ARC 30-Day Moratorium: Another Chance to Get it Right

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#10-12)

September 15, 2010

Contacts: Ross Capon and Sean Jeans-Gail – 202-408-8362

ARC 30-Day Moratorium: Another Chance to Get it Right

The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) commends New Jersey Gov. Christie’s administration for instituting a 30-day moratorium on all new Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) trans-Hudson River rail tunnel project contracts and real estate acquisitions.
NARP Vice Chair of Legislative Policy and Strategy Albert Papp said, “It’s time for the Christie administration to ‘Right Size the Rail Tunnel’ and make it one that the state can afford.”

NARP continues to advocate re-directing ARC’s two new trans-Hudson River tunnels into an expanded and improved New York Penn Station (NYP), instead of a costly, separate “deep cavern”, dead-end terminal 20 stories below 34th Street.  Since early 2008, NARP has pressed the importance of connecting the new tunnels to the existing tracks at Penn Station.

However, the 30-day delay is a response to the concern of federal officials that the $8.7 billion project could exceed cost estimates by as much as $1 billion.  Serious consideration of changing the project will only happen in response to strong pressure from the general public. As The Record editorialized yesterday, “We urge the state to use this 30-day moratorium as an opportunity to ‘rethink, reform and rebuild’ regional transit.  That must include considering the future needs of NJ Transit and Amtrak…”

The moratorium is intended to provide time for federal and NJT representatives to agree on project cost; New Jersey would have to absorb any increase.  Federal officials fear the $8.7 billion project could run as much as $1 billion over budget.  The Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey each have pledged $3 billion.  New Jersey is expected to raise the remaining $2.7 billion.  So far, however, the state has pledged only $1.25 billion in funds generated from increased New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway tolls.

NARP, New Jersey ARP, Empire State Passengers Association, the Lackawanna Coalition, and the Regional Rail Working Group note that NJT’s proposed 34th Street Terminal and its approach tracks account for at least half the cost of the total project and believe that replacing this terminal with capacity improvements at Penn Station, a plan dubbed “Moynihan/Penn Station First,” should result in dollar savings and facilitate securing the federal Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) needed to fully commit the $3 billion in federal New Starts funds.

This Moynihan/Penn Station First alternative will provide capacity for NJT and Amtrak ridership growth, and restore the major improvement in Northeast Corridor reliability gained by linking the new ARC tunnels to existing tracks at Penn Station, an extremely critical benefit to both NJT and Amtrak and part of the project’s original design.

A related August 24 letter to New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Simpson from NARP President Ross Capon and University of Pennsylvania Emeritus Professor of Transportation Dr. Vukan Vuchic is here.

The New Jersey Sierra Club’s release on the 30-day moratorium, “Stopping a Runaway Train,” is here.