Light Rail safety is the key
Education push by NJ TransitThis February, a light rail car in Baltimore smashed into a concrete and steel barrier, injuring 22 passengers as well as the operator, who had a history of drug abuse.
In total, there have been seven fatal accidents in the history of Baltimore's Central Light Rail System, which a Maryland Mass Transit Administration spokesman said were mostly the fault of automobile drivers trying to beat the trains.
There have been five fatal accidents on Portland, Oregon's Tri-Met system since the popular system opened in September 1998.
A Tri-Met official recently visited the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Transit System, which starts running from 34th Street in Bayonne to Exchange Place in Jersey City in less than two weeks.
His first warning was to create a buffer zone between trains running in opposite directions so that riders won't walk in front of an oncoming train, the cause of most of Portland's fatalities, according to an NJ Transit official.
"But that won't be of concern here," said Jeffrey Warsh, executive director for NJ Transit who has been promoting Hudson's light rail. "We've carefully designed the system and planned our operations schedule with those details in mind."
Safety concerns have provided most of the ammunition of Jersey City's Paulus Hook neighborhood to criticize NJ Transit since it was revealed the $1.1 billion system would roll through the historic section of the city.
In Bayonne, the sleek 90-foot 45-ton train will be running at speeds up to 50 miles per hour along commercial lines tucked away along Route 169 - but in Jersey City, the $3.1 million trains ride through city streets, sharing sidewalk space at some points.
The trains have been running through Jersey City at or below posted speed limits for more than two months now, as the bugs are worked out of the 12-station system that rides on 7.5 miles of rail.
It has been decades since trolleys, once prevalent in Hudson County, have roamed city streets. But as one NJ Transit police officer told a group of Jersey City schoolkids last week, history repeats itself, and it has now with these modern versions of street cars and trolleys - the first of their kind in the state.
"There's always an education factor when you're introducing a new change to the infrastructure. This is the restoration of what was very common in New York and New Jersey, but only our grandparents know what it's like to live with them," said Lewis Ames, a manager at the San Francisco office of Korve Engineering, a firm that designs and monitors transportation.
The understanding of how to live with streetcars went out with the generation that used the trolley as one of their main modes of transportation, a lost art, according to Ames.
The initial operating stage of any transportation system is usually the most dangerous time, he noted.
But the St. Louis system, one of the newest in the nation, has enjoyed tremendous success, one that Ames feels could be replicated here with a state-of-the-art system and a strong education campaign. At least in the schools, the campaign in Hudson is well underway.
Everything from staying off the tracks, to the light rail cars' stopping speed, to the electric-feeding system above the trains was detailed in a hour-long program headed by two Transit officers at School 20 in Jersey City Friday.
Although some have praised NJ Transit's educational campaign, Ward F Councilwoman Melissa Holloway said it's too little too late. She has called for more safety devices - such as gates and signs.
More than 250 third, fourth, and fifth graders gathered to watch the presentation. Sgt. Andrew Keelan and Detective Albert Hoffman of the Transit police helped designed the three programs geared for children from kindergarten to the third grade, from fourth to eighth grade, and for high school students.
"Playing on the tracks is not a good idea," roared Hoffman, who warned students that it takes a rail car about 3 football fields to stop at certain speeds.