This year has been a tough one for rail riders in New Jersey. The “summer of hell” was marked by delays and cancellations caused by aging infrastructure and system failures.

In June, Gov. Phil Murphy convened a meeting with NJ Transit, Amtrak and relevant stakeholders which led to the establishment of a joint action plan. Officials say the changes have contributed to a noticeable decline in similar occurrences over the past five months, and that service quality has returned to “typical levels.”

Last month, the state received $300 million in direct federal funding via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make improvements to NJ Transit and Amtrak‘s infrastructure. Another $144 million was awarded to projects in New York that will also benefit New Jersey riders – a modernization and expansion of New York Penn Station to increase capacity.

“This $300 million in grant funding from the Federal Railroad Administration will bring needed enhancements to Amtrak’s infrastructure, which will improve reliability for NJ Transit riders and will also be transformational for Penn Station, which is the gateway between New Jersey and New York,” Murphy said in a Nov. 15 statement. “Since I took office, I have been committed to improving NJ Transit. But state investments alone are insufficient – as we rely on tracks shared with Amtrak.”

The governor said the funding would help the state improve resiliency along the most heavily traveled rail line in the country. “Allowing for upgrades that will increase the speed and the volume of trains and improve infrastructure that is more than a century old, including the catenary overhead wire systems that are prone to failures,” Murphy stated.

“This significant and historic investment in New Jersey’s rail infrastructure will deliver long-overdue improvements for commuters, businesses, and families across our state,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. “This funding will directly invest in New Jersey’s rail infrastructure to improve the catenary system which caused the major service interruptions we saw this past summer.”

The funding round earmarks money for catenary upgrades on a 23-mile stretch of the Northeast Corridor line in North Jersey, a substation replacement in Kearny, upgrades to the signal system along a 26-mile span of the NEC, and for final design and pre-construction work for the Sawtooth Bridges Replacement project.

“New Jersey commuters are sick and tired of having a ‘summer of hell’ year after year,” said U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th District, and a 2025 gubernatorial candidate. “While this grant is a step in the right direction, our work to improve transportation for New Jersey commuters is far from over.

“The grants to support critical Amtrak work to modernize the antiquated infrastructure on the NEC, as well as the funding for the expansion and reconstruction of Penn State New York, are vital to restoring service reliability on the country’s busiest rail corridor and improving the customer experience for generations to come,” she said.

What’s been done?

On the heels of that announcement, Murphy again met with Amtrak and NJ Transit Nov. 20 to receive the latest update on progress.

Amtrak and NJ Transit issued a joint report detailing their efforts since the “summer of hell.” Officials say that over the last five months, a number of improvements were made through the execution of that aforementioned joint action plan, including:

• Amtrak performed 240 track miles of catenary system inspection on the Northeast Corridor between Trenton and New York and renewed approximately 2,000 hardware components within the area. The rail operator also conducted helicopter inspections of the entire NEC overhead catenary system between Trenton and the North River Tunnel, right outside New York Penn Station and made 839 hardware replacements from the defects identified from the 2,000-plus catenary structures captured from the photographs taken during the inspections.
• Photo inspections of tunnels and tracks within New York Penn Station were also performed via special hi-rail vehicle. And Amtrak identified and remediated electric traction components and replaced overhead wire to ensure reliability.
• NJ Transit and Amtrak increased equipment inspections and used high-definition video on top of locomotives to document the interaction of NJ Transit equipment with Amtrak wires. The New Jersey operator also completed visual and hands-on inspections of approximately 82 route-miles of overhead catenary system on its territory.

“This summer, I brought Amtrak and NJ Transit together to address unacceptably long, disruptive rail delays on NJ Transit that were a consistent problem in the spring and early summer,” Murphy said Nov. 20. “With today’s meeting, we are proud to announce that Amtrak has now completed its inspection of all 240 miles of catenary overhead wire systems between Trenton and New York City.”

“While we are pleased with the progress that has improved reliability for tens of thousands of NJ Transit rail customers, our joint efforts will continue,” said NJT President and CEO Kevin Corbett. “It’s essential that we sustain the same level of attention we have demonstrated over the past five months. In addition to the work we are doing to add fiberglass protectors on our pantographs to protect them from impact damage on the NEC catenary, NJ Transit will continue to support Amtrak’s efforts to accelerate the work to upgrade the most vulnerable infrastructure along the NEC.”

“Our partnership with NJ Transit and joint commitment to Gov. Murphy to ensure that our collective customers have safe and reliable train service is achieving results,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “Amtrak and NJ Transit will continue to conduct inspections, make short-term repairs, and seek more funding to fully modernize all aspects of our infrastructure over the long term, including our electric traction system, catenary, signals, switches and more.”

The road ahead

In the progress report, Amtrak and NJ Transit also laid out some additional future actions.

NJ Transit management will continue daily reviews of all NJ Transit delays of six minutes or more. NJT will also meet with Amtrak weekly to review joint operations and advance potential solutions.

Amtrak is executing various short-term projects to improve its catenary service without affecting service. And the operators will collaborate to expand overnight and weekend work windows – using service adjustments to accelerate infrastructure renewal and repairs.

The rail issue has drawn major blowback from leaders on both sides of the aisle – a rare feat in these politically divided times – as well as from riders. Lawmakers have called for action, held hearings and more. Adding fuel to the fire, the summer system meltdown unfolded under the backdrop of the new corporate transit fee – which the business community has criticized – to bridge NJ Transit’s budget shortfall as well as a fare hike.

A recent Trenton hearing – held before the release of the progress report – was heated, as lawmakers grilled Corbett and Gardner for answers about the shortfalls.

“It was a rushed formality, taking less time than commuters waste each day standing on freezing platforms waiting for canceled trains,” said Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips, R-40th District who called for another hearing. “Commuters deserve real solutions, not empty promises from officials who seem out of touch with the real frustrations NJ Transit causes.”

“Riders deserve a legitimate legislative hearing. This wasn’t it,” he added.

The situation remains one that will continue to receive attention as these next actions play out. Officials are hopeful that these moves and next steps – combined with the funding – will help get things on the right track.

“And while the fundamental challenge facing our mass transit system continues to be aging infrastructure, we believe that these completed repairs, and the infrastructure investments to come, will make sure New Jerseyans have an easier time getting where they need to go when they need to get there,” said Murphy.