After taking a tour of NJ Transit’s Emergency Operation Center in Maplewood, N.J., on Tuesday afternoon, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told media members present that having just eight graduates in May from engineer training will not offset engineers being diverted from regular commuter operations to test positive train control.
Another factor in the shortage will be engineers taking summer vacations. At the conclusion of the tour, NJ Transit Executive Director Kevin Corbett indicated to the press that potential problems will continue until 25 to 30 engineer-trainees graduate by October.
Reduced service since June 2018 was dictated by a smaller number of available engineers. Retirements, PTC installation needs and those who left NJ Transit before the end of 2017 to work elsewhere meant full schedules for its rail lines were impossible.
In a conversation with Trains News Wire earlier this year, Corbett said that not looking at the trend of an unusually high number of resignations, retirements, and the gap that it created was one of his biggest disappointments in the first year of running NJ Transit.
New Jersey Transit had initiated a new streamlined engineer training course last year for train conductors to leverage their existing railroad knowledge and reduce their training time from 20 months to approximately 12 months. There are more than 100 engineer-trainees in six concurrent training classes; four classes will graduate by December.
While the Summer commute may not be without problems for most, on May 24, the Atlantic City Rail Line and the Princeton Branch will provide service for rail commuters once again; the two line’s commuters had to take buses since September of last year when rail service was discontinued for PTC installation, and announced restoration dates slipped.
I see that one of the excuses for a shortage this summer is engineer vacations.
I wonder if NJT thought of offering to buy back the vacation weeks. Some people need the money more than the time off.
I would think that there would have still been plenty of people willing to go to work for NJT to replace those that did leave. Did NJT just not hire anyone to replace those that left until it was too late to get them in and trained?
During the Christie years as governor NJtransit did not keep wages on a level with other rail lines in the area and engineers left NJT for more $$$.
The NJ I knew had people falling all over themselves to work for a state government agency or one of its Authorities. Good wages, very good benefits, and little chance of ever being terminated. So why is NJT having this shortage?