HARRISON, N.J. (PIX11) – PATH wants to put passengers on cloud nine.
The Port Authority announced it is adding a ninth car during peak morning and evening commute times, adding more than a hundred passengers per train from Newark to the World Trade Center.
“It is really life-changing for those folks who live in New York or live in New Jersey,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “We are going to add a capacity of over 2,000 passengers during rush hour for four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon, having an extra two and three trains. Each train will carry an additional hundred passengers.”
“Invest in talent and location,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “When New Jersey does that historically, it has good days. Good things happen. And when it doesn’t, the opposite happens. Today’s a really, really good day, and I’m honored to be here.”
Riders, busy getting to where they needed to be, seemed to like adding a ninth car during rush hour.
“Yeah, Harrison’s getting crowded,” said one rider.
PATH said they would insert three nine-car sets in the morning and two nine-car sets in the evening. PATH has plans to ramp it up to four sets in April and six in October as they get more new cars in. To help pull this off, PATH extended the stops at both Grove Street and Exchange Place, and they also did work at Newark and Journal Square stations.
“That has come to fruition today,” said Clarelle DeGraffe, General Manager of PATH.
It’s part of a $1 billion investment PATH is making in expanding train capacity to reduce overcrowding and delays.
“This is a very proud day for PATH,” said DeGraffe.
The expanded trains will leave the station in time for Thursday morning’s commute.
