NJ Transit cancels even more trains Wednesday morning

NEWARK — A number of NJ Transit trains were canceled for the second morning commute in a row on Wednesday.

At least six trains were cancelled on Wednesday morning by a count of individual line Twitter accounts.

The cancellations started early with trains on the Montclair-Boonton and the Pascack Valley lines. No explanation was offered for most of the canceled trains.

Eight trains were cancelled during Tuesday afternoon's commute between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., after 11 trains were canceled on Tuesday morning, most without a stated reason.

The Atlantic City Line was suspended Wednesday between Egg Harbor and Atlantic City because of a trespasser strike near Absecon.

NJ Transit spokesman Nathan Rudy said none of the 100 passengers and crew aboard #4611 headed to Atlantic City from Philadelphia were injured when the train struck a person about 7:05 a.m. No information was disclosed about the victim.

NJ Transit offered an explanation late Tuesday afternoon blaming a number of factors including the installation and testing of positive train control braking equipment, which requires dedicated train crews to perform required testing. The agency also blamed a higher-than-usual number of crew absences.

"Most of the double deckers that were in service are currently going through PTC equipment installations," according to a tweet by NJ Transit's social media team.

"There are approximately 50 – 60 cars over the course of the month cycling through various stages of the installation process," NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said in a statement. "That represents less than 15 per cent of the total fleet of locomotives and cab cars and includes prep work, testing and hardware/software installation."

Many commuters have said that trains are much more crowded this week.

The trains cancelled during Wednesday morning's commute were:

Montclair-Boonton Line

• 6:12 a.m. (#0209) from Hoboken

Morris-Essex Line

• 6:44 a.m. (#6614) from Dover
• 6:53 a.m. (#5416) from Raritan
• 7:41 a.m. (#0808) from Lake Hopatcong

Northeast Corridor

• 8:11 a.m. (#3930) from Trenton due to equipment issues

Pascack Valley Line

• 6:21 a.m. (#1606) from Spring Valley

Was your train cancelled? Do the trains seem more crowded this week? Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