July 20, 2002

NJ-ARP Urges Governor, NJDOT Endorse Access to the Region's Core Alternative "G"

The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP) strongly urges Governor Jim McGreevey and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to endorse Alternative "G," one of three current competing recommendations of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA) Access to the Region's Core (ARC) study.

Alternative "G" will provide expanded tri-state rail mobility options by constructing two additional trans-Hudson tracks and building a connecting tunnel between New York's Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal in the heart of midtown New York City. New York will benefit by allowing its employers to tap the highly skilled labor pool in New Jersey and provide these potential employees direct access to the Grand Central area.

About 70% of all midtown jobs are within walking distance of this terminal, as compared with 36% for Penn Station. Through-running of trains between Connecticut and New Jersey via Manhattan will serve to increase regional rail options, reduce vehicular congestion, and mitigate environmental effects.

The destruction of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan has added increased urgency to early approval of this program. New Jersey Transit (NJT) trains to Midtown have experienced an additional 30,000 daily riders as businesses have relocated their personnel and operations to this transit-accessible location.

Endorsing Alternative "G," and the subsequent implementation of an adequate, stable, and secure funding package from a variety of political constituencies and sources, will enable key elements of the plan to move ahead, ensuring 21st century mobility for all residents of the tri-state region. Once a funding package is in place, ARC can begin construction of its various aspects through a process of staged implementation as monies are made available.

The overwhelming success of New Jersey Transit's MidTown Direct service, initiated in June 1996 (which for the first time permitted direct access for Morris & Essex line riders to New York's Penn Station), has proved conclusively the need for accelerating ARC's tri-state capacity and enhanced regional rail expansion recommendations. Incremental improvements for MidTown Direct service are continuing, but additional track capacity is needed to supply the ever-burgeoning New Jersey demand for direct rail service to Manhattan.

Demand is expected to be generated by passengers from:

1. Percentage growth on the currently operating Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast, and Morris & Essex lines;
2. The Newark International Airport Northeast Corridor monorail transfer station;
3. The Montclair Connection, expected to be in service September 2002 allowing Boonton Line and Montclair Branch riders access to New York's Penn Station either directly or through a convenient transfer);
4. The Secaucus Transfer station, expected to be in service in 2003 (permitting Main-Bergen Line riders access to New York's Penn Station;
5. The Raritan Valley Line, once direct access to New York's Penn Station is achieved either by electrification or with dual-mode diesel and electric locomotives; and
6. The Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) proposed central New Jersey route (offering those county's residents access to New Brunswick, Newark and New York's Penn Station).

Acting in concert, these six elements will continue to overwhelm already existing post 9/11 capacity increases and lead to further service degradation on the already intensively used two-track Amtrak Northeast Corridor entry to midtown Manhattan.

Meanwhile, New York has been proactive in order to satisfy the concerns of its rail riders by forging ahead with the earliest possible implementation of its East Side Access (ESA) Study results. This study would allow Long Island trains to use the now vacant 63rd street tunnel between the boroughs of Queens and Manhattan and access the available track capacity in Grand Central Terminal. This aspect was an important segment of the ARC study recommendations. Having the support of New York Governor George Pataki virtually ensures this phase of ARC with early completion.

In order to meet the demand for regional rail service from New Jersey, NJ-ARP hereby urges that the Governor and the NJDOT take immediate action and begin discussions aimed at providing an approval process to construct tunnels for two additional trans-Hudson River tracks -- as recommended in the ARC study -- between New Jersey and New York City sufficient to accommodate the soon-to-be-ordered double deck passenger equipment. These two additional tracks would supplement the already existing two-track tunnels which were completed for the opening of New York's Pennsylvania Station in September 1910 and are now approaching 95 years in age.

Some $54 million will be spent shortly to improve the safety of these tunnels as a result of a federal anti-terrorism appropriation. But any closure of these aging facilities for overhaul or intensive maintenance would seriously curtail rail access between New Jersey and New York City. The resulting delays would severely impact the economic viability of the entire tri-state region, and discourage passenger rail use. Current estimates place the rehabilitation of both the Hudson and East River tunnels at $1 billion in the next decade.

In the short term, NJ-ARP suggests the through-running of NJT, Long Island and Metro-North regional rail trains through New York, thereby connecting Connecticut, New York and New Jersey with an integrated rail service today with existing and available equipment. By not having to turn regional rail trains in Manhattan, both these agencies would be gaining valuable platform and storage space in the currently overcrowded New York-Penn Station complex and increase asset utilization of their expensive rolling stock.

NJ-ARP also supports the expansion of yard capacity throughout the region, and the addition of even further platform access points than those now under construction in New York's Penn Station.