Secaucus Junction train transfer reliability? (Newark: station, commuting, distance)

[NJbun]

This question is posed to those who regularly take either NJ Transit

Main Line
Bergen County Line
Pascack Valley Line

into NY Penn Station via transfer at Secaucus Junction.


What percent of the time do you actually make the first available connecting train at Secaucus?


At first, I was just taking it for granted that the typically allocated 5 to 9 minutes transfer time is sufficient to catch the connecting train. You know, assuming German train schedule punctuality (I remember worrying needlessly about a 1 minute transfer time in Germany! Heh.).

Then my husband's coworkers who regularly take midtown direct NJ Transit trains insisted that the trains are never on time, and to not trust the NJ Transit website's schedules, that if they say it takes 35 minutes it will actually be much longer. :\

That would mean a huge difference when evaluating which towns are within an acceptable commuting distance for us, if for instance, half the time we'll miss the connecting train and have to wait around for the next one.

Anyway, I figured I'd ask those of you who know about transferring at Secaucus what the typical situation is!

[nybbler]

The problem isn't making the first available train. The problem is the first available train might be late. When there's issues in the tunnel, trains back up both after Secaucus (in which case you'll get on the train and then be stuck) or more commonly between Secaucus and Newark, in which case you'll wait at Secaucus.

[NJbun]

Ahh that explains what his coworkers meant then.

So then how many extra minutes should we be factoring in on average for the waiting around for the delayed connecting train part?

Are those 3 northern train lines usually on time arriving into Secaucus Junction then?

[NJbun]

Okay, nevermind on my questions!

I had a mental block and for some reason didn't bother to lookup all the trains that go from Secaucus to NY Penn.

There's one every 5 to 7 minutes during rush hour, so... now I know haha.

I kept thinking if we missed the connecting train we'd be stuck waiting for 20+ minutes.

Thanks nybbler.

[DarkWolf]

If you miss your train , you won't be waiting more then 2 mins....for the next ....so people just wait for the next anyway due to the sardine effect...

[vfrex]

Bergen/Main are like clockwork. Not sure about PVL.