Wouldn't it be cool if we had more service from Hackettstown train station?
I know it would be incredibly unlikely, but wouldn't it be really neat if we had high speed reliable service b train to places like Chicago or the Shore? Would that even be possible?
Lngvly22 I believe long distance service from Htown is not possible. I'd settle for being able to take the train from H-town to NYC on the weekend!
btownguy I have written at least 10 letters regarding this issue. I have also written letters about no train service to Montclair State on Sunday. It would be nice to be able to go in the city for the day see a show go to dinner and come home via H'Town train. My student takes the train home on Friday evening from Montclair State but there is no service to go back on Sunday. Makes no sense as I know 6 kids from town that could do the same thing.
I have never gotten a response from any letter I have written.
Christine I agree with btownguy...it would even be nice to be able for my grandson to get home by train from Montclair College on the weekends.
Firefly agreed - unfortunately they need to string catinary from Dover to here for that to happen
skippy Midtown direct service would mean all of our property values would go up. We can only hope.
Rebecka Christine - I agree - I would love a train that goes back to Montclair on Sunday. Or, perhaps a later train on Monday. Firefly - there are trains that come home to town on Friday nights. I know there is one around 5, 8 and 9:40. It's just the weekends - Saturday and Sunday that are the problems.
Kate S. Funny we were just talking about this same thing this morning. It would be great to have service to the city on the weekends!
JessMphone I have to believe if they thought they could make money on it there would be service. Even the brand new Mt Arlington station with the huge parking lot doesn't have weekend service. I would imagine they would get it well before H-town.
Bryan My understanding is that Dover put up a real fight on the schedules available at the Mt. Arlington station; specifically about them not offering direct service to NYC. A shame because it would be a win-win for anyone travelling on 80.
Bonv 
You wont see long distance service from Hackettstown station.Also they dont have to string catenary from Montclair. NJ Transit has dual mode catenary/diesel ALP 46 locomotives that regularly are used in service to Hackettstown station .
fromI don't understand why it can't at least go out to Phillipsburg and the rest of the Lehigh Valley. Freight trains go that far and further all the time.
I also don't understand why Phillipsburg has a Train Museum, but no commuter train stations.
Erik B. Anderson Most of us don't know what it was like when you could get on a train and get just about were ever you needed to go and some day this will all be gone to day it takes 5 times longer to put in a rail line or put one back in service I can be hopeful
Caged Animal The railroad tracks to Phillipsburg and beyond would have to be upgraded to passenger train standards.All new signals and stations would have to be installed. You also need passengers to ride the train service, to date there has not been enough demand for service west of Hackettstown.
Kate S - yes we do know about the train during the week - it's pretty limited but in a pinch it's there if needed...but the weekend one would be great.
I agree that more train service would be good for the town and would improve both our home as well as Main Street values. But more important, I think quality of life would be better. I notice that during the week the lot is less than 50% but more than 30% full which is an improvement since it opened.
I also think the train also made H-town accessible for many of our new non-driving neighbors so the tracks do seem to lead in both directions. Yet with acceptance and a darn good planning and zoning board all can be well. Plus I think Centenary has a number of trainable students using the train to get back n forth from home so they have economically capitalized on the fact the tracks run both ways.
Saturday and Sunday to and from NYC sounds great. Matter of fact, there's a Hudson NY run from Penn Station that's supposed to be a quaint touristy day that I want to do. Plus a few directs, super. Chicago ----- uh....maybe try Penn Station.... And, of course, more and more runs during the week. Who do we write Christine? And can BID/Town Fathers weigh in on what they know?
mistergoogle You can go to city. Just have to switch trains at penn station in Newark. Not that hard.
skyblue2 "My understanding is that Dover put up a real fight on the schedules available at the Mt. Arlington station; specifically about them not offering direct service to NYC."
It's understandable - you have to pay for parking in Dover but not in Mt. Arlington.
