Congressman proposes plan to reimburse NJ Transit riders who experience long delays, cancellations
GLEN ROCK, New Jersey (WABC) -- Some relief could be on the way for commuters who depend on New Jersey Transit, through a plan to reimburse riders who experience long delays due to Amtrak issues.
Train delays and cancellations, especially during rush hours, are the news that greets NJ Transit commuters far too often, Congressman Josh Gottheimer said.
"We've read the headlines. 'A hellish week for commuters. Another three, hot hours stranded on NJ Transit with livid passengers.' Totally, and completely unacceptable," he said.
Service disruptions have plagued NJ Transit trains, often times leaving people packed into hot stations, unsure if they will ever make it home.
Shoshana Feiner, who is a physician, called her 20-year-old daughter to tell Eyewitness News about her occasional nightmare commutes into the city this summer.
"My 20-year-old daughter was commuting to her first internship in the city this summer, and she was plagued by delays," Feiner said.
Congressman Gottheimer is proposing a passenger bill of rights that would include forcing Amtrak to reimburse NJ Transit commuters for their train tickets if there are unreasonable delays or cancellations. Amtrak would be on the hook, because it owns the tracks and systems that NJ Transit trains use.
"The legislation guarantees that passengers receive automatic and prompt refunds when their trains are canceled or significantly changed by more than three hours, just like the airlines," Gottheimer said.
Waldwick resident Jan Ullrich said that plan would be "wonderful."
The congressman says Amtrak has already received about $66 billion from the federal infrastructure bill to upgrade critical parts of its outdated system, which cause train delays when there are malfunctions.
"It's time for Amtrak and the Department of Transportation to spend the resources we've allocated," Gottheimer said.
Amtrak released a statement:
Amtrak is working hard to improve the reliability of the Northeast Corridor after nearly five decades of chronic underfunding by both the federal government and our commuter partners. We and NJ TRANSIT, like, Congressman Gottheimer, want on-time service that meet customer expectations and we are working diligently, together, to identify root causes and make improvements to the many old assets we rely on every day to support roughly 450 daily trains in New Jersey.
Assertions that Amtrak infrastructure alone is the cause of the delays experienced this summer by Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT riders aren't supported by the facts, and we certainly don't take a "run to failure" approach, although funding constraints have long forced us to extend the use of aging assets rather than replace them. Now finally, the funding recently provided by the transformational Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, made possible in part by work of Congressman Gottheimer, has enabled Amtrak to begin to rectify this and launch the company's largest-ever capital investment program, which has more investment planned in New Jersey than any other state, reflecting the criticality of these tracks to whole the Northeast Corridor.
While we deeply appreciate the $6 billion in supplemental federal funds to replace Amtrak's old assets and enhance accessibility on the NEC, most of these funds are committed already to other vital projects and are a downpayment on the tens of billions needed from Congress, and our commuter partners, in the future to modernize the Northeast Corridor from Washington DC to Boston over the coming decade. We, and our partners, are already actively working to maximize all the potential funding sources available under the BIL to improve service now and in the future. We look forward to discussing all the actions Amtrak, and our partner NJ TRANSIT, are taking today to improve the railroad with Rep. Gottheimer and getting his continued help to secure the funding required to improve the customer experience going forward.
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