Improve schedule accuracy on extreme temperature days with specific extreme heat schedule?
Until the Northeast Corridor from New Brunswick to New York Penn is upgraded to constant tension catenary, Amtrak will decrease speed limits when there’s extreme heat. This unfortunately the current state of the infrastructure and I think upgrading to constant tension catenary should be a top priority for NJT and Amtrak.
Given the speed limit reductions, it seems infeasible for NJ Transit to run their normal schedule which assumes the normal speed limits with some buffers.
Instead of keeping the typical schedule and then failing spectacularly to keep on schedule nearly every time there’s extreme heat, why doesn’t NJ Transit have an extreme heath schedule that they can reasonably maintain with the lower speed limits? This would provide more predictably for riders.