Going to Atlantic City the Hard Way

Journey Took 5 ½ - Six Hours Each Way Riding Four Trains in Each Direction

NJ Transit train to Atlantic City approaches Pennsauken Transfer Station. Delair Bridge over the Delaware River can be seen in the distance.

A week ago, Wednesday I traveled to Atlantic City the hard way…by train. I rode four different trains in each direction operated by three different agencies. The trip from Long Island, via Pennsauken, took almost 5 ½ hours. The return, via Philadelphia, took nearly six hours. According to Google Maps, I could have driven to Atlantic City in less than three hours.

But speed wasn’t my objective. I wanted to check out how well different components of the Northeast regional rail network – other than Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor – work together. I rode no Amtrak trains, even though they were faster.

Not too long ago, I could have made the trip to Atlantic City with a single transfer at Penn Station New York and it would have taken under four hours. Unfortunately, Amtrak’s Atlantic City Express, which I rode in 1989 soon after its debut, was a shit show and the railroad discontinued it six years later.

Oceanside, NY – Trenton, NJ: Long Island RR Long Beach Branch and NJ Transit Northeast Corridor

I caught the Long Island Rail Road’s 7:14 am out of Oceanside to Penn Station. The run, with 10 M-7 cars, was uneventful, and plenty of seats were empty. When I arrived in New York I headed to the main concourse to purchase NJ Transit tickets.

Then I boarded the 8:12 Trenton local, settled into a seat, and texted my location on the upper level of a bilevel coach to my friend, Henry, who would join me in Secaucus. Two minutes later the train was underway.

The car was clean and comfortable. Henry found me with no difficulty. He lives in western New Jersey and his train left one hour before mine. It was the only a.m. rush hour schedule on the Morris & Essex line that stopped in Secaucus. The massive transfer station there that New Jersey spent a fortune to build and serves as a hub for NJ Transit’s northern routes is underutilized.

The nearby Portal North bridge replacement project is well underway; 25 percent complete according to an Amtrak blog post. When finished, trains will be able to speed across the Hackensack River and no longer have to stop for marine traffic.

You would never know from its schedule that our train was running on the Northeast Corridor, where Amtrak’s Acela Express is allowed 150 mph. The Trenton local lives down to its name. It is carded to make the 60-mile run in 1:34 with 14 stops. Amtrak’s fastest regional service takes only 49 minutes.

The schedule is well padded: Too much padding, in my opinion. Despite delays between Edison and New Brunswick, the train reached Trenton eight minutes ahead of schedule. However, it waited outside the station and arrived at its appointed time.

Trenton – Pennsauken: NJ Transit River Line

My original itinerary called for taking NJ Transit’s River Line, a diesel-powered light rail route, from Trenton to Camden and riding PATCO to Lindenwald, where we would catch the Atlantic City train. However, Henry learned the River Line was operating on a Sunday schedule with trains every 30 minutes. This would have caused us to miss the connection at Lindenwald so we decided to transfer at Pennsauken instead.

We used the extra time in Trenton to photograph a northbound Amtrak Northeast Regional train and explore the Trenton station, aka Trenton Transit Center, which opened in 2008. We were able to watch one of the few remaining Solari split-flap train indicators still in service in the Northeast do its thing.

The River Line platform in Trenton is located across the street from the Transit Center so it is very easy to make connections. Better yet, the fare for seniors is only 75 cents. The Stadler diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains NJ Transit acquired in 2004 have held up nicely. The interior was clean and bright. Some passengers were using the bicycle hooks adjacent to the door.

The line is single track with passing sidings. Top speed for DMUs is 60 mph. NJ Transit shares the tracks with Conrail Shared Assets freight trains that run at night to serve local industries.

The trip to Pennsauken takes 50 minutes and the train was well patronized. Although the route follows the east bank of the Delaware River there are few good views of the river. At Bordentown the train crosses Crosswicks Creek on a curved bridge. In Burlington the tracks run down the middle of Broad Street.

Pennsauken – Atlantic City: NJ Transit Atlantic City Line

At the Pennsauken Transit Center, which opened in 2013, NJ Transit’s Atlantic City line crosses overhead on a fill. The station complex has a low-level platform for the River Line and two high-level platforms for Atlantic City trains. To reach the Atlantic City platform we had a choice: four flights of stairs or an elevator. We chose poorly.

The Atlantic City train was running late. A Comet V cab car led the way followed by three Comet II-M coaches and a GP-40-PH2 shoving. We boarded the first car because it had the cleanest windows. We didn’t get very far. At the east end of the station the line goes to single track and we had to wait eight minutes for a westbound to arrive. Now we were 15 minutes late.

