Can New Leader Fix NJ Transit’s Woes?

Kris Kolluri Must Contend With Potential Loss of Federal Funds, Possible Strike While Trying to Improve Passenger Experience

A NJ Transit bimodal ALP45DP locomotive operating under the wire on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor approaches Elizabeth in May 2015. Aging equipment, inadequate funding, and a possible strike are among the issues confronting its new CEO, Kris Kolluri.

NJ Transit’s Rail Division is a delight for rail fans but a nightmare for commuters. It is the third busiest U.S. regional rail line. Its 683 weekday trains carried 194,728 passengers on average in FY 2024. Its rolling stock includes electric multiple unit cars as well as nonpowered single-level and multilevel coaches, and diesel, electric, and dual-mode locomotives.

Trackside, you can see wetlands, rivers and inlets, cities, suburbs, country estates, and forests. Many of NJ Transit’s 166 stations feature beautiful, historic depots still in use, including Hoboken Terminal and Newark Penn Station. The substantial movable and fixed bridges NJ Transit trains traverse over the Hackensack, Passaic, and Raritan Rivers have become local landmarks.

But NJ Transit leaves much to be desired for railroad commuters. The carrier’s on-time rate is below 90 percent. Train cancellations are commonplace. Improving the service has become an issue in this year’s gubernatorial race.

On January 16 Kris Kolluri, who was previously CEO of the Gateway Development Commission, took the reins as NJ Transit’s President and CEO. Since the governor, whose term expires at the end of this year, appoints the position, Kolluri’s tenure could be brief.

Kolluri says he has no intention of being a “caretaker” CEO. He has identified three areas he plans to work on. “I’m going to focus on service reliability, fiscal outlook and efficiency and finances, and focus on rolling stock and capital improvements,” he told NJ.com transportation reporter Larry Higgs.

However, he is not likely to accomplish anything transformative in nature. His agenda includes replacing windows on more than 400 multilevel coaches and eliminating information discrepancies between the NJ Transit app and electronic signage at stations. His goal is to “move the needle” on items that would improve the passenger experience.

Kolluri has more urgent issues to address such as the uncertainty over federal funding from the Trump administration and a possible strike by engineers and conductors. NJ Transit receives around $300 million a month from Uncle Sam, which could be frozen without notice.

“There is no plan B,” Kolluri told NJ Transit’s Board at a recent meeting. There’s no plan to take the $300 million a month we get from the federal government and try somehow to come up with it. There are going to be some things that are out of our control — especially if this funding threat becomes real.”

NJ Transit crews have worked without a contract since 2019. Last August their union voted to strike. They could go out or be locked out after a 60-day federally mandated cooling off period expires at midnight March 22.

On-time performance has been a chronic issue for NJ Transit’s rail lines. Since January 2017 it has met its goal of 94.7 percent on time in only eight months. For 2024 the on time rate was 89.54 percent compared with 95.65 for the Long Island Rail Road and 98 percent for Metro North, both of which carried more passengers. However, NJ Transit says its on-time rate is four points higher when Amtrak-related causes are factored out.

Last year, the system was plagued by frequent train cancellations, which added to commuters’ frustration. The problem peaked in June 2024 when 656 scheduled trains did not run.

Close to two-thirds of the cancellations that month – 456 – were related to issues with Amtrak. Other than three routes in northern New Jersey that go to Hoboken Terminal exclusively, all NJ Transit lines use the Northeast Corridor, which Amtrak owns, maintains, and dispatches.

Amtrak and NJ Transit formed a task force at that time to correct the problems. It has helped sharply reduce the number of Amtrak-related cancellations. For January 2025 NJ Transit reported on its performance score card zero Amtrak-related cancellations.

The number of cancellations now hovers around 200, although it spiked to almost 400 for December 2024. While a marked improvement the railroad still needs to do better. These days mechanical issues are the leading cause of cancellations.

Since June 2020 the mean distance between failure for NJ Transit rolling stock has dropped from 94,969 miles to 49,770 miles, meaning trains break down twice as frequently. Most likely this is due to an aging fleet that includes EMUs built in the 1970s and a handful of locomotives built for the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) in the 1960s.

Relief is on the way in the form of 174 new multilevel cars that will replace the elderly Arrow III EMUs. The first of these cars is expected to be placed into service later this year. The order is scheduled for completion in 2028.

The cars, known as Multilevel III, are expected to run 400,000 miles between breakdowns compared to 20,000 miles for the Arrow III cars. They will come in powered and non-powered versions. The latter will be used as trailers for the new EMUs or run in locomotive-hauled trains. Top speed will be 110 mph, ten miles an hour faster than for Multilevel I and II coaches.

The new EMUs represent a switch from recent NJ Transit policy to buy electric and bimodal locomotives to run on electrified lines rather than new Arrow EMU cars. While this may have been cheaper locomotive-hauled trains take more time to get up to speed.

At its core NJ Transit’s problems can be traced to having resources spread too thin. It operates over 530 route miles but its productivity, as measured by average ridership by mile, is well below that of the LIRR, Metro North, and METRA.

In addition it lacks a dedicated funding source. Last year the state instituted a “corporate transit fee” to help offset a $1 billion budget shortfall. However, it sunsets in 2029 and the funds may be used for other purposes. The $300 million a month NJ Transit receives from the federal government reimburses the agency for funds laid out for capital projects.

NJ Transit was established in 1979 to assume bus routes operated by Public Service and other private carriers. Four years later it took over commuter rail lines run by Conrail, which inherited them from the Erie Lackawanna, Penn Central, and Jersey Central.

Since taking over these lines NJ Transit has updated the infrastructure and purchased new rolling stock. In addition, it improved system connectivity by building the Secaucus Junction rail station, starting Midtown Direct service from the Morris & Essex lines to Penn Station New York, and rerouting Boonton Line trains via Newark and Montclair.

However, with exception of the Atlantic City line, which went into service in 1989, and an extension of the Boonton Line to Hackettstown, which opened in 1994, the network essentially remains unchanged. Restoration of service on the Lackawanna Cutoff to Andover won’t begin before 2027. Projects like the proposed Monmouth – Ocean – Middlesex (M-O-M) Line remain on the drawing board.

Ask 10 candidates for New Jersey governor what to do about NJ Transit and you will likely get 10 different answers. It will be interesting to see who gets elected this November and what they intend to do improve the service.