Groups oppose high-speed commuter line
Al Wicklund
South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe are prepared to band together to fight a commuter rail line slated to slice through their communities.
About 45 residents and officials agreed at a meeting in Monroe last week to join together to oppose the rail line through the three communities, Monroe Councilman Irwin Nalitt said Wednesday.
The high-speed commuter line, known as the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex or MOM Line, would use existing freight rails that travel west from Lakewood through Monroe, Jamesburg and South Brunswick, where it would link with the Northeast Corridor line and head north to Newark.
The line is estimated to cost more than $300 million, not including construction of rail stations along the line.
Officials from the three Middlesex County towns and the county Board of Freeholders oppose the line, citing safety and quality-of-life concerns.
The line has the support of NJ Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh, several Shore legislators, the New Jersey Rail Passenger Association and more than 70 towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties. They say the line is needed to alleviate traffic along the Route 9 corridor. Mr. Warsh and the Rail Passengers group also believe train stations could be built, which would be a benefit to all towns along the route.
Mr. Nalitt said the number of people at the March 30 meeting was encouraging, but unwieldy.
"What we’re doing now is setting up a nine-member strategy committee to determine what steps to take," Mr. Nalitt said.
"Letters to the mayors of Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick are being mailed this week. We want the mayor, a member of the council and a member of the public from each community to serve on this committee."
South Brunswick Deputy Mayor Frank Gambatese said Wednesday the township would be an active member of the coalition with Jamesburg and Monroe.
"We’re on record as opposing the MOM Line. We’ve been consistent in that and have expressed our opposition to the state Department of Transportation," Mr. Gambatese said.
South Brunswick Township Councilman Ted Van Hessen said Tuesday the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex Line is "ill-advised" and "not cost effective."
He said connecting Lakewood with the Jersey Coast line, which runs up the coast from Bayhead and connects with the Northeast Corridor line in Rahway, would be a better answer to improving the lot of the Monmouth and Ocean county commuters in their daily trips to New York City.
Mr. Van Hessen said there had to be an alternative to the MOM Line, an alternative that costs less than the estimated price tag of a third of a billion dollars for the MOM Line.
"We also need updated figures on growth areas and costs," he said.
Mr. Van Hessen said there is a major difference between the current use of existing track for the transport of freight and the proposed use for high-speed commuter trains. It would appear that the traffic could go from infrequent use of the lines by freight trains averaging 10 mph to possibly 42 commuter trains going and returning at 60 mph, he said.
Jamesburg Mayor Joseph Dipierro said last week that the proposed commuter line and a train station in Jamesburg would be detrimental to his town.
The station would displace several homes and businesses on John Street, he said, and would create a serious safety problem with increased rail traffic through the center of town.
He also said he believed diesel train engines and longer waiting time for automobiles at railroad crossings would create greater air pollution problems.
Mr. Nalitt said Monroe Township Clerk Sharon Doerfler was sending letters to the mayors of Monroe, Jamesburg and South Brunswick asking for the names of their members of the strategy committee.
When ready, the mayors, a council member from each town and a member of the public from each municipality will sit down and set a possible program of opposition, he said.
Mr. Nalitt said no date for such a meeting had been set.
"That will come after they have received the letter," he said.