If you felt like there was a little extra breathing room on your New Jersey Transit commute this morning, there might be a reason for that.
Governor Phil Murphy announced Thursday that New Jersey Transit is putting 20 extra train cars that had been "sitting in a yard" into action, after discovering it was 37 cars short of being able to provide full daily service to New Jersey commuters each day.
Murphy said 12 cars had been added to service as of that morning, and more were coming. He said New Jersey commuters should no longer have to suffer "constant stress and anxiety associated with catching their trains." The announcement was made as new data shows the railroad's performance has gotten even worse this year.
Acting transport commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said the additional cars had been "sitting in a yard" waiting for upgrades. She said the added cars would increase NJT's capacity and allow more commuters to sit as opposed to standing.
The move come as part of a complete audit and performance review of the troubled transit provider, ordered by Murphy. He took office last month promising to deal with NJT's struggles, after condemning the service as a "national disgrace."
But two months into 2018, the passenger rail service is already having one of its worst years ever, with more than a quarter of morning rush trains late arriving to New York Penn Station.
