 | NARP blogTRAINS: A travel choice Americans want |
» Visit the Official NARP Website
Hopping the Local: News from State Rail Advocacy Groups
Monday, October 05, 2009
The first installment of an occasional blog feature reporting interesting news from NARP’s state-level cousins.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: albany, downeaster, finger lakes, geneva, john baldacci, legislature, maine, meadowlands, new jersey, new york, passenger trains, rail authority, sports, stadium, trainriders, vision, yankees,New Jersey Paper Speaks Out Against Dead End ARC Alignment
Thursday, January 07, 2010
North New Jersey’s The Record ran a piece by Editorial page editor Alfred Doblin on December 21 of last year which offers a refreshing corrective to New Jersey Transit’s new interstate rail tunnels, planned to run under the Hudson River.
It’s no secret that NARP—along with a number of other groups, including the Lackawanna Coalition and the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club—has been a vocal opponent of this project, also known as the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC). Not because there is not a need for the tunnels. Rather, it is because the need to expand the rail capacity of the region is so dire; the New York City region remains one of the nation’s most congested train, automotive, and air transit hubs, and solutions are desperately needed. And with more than $9 billion in Metropolitan Transit Authority, New Jersey state, and federal funds needed to bring this project to completion, the stakes are too high to settle for not-good-enough.
Doblin does an excellent job of explaining why the ARC, as presently conceived, is not the solution (bold added):
The new tunnel under the river makes sense. Bringing more New Jersey commuters into Manhattan makes sense. Building a deep-tunnel train station a block from Pennsylvania Station and just footsteps from an existing PATH station makes no sense to the commuters who – well, commute.
...
New Jersey commuters will end up where they always have. NJ Transit cannot take its trains to Grand Central because it would have to bore below a massive tunnel supplying water to Manhattan. Until an additional water tunnel is operational, there will be no NJ Transit trains to Grand Central. This should be the deal-breaker for the project as planned. It makes little sense to expend billions and billions of dollars for a less-than-perfect solution.
...
The Hudson River tunnel project is monumental. But if it isn’t done right, it’s a monument to excess. The advocates for building it now, regardless of where it terminates, are not the everyday people who have to travel back and forth on the trains. Exactly where are the thousands of new commuters going to go after they arrive at 34th Street? Can all those new commuters be absorbed into the existing subway infrastructure at 34th Street? Not likely. It should be Grand Central or bust.
NJ Transit continues to award contracts—two and counting so far, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars—and the window to correct the flaw of the deep cavern terminal is closing. Transit advocates will have to hope that Governor-elect Chris Christie is paying attention to the voices of reason.
—Sean Jeans-Gail
Learn more about NARP’s proposed fix for the ARC project.
Posted by NARP
Tags: arc, hudson river, mta, new jersey, new york, nj transit,ARC Debated on Half-Hour Public Television Show
Monday, September 27, 2010
For an interesting discussion about the Hudson River tunnels and the 30-day freeze Gov. Christie has put on the project, watch this clip from “On the Record,” a NJN Public Television program.
The “star” from NARP’s point of view is Joseph Clift, representing the Regional Rail Working Group, who agrees that new tunnels are absolutely necessary but argues—as NARP has—that they must go to New York’s Penn Station, not “Macy’s basement.” The three other panelists are State Senator Michael Doherty (R), Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D) who chairs the NJ Assembly Transportation Committee, and Zoe Baldwin of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Doherty is skeptical of the project’s costs but agrees, if it is built, it should go to Penn Station. Wisniewski and Baldwin believe any effort to change the project will kill it. Clift gets the last word.
UPDATE: The embedded link now redirects to an unrelated episode. You can find the episode about the Hudson River rail tunnels at On the Record’s website.
—Ross Capon
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: arc, assemblyman john wisnewski, debate, hudson tunnels, joe clift, new jersey, njn, public television, regional rail working group, sen michael doherty, tri-state transportation campaign, zoe baldwin,Bob Ingle on the Hudson River Tunnels
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
New Jersey Press Media senior columnist Bob Ingle’s Sept. 26 column is notable for quoting NARP Member Phillip Craig’s testimony before the NJ Assembly’s Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee. Craig insisted, “We are not faced with either the tunnel as is or no tunnel;” the tunnels should go to Penn Station, eliminating the need for the new 34th Street Terminal NJT has planned.
Ingle refers to NJT’s project as “the third Hudson tunnel,” after the existing one and “a second Amtrak is planning.” These all are pairs of single-track tunnels—there are two tracks now, and would be six in total if all the plans get built. What is commonly referred to as what “Amtrak is planning” is conceived of as fifth and sixth tunnels identified in the NEC Infrastructure Master Plan, which was the product of a multi-agency working group. These tunnels would be used both by commuter and intercity trains.’’
The key messages now:
- Ask Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff to make sure that the FTA keeps the $3 billion earmarked for Hudson River tunnels, which everyone agrees is needed, while New Jersey works through design and cost issues.
- If you live in the Northeast, express concern to your governor and your federal legislators about the need to redesign the Hudson River tunnels so they connect to Penn Station.
- If you live in New Jersey, emphasize to Gov. Christie, your U.S. senators and representative, and your state legislators, that you strongly support building the tunnels but want a new, serious review of the need to direct them to New York’s Penn Station and the savings that could come from eliminating the 34th Street Terminal.
—Ross Capon
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: arc, bob ingle, chris christie, column, congress, hudson tunnel, new jersey, new tunnels, passenger trains, peter rogoff, ray lahood, take action, transportation,More Debate Among New Jersey Officials on the ARC Hudson River Tunnels
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Assemblyman John Wisniewski and State Senator Michael Doherty appear on New Jersey Now to debate Governor Christie’s suspension of work on the ARC Hudson River Tunnel, and the Penn Station/Moynihan rail link.
