NJT/South Brunswick to Gauge Interest in Station, On the NEC Options

[NickG]

From the South Brunswick Post:

Sometime this week a survey will be mailed out to all township residents asking them whether they would like to see a train station built in South Brunswick.

According to the survey, the township is exploring a train station that connects to the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor line, which runs from Trenton to New York City.

The full story is here.

[KevinKorell]

This idea has been hashed around for years, long before the stations at Hamilton, Newark Airport, and Secaucus Junction opened up on the NJ TRANSIT's Northeast Corridor Line. A station was supposed to be part of a new industrial park, the idea being that the station would be placed where it could function as both a park & ride facility for passengers headed towards New York City or Newark, while also being a reverse commute destination for people working in the new industrial park. The latter fell through so the station idea went on the back burner.

Despite the survey, the township has long been opposed to a NJ Transit proposed high-speed rail line that would run from Lakewood to Monmouth Junction where it would connect to the Northeast Corridor line. There would be no station in South Brunswick if the MOM line were to be constructed.

I am not sure how or why the MOM line is linked with a station on the NEC. The station would most likely be placed north of Monmouth Junction, so the MOM trains would serve the new station as well. South Brunswick, as well as its Middlesex County neighbors Monroe Township and Jamesburg, have been on the anti-MOM bandwagon although some are starting to come around and embrace it.

And notice that the author of this story called MOM a "high-speed rail line" when I think at this point we will be happy to see any passenger service at all come to fruition along this route. While it might be neat for me if they sent some Acela Express trains down my way through Howell and to Lakewood and Lakehurst, I don't think Amtrak would consider that a worthwhile option for them.

"If the Township Council sees that people are in favor, then we can enter into dialog with other towns, to see if we can provide parking and busing from those towns to the train stations," Mayor Gambatese said.

Why is the Mayor concered with other towns? Surely there would be enough commuters from his own town to justify the existence of a rail park and ride. And that term supposes that people are going to drive to the station instead of rely on another mass transit ride. Metropark does have bus shuttles sanctioned by NJ TRANSIT to take passengers to other parts of Woodbridge and other nearby towns, and Princeton Junction has county-operated shuttle vans and buses that run to other towns; but the majority of the rail passengers do park at the station.

A station in South Brunswick makes perfect sense, largely because of the station gap between Jersey Avenue (in North Brunswick, if you call that a station) and Princeton Junction. Any new facility that will provide new parking spaces along this busy rail line is bound to do well, and it will open up spaces at other stations for new commuters or those who could not get to the station before 7 AM when the lots usually fill up.

[NickG]

From the South Brunswick Post, 1/27/05:

Local group rails against train hub

A citizens group calling itself Concerned Citizens Against a Rail Station is forming to oppose a potential rail station near Route 1 between Major Road and Deans Lane.

In addition, the group says a survey being authorized by the township is flawed and not likely to produce information useful to the township.

The full story is here.

[NickG]

From the South Brunswick Post, 1/27/05:

Study to look at implications of potential rail station

The Township Council will use a $75,000 state Smart Growth Grant to study a potential train station along the Northeast Corridor line between Major Road and Deans Lane.

The full story is here.