The casinos of Atlantic City have taken matters into their own hands. They want more train service from New York City to their businesses than what Amtrak and NJ Transit had been providing. So they have bought their own trains and cut a deal with the local development agency to cover operating costs and the are running their own train service (according to this article in the Press of Atlantic City).
The casinos will run the Atlantic City Express on weekends starting next weekend. Here’s how it will work:
ACES runs between the Atlantic City Rail Terminal and New York Penn Station on 7th Avenue at 32nd Street, with a stop at Newark Penn Station. The trip takes about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The route involves part of NJ Transit’s Atlantic City Line and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Line.
ACES is a joint venture among Borgata, Caesars, Harrah’s, NJ Transit and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, or CRDA. It’s running on a three-year trial basis.
The three casinos are paying $15 million for eight bi-level passenger cars. CRDA is providing $4.8 million to lease locomotives from Amtrak. ACES and CRDA are jointly providing another $4 million for operating costs.
While the casinos are used to running some transportation networks, such as bus and air junkets, delving into the train business was a new experience.
Congratulations to the casinos for investing in rail. And the lesson for the rest of us: try to convince leaders of the destinations in your community to pay for transit service instead of just parking lots.
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