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NJT rail projects on drawing board but questions remain on money


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 30 October 2015 - 11:28 AM

NJ.com, 10/29:

 

NJ Transit rail projects on drawing board but questions remain on money

 

The proposed Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River  has been called the most important transit project in the region, but does the magnitude of that project mean other projects are off the table?

 

Not necessarily, said Steve Santoro, NJ Transit's director of capital planning and projects, who named several light rail projects are on the drawing board in various stages of design. Santoro made the statement during an Urban Land Institute panel discussion Thursday on transportation projects and how to fund them.

 

 "There are a fair amount of infrastructure and expansion projects available for when capital becomes available," Santoro said.

 

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#2 Sloan

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Posted 02 November 2015 - 02:08 PM

Excerpts from the article:

 

"We have several others that haven't been in the headlines, but are on the shelf," Santoro said. "MOM (Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line) has gone through conceptualization."

And on the other side of the Delaware River, Pennsylvania officials are reviving the concept of running passenger train on the Lackawanna cut-off, a line that NJ Transit is in the process of restoring in Sussex County.

I thought MOM died due to excessive dithering by local policymakers and citizens.  If it's "on the shelf," does that mean there is hope for a revival?

 

I have not heard, nor has the Pennsylvania railfan community, recent news about any plans Pennsylvania might have for restoring the missing rails from Analomick, PA across the stone arch Delaware River Bridge to Port Morris, NJ.  That officials are "reviving the concept" is, I hope, encouraging.  A lot of folks would welcome train travel as an alternate way to get from New York/North Jersey to Pocono resorts and Scranton.

 

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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 02 November 2015 - 04:16 PM

MOM I believe went on the back burner when Governor Chris Christie killed the ARC tunnel, since there would not have been enough capacity to carry those commuters into New York, nor to store the extra trains on the NJ side if they ended in Newark or Hoboken.  But it has gone through a number of changes thoughout the years.  There has been dithering over which of three routes the MOM line would take, and then when former Governor Jon Corzine took the most preferred and sensible route (the westerly one via Englishtown, Jamesburg, and South Brunswick) out of the mix, that pretty much sealed its fate since the other 2 alternatives would be more difficult to do since they involve abandoned rights-of-way that have since been paved over or converted to trails.  And i know of at least one place on the route that would go via Jamesburg -- in my town --  that has also had tracks and a grade crossing removed.

 

So while the various rights-of-way were more intact back when the plan was more on everyone's minds, it will be back to the drawing board if this idea gains any traction again.  And given the zigzag nature of all the alternatives, there will need to be some speed possible on the straighter sections to mitigate the fact that the route is not totally direct.

 

As for the Lackawanna Cutoff, a small segment of it (about 7 miles) between Port Morris and Andover is being rebuilt and prepared for service.



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#4 KevinKorell

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Posted 29 November 2015 - 02:41 PM

Bergen Record, Hackensack, NJ, 11/29/15:

 


A train delay for the ages: boosting service in Bergen County among stalled plans

 

In May 1928, a group of forward thinkers in New York City drew a map of North Jersey that envisioned passenger trains running from Englewood to Jersey City on an existing set of railroad tracks, part of a network they confidently named the “Ultimate Suburban Rapid Transit Plan.”

 

At 1 p.m. on a Thursday this month, 86 years later, three powerful New Jersey senators gathered in a conference room overlooking the same tracks to demand a return of passenger trains to the line.

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Kevin Korell


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