East of Cherry Hill the PATCO line comes alongside the Atlantic City line and follows it to Lindenwald, where a large crowd waits to board. The train was well patronized in both directions.

Eight years after the New Jersey Department of Transportation discontinued passenger service to Atlantic City in 1981, trains returned via a rebuilt line shared by NJ Transit and Amtrak. The latter offered intercity services from as far as Richmond, VA, .mainly to serve gamblers headed to the city’s casinos.

The line is straight, flat, and fast east of Lindenwald. The run from Pennsauken took just over an hour, and the engineer made up nine minutes of the 15-minute delay.

The route has little to offer in the way of scenery, however. Between stations the ROW is lined with trees that block the view. As it approached Atlantic City the train ran through wetlands on a fill. We could see several casino hotels and wind turbines in the distance. After crossing a swing bridge, it came to a stop at the Atlantic City Rail Terminal.

The terminal is a poor facility in a poor location. Surrounded by the entrance to the Atlantic City Expressway on one side and a large Sheraton Hotel on another the station is physically cut off from the rest of the city.

Its glass and steel waiting room is cold and sterile. The black metal benches were no doubt chosen to discourage vagrancy. In 1997, Atlantic City opened a 500,000 square foot convention center attached to the station. It was built in anticipation of trainloads of convention goers that never arrived.

Even though there was a large outlet center behind the hotel, there were few nearby options for lunch. With help from Google, we found an excellent sub shop a few blocks away in Ducktown. The sandwiches we ordered were so large we had to finish them on the train.

Atlantic City, NJ – Philadelphia, PA: NJ Transit Atlantic City Line

The  train to Philadelphia left on time at 1:55 pm. We sat in the same car we arrived in. West of Pennsauken, it crossed the Delaware River on the Delair Bridge, a through truss structure with a movable lift span. After coming off the bridge, we ran on Northeast Corridor Track 4, which normally is an eastbound track. We crawled from North Philadelphia into 30th Street Station and arrived on Track 1 approximately 10 minutes late.

Philadelphia, PA – Trenton, NJ: SETPA Trenton Line

After grabbing a pretzel and coffee in the food court, we headed to the SEPTA section of the station to board the 4:19 Trenton local. Its narrow corridor, low ceiling, and general chaos reminded me of the LIRR section on the lower level of Penn Station New York. Inadequate ventilation made the upper level platforms feel hot and stuffy.

Our train, composed of Silverliner III cars, left four minutes late. It arrived in Trenton 12 minutes late mainly because it had to wait outside the station for clearance to cross over three tracks to reach the westbound platform. That gave us only two minutes to make the connection for New York.

Trenton, NJ – Oceanside, NY: NJ Transit Northeast Corridor, Long Island Rail Road Long Beach Branch

Safely aboard the 5:27 New York local, we had a smooth uneventful trip until we were just outside Penn Station. While it appeared the train would arrive early, delays caused by congestion in the terminal made us five minutes late.

That gave me another tight window to catch the 7:06 pm train back to Oceanside. A consist of M-3 cars, which date to the 1980s, was a pleasant surprise. The LIRR performed well. The train arrived in Oceanside two minutes late and I was back home before 8 pm.

Takeaways

·        The trip by rail from Atlantic City takes too long. Better to drive.

·        NJ Transit should schedule express trains to Trenton throughout the day with better coordination with SEPTA service to Philadelphia. Locals could originate at Jersey Avenue.

·        NJ Transit needs more service and better marketing to get people to use the Secaucus Junction complex. That includes allowing some Amtrak trains to stop there. With a transfer, people can travel between more than 100 communities in New Jersey and New York.

·        The River Line is one of NJ Transit's best kept secrets. Ridership has exceeded expectations since day one. I hope to see it extended to Glassboro and electrified in the not too distant future.

·        The Atlantic City line is NJ Transit’s unwanted stepchild even though it seemed well patronized. It has the oldest equipment and is tucked away in a corner of 30^th Street Station. In addition, it was poorly planned and rushed into service. Fortunately, the PATCO high-speed Lindenwald line gives riders better access to Center City Philadelphia. 30^th Street is better for people changing to Amtrak and the SEPTA Regional Rail former Pennsylvania Railroad routes.

·        I probably will not see good rail service from New York to Atlantic City in my lifetime. The route used by Amtrak, with a change of locomotives and direction at Frankford Junction in North Philadelphia, was too time consuming and unreliable. The direct route via Red Bank and Winslow Junction, which was used by the Central Railroad of New Jersey’s Blue Comet, is in poor condition and requires extensive rebuilding.