PATH trains will only operate on the Newark to World Trade Center line for the next two weekends.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the move is designed to give crews 48 hours of uninterrupted time to work on the restoration of the Hoboken line.
The trains will operate from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. only from Newark to World Trade Center the weekends of Dec. 8 and 9 and Dec. 15 and 16. That means there will be no service to 33rd Street station.
Port Authority officials say the move could shave off five or more days from the schedule for restoring the Hoboken PATH.
“While shutting down PATH’s Newark to 33rd Street line for at least two full weekends will add to passengers’ short-term inconvenience, it will help speed the return of service not only to Hoboken, but also to the PATH’s regular 24-hour schedule throughout the system," Stephen Kingsberry, PATH’s acting director and general manager, said in a statement. "Continued patience now will be rewarded later.”
The news was met with mixed reactions by some of the thousands of New Jersey residents who rely on PATH.
"It affects my social life more than my work life, but I feel for those who have to get into the city every day," said Adele Glazer, who says she has friends in Hoboken who are now having to travel three hours to get into Manhattan because of the continued PATH outage there.
Officials said last week that restoring the Hoboken line could take weeks. It was heavily damaged during Sandy.
Port Authority Chairman Patrick Foye testified in Washington Thursday about the destructive aftermath of Sandy. He said 90 to 100 people were working each day on repairs at the Hoboken PATH station.
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But some wondered why they're still left guessing about when the Hoboken terminal will reopen, 38 days after Sandy.
"They need to do a better job communicating to the people affected by this," said Mary Stafford. "We're not really getting any updates."
