Superstorm Sandy Update

NJ TRANSIT continues to make significant progress repairing the devastation left behind by Superstorm Sandy. The worst natural disaster in the history of New Jersey left a wake of destruction that particularly impacted our rail system, much of which parallels waterways and heavily-wooded areas where flooding and downed trees caused extensive damage.

A major milestone was achieved March 24th with the resumption of electric train service to Hoboken Terminal. This was accomplished following the completion of temporary repairs to the Mason Substation in Kearny (construction of a new and more resilient permanent substation will take place later this year). The work allowed us to add 21 trains on the Morris & Essex, Montclair-Boonton and Main/Bergen County lines, and restore full service to 19 trains that had been operating partial-length trips. Highlights of the March 24th changes include:

Morris & Essex Lines: 15 additional trains

• Full restoration of morning peak-period inbound service to Hoboken from the Gladstone and Morristown lines.
• Full restoration of evening peak-period outbound service from Hoboken to the Morristown Line west of Summit and from Hoboken to the Gladstone Line.

Montclair-Boonton Line: Two additional trains

• Restoration of a morning peak-period train from Montclair State University to Hoboken.
• Restoration of an afternoon departure from Hoboken to Denville.

Main/Bergen County Line: Four additional trains

• Full restoration of evening peak-period outbound service from Hoboken.

The new schedules are available at our Customer Service offices and posted at all NJ TRANSIT rail stations, on www.njtransit.com, and incorporated as part of the website's popular trip planner feature. The new schedules also officially mark the end of post-Sandy interim rail schedules, with NJ TRANSIT operating 679 of the 700 weekday trains scheduled prior to the storm, reaching 97 percent of its pre-Sandy rail service levels.

If you're looking for up-to-date information about our Sandy recovery efforts, visit www.njtransit.com. We've dedicated a new web page that provides you with the latest storm-recovery progress, including the status of repairs to railcars, locomotives, facilities and infrastructure.

While the NJ TRANSIT rail system is again fully operational, progress continues on a path to full recovery and resiliency, with assistance from the federal government:

• In March, our Board of Directors authorized restoration work at Hoboken Terminal, as well as repairs to damaged railcars, locomotives, facilities and supporting infrastructure.
• NJ TRANSIT is continuing to explore additional short-term and long-term storage options for storms equal to or exceeding Superstorm Sandy.
• NJ TRANSIT is pursuing other longterm "storm-hardening" projects to protect facilities, bridges, track and other infrastructure from future storm damage.

NJ TRANSIT crews have worked around the clock on the Sandy recovery effort, achieving the following additional milestones:

• Replacement of eight miles of track and roadbed, more than 23 miles of catenary (overhead power) wire, and five, 90-foot, catenary wire poles along the Gladstone Branch.
• Repair of nine rail bridges severely damaged due to record storm surges.
• Removal of 630 trees from railroad rights-of-way, 2.6 million gallons of salt water and 7,800 pounds of salt and debris from Newark Penn Station's Light Rail Terminal, and five feet of salt water and 18 inches of mud and debris from Hoboken Terminal's historic waiting room.
• Reopening of the Hoboken Terminal waiting room.

Thank you for your patronage, loyalty and ongoing support during our system's continued recovery efforts.

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