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ORADELL 'SILLY' ON PASCACK RAIL, NJ-ARP SAYS
Opposition to Double-Track Plans 'Devoid of Common Sense,' Group Notes;
Anti-Rail Folks Overlook Nearby Precedents, Boost to Real Estate Values
CHATHAM, N.J., February 26, 2004 -- Oradell officials opposed to passenger
rail sidings in their municipality woefully ignore their town's own history,
potential benefits to real estate values, and improved travel choices for
all Pascack Valley citizens, the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers
(NJ-ARP) charged.
Track expansion planned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) would allow two-way rail
passenger service on its Pascack Valley Line throughout the day, compared
with limited "commuter" service to Hoboken and New York during the morning,
and outbound (homebound) during the evening, NJ-ARP President Douglas John
Bowen pointed out.
"Oradell anti-rail voices in essence suggest we remain in the golden 'post-WWII
era,'" Bowen said. "Everyone using rail heads for New York in the morning
and comes home at night. Such advocacy is downright silly, and devoid of
common sense."
Oradell's automotive traffic faces no comparable one-way restrictions, Bowen
noted. "Would the borough surrender its ratables on Kinderkamack Road, and
narrow the road to boot, because 'reverse commuters' come by car in the morning?
No? Then why discriminate against potential rail passengers? Why limit choice?"
Even if Oradell insists it has "no use" for more rail service, that might
not hold for municipalities further north, Bowen said. "Emerson, Westwood,
Hillsdale, Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge, Montvale, and New York State locales
might object to Oradell's unilateral attitude," Bowen said. "NJ-ARP certainly
does."
Two-way passenger rail service nearly doubled recently between Waldwick and
Mahwah in Bergen County, and has nearly tripled for many residents of Bloomfield,
Glen Ridge, and Montclair in Essex County. "Check out the real estate values
there, Oradell," Bowen challenged. "No downward slope anywhere; real estate
values have in fact accelerated. And the citizens are using New Jersey Transit.
What makes Oradell uniquely different? Only the current limits to train service
now hampering the town."
Bowen scoffed at alleged interference to emergency vehicles. "We hear this
all the time in New Jersey, and the dire predictions never come to fruition,"
he said. "The concern is legitimate only to a point -- but anti-rail folks
run with it to the point of hysteria."
For that matter, Bowen said, Oradell should ponder whether automotive congestion
is generated by ... automobiles. "The focus is on the trains; it also should
be on all the cars one must use -- not choose to use; must use," the NJ-ARP
president said. "Trains or no trains, Oradell faces this issue right now.
Clicking one's heels three times and wishing the problem away won't cut it."
But improving and broadcasting transportation alternatives just might aid
Oradell, noted NJ-ARP Bergen County Liaison Lester Wolff. "Don't forget the
Pascack Valley now has some rail access to the rest of New Jersey, including
Newark Liberty International Airport, via Secaucus Junction," said Wolff,
a Montvale resident. "If Oradell residents know they can travel somewhere
and back, they might actually use rail service. If travelers elsewhere knew
they could travel to Oradell and back, they might take the train there. Right
now, everyone's first chance to reach Oradell by rail is at 2:33 p.m."
NJ-ARP is the statewide rail passenger advocacy lobby, a not-for-profit group
established in 1980 to preserve and expand rail transit options and improve
rail services and quality.
These files were created by Bob Scheurle.
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