Exchange Place to WTC on the PATH is no more on weekends for a long long time

We guess it matters how you think about Chris Christie and his lackeys at the Port Authority as to how you read this one.

The Port Authority has announced:

The shutdowns—between the Exchange Place station in Jersey City and the World Trade Center—are scheduled to begin Feb. 14 and continue on most weekends during 2014. 

So is this well-timed payback towards Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop or is the PA actually trying to fix the tunnels? They are claiming the need to get this Exchange Place to WTC line power-washed and brought in line with something called "positive train control" which is mandated by January of 2015. The Wall Street Journal has more:

The new signal system will be similar to the technology called "communications based train control," which is installed on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's L subway line. The system provides both protection against collision and the ability to run trains closer together, enabling operators to squeeze more capacity out of overburdened transit lines.

But the new system couldn't have been installed in time for the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline to install the federally mandated anticrash system. Many intercity railroads, which are subject to the mandate, have said they can't meet the deadline, including Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.

So is the timing of this really a signal modernization and cleaning or is this a stick in Jersey City's eye? Before you answer remember that the new national WTC Memorial opens this year and the easiest way to get there from Jersey City and Hoboken was just cut off on weekends.

So there you have it and friends it will be up to you as to how you interpret it.