A cabbie waits for no one at the Red Bank train station Friday morning amid a strike by railroad engineers. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
If you’ve ever wondered what life in Red Bank would be like without the regular NJ Transit trains rumbling through town, you got to see and hear it Friday.
The strike by NJ Transit engineers turned the area around Red Bank’s train station into an eerily quiet ghost town Friday morning, with parking lots empty, shops without customers and traffic flowing unusually freely past railroad crossing gates that never went down.
A digital kiosk at the NJ Transit Red Bank train station announces the suspension of rail service the morning after engineers went on strike. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The walkout began just after midnight Friday after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement between NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. It is the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
The strike hit on the cusp of a weekend that would likely have seen a larger-than normal number of passengers boarding trains from Red Bank headed to New York, Newark or Secaucus.
A passenger boards the NJ Transit bus to the Long Branch train station Friday morning as train service was shut down by an engineer strike. (photo by Brian Donohue)
There’s a New York Knicks playoff game at Madison Square Garden Friday evening and the start of a three-day subway series between the Mets and Yankees at Yankee Stadium. There’s also the second of two Shakira concerts at Met Life Stadium Friday.
At Eiffel Liquors on Monmouth Street across from the train station, owner Hitesh Patel said he had already seen the effect Thursday when NJ Transit cancelled train and bus service to Met Life Stadium for Thursday’s Shakira concert ahead of the strike.
“Thursday to Sunday is our busiest time, but last night was like a Monday,” he said Friday morning.
He said he can usually expect at least a handful of customers stopping by to buy a beer or cocktail to brown bag on the train whenever there’s a concert at Met Life Stadium. On nights like Friday, with both the Yankees and Knicks playing at home, he’d expect to be even busier.
“A lot – a lot,” he said of the amount of business he expect to lose this weekend. “Those places charge twenty dollars for a beer,” he said of concert venues and stadiums. “This place would be crazy because you get a ten dollar beer and shot and you’re ready to rock.”
As for commuters heading to and from work, NJ Transit encouraged folks to work from home Friday if they could. The agency is adding buses to their routes to handle demand. In addition. Seastreak ferries is adding additional service from Belford over the weekend and through Monday if the strike continues.
On a typical weekday, about 661 riders board the train at Red Bank, far below the peak ridership in the early 2000’s.
While around the state the strike may have caused headaches and more congestion, the opposite appeared to be the case in Red Bank.
With no trains causing traffic to stop at the many grade crossings in town, car traffic seemed to be flowing far more freely than on the average weekday.
It’s a sample size of one, of course, but this reporter’s normal 7:15 am drive across town was remarkably quick and easier than normal today.
And then there’s the lack of train whistles. The silence is deafening. How weird is that?
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
