protocols to include redundant wheel inspections procedures.

The task force also included long-term recommendations including, reviewing wireless communication systems for on-board announcements; improving and or replacing the public address systems at major terminals and outlying stations; and expanding the variable message sign capability at Newark Penn Station, Hoboken Terminal and Penn Station New York for use during service disruption and/or emergencies.

Interviews were conducted with more than 100 customers and more than 100 e-mails were reviewed to assist the task force in developing its recommendations. Subgroups were also formed to focus on operations during emergencies, employee communications, passenger care and overall communications.

NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 752,600 daily trips on 240 bus routes, two light rail lines and 11 commuter rail lines. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 161 rail stations, 28 light rail stations and more than 17,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.

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