Last Sunday I stopped at Dover bus terminal (Lakeland bus). It was completely full - even more than on regular weekday. Bus service to NYC in available from termonal on Saturdays every 30 minutes, on Sundays - every hour.
I still wish Lakeland bus would return back to Hackettstown, may be BID can look into it also. It's cheaper than train, faster, and more reliable. We have free Park-and-Ride near Target, why not to utilize it? People even can take bus to get to Rockaway Mall - Dover - Parsippany areas, not just to NYC.
Lena would be nice to hop a train to allen town or storudsburg or the jerrsy shore would cut down the dwi rate with a cab ride to the station
Lakeland bus terminal in Dover allows overnight parking for its customers. And it's free. Did a few times, no issues.
It would be nice, but would be a $$ loser for NJT. When they get service restored to Andover at least you can make it easily to NYC.
MeisterNJ 
iPhone-imal I don't know. Maybe long-distance is possible. There is a town called Winter Park, Florida near Orlando that is apparently about the size of H-town that receives daily service to Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York (all on one route, not seperate) and it used to get service to LA and New Orleans prior to Katrina. Maybe we COULD get long distance service to a bunch of cities
Winter Park is right outside of Orlando which is a major tourist destination for people all over the country. If Havkettstown was six miles from NYC, it would be a valid comparison.
Yes a money loser as is most public transit. And building tunnels to gain revenue but stopping mid-way tends to put a bit of a cost burden. Sad thing is ridership is up, revenue is up (I think) but long way from making a buck and so bad that it would close down and be sold for scrap a few weeks after state funding dried up.
It's sad we can't make this work in America.
Mister google, I don't think public transportation turns a profit anywhere in the world. "Making it work" simply means being willing to pay the expenditures.
Lngvly22
There is no way H'town train station will ever go to any Major city over than NYC. The only thing we could hope for is, since we are the last stop on the line, that maybe they add stops WEST of us to Philipsburg/Easton/ Allentown.
darwin You can take the train from Hackettstown to NY Penn Station. From there you can get a train to just about anywhere in the country (via Chicago, if you're heading west).
oops i meant "other than"
correct Iphone-imal, you can get to just about any place by train from H'town, just need to go to NYC first. Then you can go to Chicago or the Jersey Shore.
Basically you're right except Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore have profitable mass transit where fares cover operating costs. Toronto covers 80%. Berlin, AMTRAK and Zurich cover 70%.
NJT at 56% is like number 20 in covering cost ratios.
What can I say except ride the trains. It's a great deal.
You should be glad for any rail service to Hackettstown In 1982 Conrail the owner of the tracks proposed to abandon and tear up the tracks for scrap.Conrail later restored the line to service on the mid 1980s. The railroad line through Hackettstown has been in service since 1854.
Further to mistergoogle's post, I believe some of the high-speed train routes in Europe are profitable, perhaps even covering capital costs in addition to operating costs.
This certainly is the exception to the rule though.
jd2 Probably better off without easy service to NYC. look what the promise years ago did to the Poconos about easy commute to the city, over populated a really nice area with all kinds of people just for cheap housing. Easy commutes are not always a good thing
eapos You made a very good point eapos...that should definitely be considered. Like the old saying goes "Be careful what you ask for."
positive I think it would be cool if the train station were on Main Street. Say, where the Bergen Tool site used to be.
Erik - Hackettstown's train station indeed used to be off Main Street - where the parking lot of the old Ford dealership is.
eapos and to expand on that thought - it created a bunch of foreclosed homes and basically created ghettos in certain areas ( other factors contributed)
I commuted on that train for ever to nyc, you can get there faster by walking, it makes like 37 stops along the way, once in a while ok, but doing that every day sucked
JT I would really love to see Amtrak fix their constant signal problems coming into and out of NYP. Constant delays.
From - you seem to be very knowledgeable about trains - especially NJT trains. I was once told that customers have to change trains at dover or broad st. Newark because FDNY wont allow the Dual Mode engines into NYP as they carry too much diesel fuel. I admit this is hearsay and sounded incredulous to me
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