Posted by NARP
Tags: arc, christie, hudson river tunnels, new jersey, penn station,Overdue Bridge Replacement is Collateral Damage from Tunnel Cancellation
Monday, November 29, 2010
Collateral damage resulting from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s final cancellation of the ARC trans-Hudson River rail project on October 27 includes the still undecided fate of the Hackensack River crossing between Newark and New York City—the Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement Project (PBCEP).
The existing century-old Portal Bridge—part of the busiest intercity passenger rail line in the country—has deteriorated to the point where replacement is necessary to avoid a potential disaster. New twin spans were designed to address not only the replacement of the original two-track structure on the Washington-New York-Boston Northeast Corridor (NEC) in New Jersey’s Kearny meadowlands, but also to provide additional track capacity for the new two-track Hudson rail tunnel which was to lead into the six track (three track over three track) “deep cavern” New Jersey Transit-only terminal some two hundred feet below Manhattan’s 34th Street.
The north span consisted of three tracks and was to be used principally for Amtrak intercity and NJT NEC trains that would continue to use the current New York Penn Station. The south span, which was configured for two tracks, was mainly for tracks leading to the 34th Street terminal; it was for NJT non-NEC services and was designed to allow the 26 dual-mode locomotives, now on order, to be used on those NJT lines beyond where catenary stopped.
Portal became an issue of hot contention during the time the project’s fate was uncertain. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) clearly stated that for the ARC tunnels to handle 25 trains per hour, Portal would have to be completed before, or contemporaneously with, the Hudson rail tunnels. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other federal officials considered ARC and Portal two separate entities; New Jersey did not because the state would have to find matching funding sources. The numbers LaHood gave the Governor for ARC in their Friday, October 8 meeting were $9.8 billion (assuming a 10% probability that the cost would not be exceeded), $10.9 billion (a 40% - 50% probability) and $12.7 billion (an 83% probability). While the press picked up on the low probability number, the Governor was looking at his state’s worst exposure; good business practices would dictate at least the adoption of a mid-range figure.
Posted by Albert L Papp Jr.
Tags: amtrak, arc tunnel, chris christie, hackensack river, new jersey, new york city, northeast corridor, portal bridge,Hopping the Local: Northeast Edition
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Here is a round-up of items of interest from the January and February newsletters of state rail passenger associations in the Northeast:
From the Empire State Passenger Association’s ESPA Express
- The total amount of money committed to passenger rail improvement projects in New York State from all sources (federal, state and local) now exceeds $300 million.
- New York State is investing $54.6 million in constructing a high-speed third track on the CSX Empire Corridor mainline west of Rochester, and is now finalizing the agreements necessary for work to begin. Completion will mean more reliable Empire Service, Maple Leaf, and Lake Shore Limited trains.
- The nine-member New York State High-Speed Rail Planning Board, created by legislation signed into law October 19, 2009, remains empty. Neither former Governor David Paterson nor current Governor Andrew Cuomo (both D) have made an appointment to the Board.
- Amtrak Empire District Superintendent Kevin Chittenden wants Amtrak riders in New York State to tell him about their trips. Both positive and negative feedback is encouraged. Write to him c/o Amtrak / 525 East St. / Rensselaer, NY 12144-2324 and send a copy to ESPA President Bruce Becker.
- The Finger Lakes Railway announced that it will not run excursion trains on its former New York Central and Lehigh Valley lines this year, apparently due to the slow economy. There is a small possibility that a third-party operator will come in to run the trains.
From the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers’ Delaware Valley Rail Passenger
- UTS-Rotem, a Japanese-based railcar manufacturer, is making new equipment for the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority’s (SEPTA) Regional Rail service, at its new plant in South Philadelphia, representing the company’s first built-in-America trains. However, the company is already past its contractural deadline to deliver the entire order to SEPTA, and is paying SEPTA $200 per car per day in late fees.
- On March 13, SEPTA restored Sunday Regional Rail service from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Delaware’s newly-reopened Biden Station.
- DVARP remains opposed to key aspects of SEPTA’s plans to introduce new fare payment technology that it worries will inconvenience riders and force many to pay more than they currently do.
- New Jersey Transit completed the southward extension of the Hudson-Bergen Line light rail to 8th Street in Bayonne on January 31.
From the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers’ Newsletter Report
- Capital improvements are being made to the Trenton-Camden diesel light-rail River Line, including the installation of more double track that will result in better timekeeping.
- Construction of the Pennsauken Transit Center is progressing. The facility will make possible a direct transfer between the River Line and New Jersey Transit regional rail service to Atlantic City and Philadelphia. This will bring Atlantic City closer by rail to many other New Jersey communities.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, commuter rail, empire corridor, new jersey, new york, northeast, passenger trains, pennsylvania, philadelphia, river line, septa, transit,NJ-ARP meets to discuss future of NEC
Monday, November 14, 2011
The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers’ (NJ-ARP) Annual Meeting convened on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at the historic Farnsworth House in Bordentown, New Jersey. Guest speakers included Amtrak’s Drew Galloway, Vice President of Policy & Development, and NARP’s Vice President Sean Jeans-Gail.
You can read the minutes and NJ-ARP’s President’s message after the jump.
Posted by NARP
Tags: bordentown, california, drew galloway, hsr, new jersey, nj-arp, northeast corridor,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
» Recent Entries
» Blogroll
» Terms of Service for Comments
You may register to post comments in response to NARP-generated postings on the Blog. By registering you agree 1) that all comments will be relevant to the respective posting and 2) not to post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or that violate any laws. We reserve the right to permanently block postings from any user who does not abide by the above terms. NARP reserves the right to remove, edit, or move any messages for any reason.
» Monthly Archives
