The state Assembly Transportation Committee has approved a bill that would make a proposed rail line through central New Jersey a state priority.
By: Matthew Armstong
A proposed rail line through central New Jersey inched forward in the Assembly this week, but has stalled in the state Senate.
The state Assembly Transportation Committee approved Assembly Bill 2245 by a 6-1 vote, moving it to the full Assembly for consideration.
The bill would add a rail line to be built by NJ Transit in central New Jersey to the Circle of Mobility. The Circle of Mobility is a list of transportation projects considered a priority by the Legislature, making them eligible for federal funding.
Neither the Assembly nor a similar Senate bill under consideration by the Senate Transportation Committee specifies an alignment of the proposed rail line, only stating that it would terminate in Lakewood or another location in Ocean County. The bills state that the alignment would be up to the judgment of NJ Transit. NJ Transit has said it would like to see a line built that would run from Lakehurst to Monmouth Junction through Jamesburg and Monroe.
Officials in South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe and the Middlesex County freeholders oppose the line.
The one dissenting vote on the committee came from Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who said he was sympathetic to arguments made by representatives of South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe.
“There are serious concerns of safety and with homes so close to the tracks,” said Mr. Wisniewski. “The committee passed it because the committee chairman is for it, the speaker of the Assembly is for it, and the governor is for it.”
The state Senate Transportation Committee delayed voting on the Senate version of the bill (S-239) May 4, saying that it needed to address the concerns raised by opponents.
Supporters and opponents of the proposed commuter rail line testified at both the Assembly and Senate committee hearings, trying to sway legislators on the bill.
At the center of the debate is the alignment of the rail line. NJ Transit and both municipal and county governments in Monmouth and Ocean counties support a line that would run from Lakehurst north to Lakewood and then west through Monroe and Jamesburg and join up with the Northeast Corridor line in Monmouth Junction. They say it would serve the most riders and offer riders the most flexible travel options, including access to the Route 9 and Route 1 corridors and points south on the Northeast Corridor line in addition to New York.
Middlesex officials argue that the alignment would be detrimental to their communities and is not the most efficient alignment, given that it would cost about twice other alternatives. They argue that the train should run north to Red Bank to join up with the North Jersey Coast line. Both alignments would use existing freight tracks.
Because the alignment is not specified in the bill, the Assembly Transportation Committee dismissed concerns of Middlesex County representatives and approved the bill, according to Assembly members Gary Guear and Linda Greenstein, Democrats whose district includes South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe.
This angered representatives from Middlesex County.
Jamesburg Mayor Joseph Dipierro called it “a way of circumventing the opposition to this project.”
“This absolves them of endorsing a project with opposition,” he said Tuesday.
“I think it was irresponsible for the Assembly committee,” South Brunswick Mayor Debra Johnson said Wednesday. “They should have followed the lead of their colleagues in the Senate who realized there was significant problems with this project.”
Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) did not return repeated phone calls by The Post.
Ms. Greenstein said an alignment should have been put in place before a vote was taken.
“Voting on this before you have an alignment is putting the cart before the horse,” Ms. Greenstein said Tuesday. “They’re approving the concept and then NJ Transit can chose an alignment.”
Opponents of the train fear that leaving the decision to NJ Transit will guarantee it runs through southern Middlesex County.
“It appears that this is going to be railroaded through our town,” Mayor Dipierro said Tuesday.
NJ Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh has said the alignment through Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick is the preferred one and that alternate alignments would not accomplish mass transit goals for the region.
In addition, representatives of Monmouth County testified in favor of the legislation but have been opposed to the a rail line running north through Monmouth County to the North Jersey Coast line in Red Bank.
The Assembly bill had not been placed on an agenda as of The South Brunswick Post’s Wednesday deadline. Assembly Speaker Jack Collins (R-Salem), who controls the agenda, has publicly endorsed the bill.
When the bill goes to the full Assembly, Assembly members Guear and Greenstein say they are prepared to fight it.
“If it comes up on the floor of the Assembly, I’m going to do everything I can to stop it from coming to a vote,” said Mr. Guear.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve only passed a concept,” said Ms. Greenstein. “I’m going to meet with the governor, Jeff Warsh, and the commissioner of the DOT to make sure that they know there is no support for the MOM alignment.”
The commissioner of the Department of Transportation, James Weinstein, is also the chairman of NJ Transit’s board of directors.
About 40 people attended the Senate hearing May 4, which was fairly orderly and lasted about an hour and a half.
Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean), chairman of the Senate committee, openly endorsed the bill at the start of the hearing. However, he said he was willing to look into the merits of alternate alignments with NJ Transit at the next committee meeting.
Officials from Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick argued the proposed train line offers no benefits to their communities and would have an adverse effect on their quality of life, property values, safety of their children, and traffic flow.
Officials from Monmouth and Ocean counties argued that a rail line would benefit all the communities along the proposed line and bring a financial boon to Jamesburg and Monroe, ease congestion in all three counties and clean up New Jersey’s air.
In light of the differences of opinion, the Senate Transportation Committee will continue the hearing at a later date.
Among those who spoke against the line at the senate committee hearing May 4 were state Sen. Peter Inverso, who represents Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick in the Senate, Ms. Greenstein and Mr. Guear, Mayor Dipierro, Monroe Township Council members Irwin Nalitt, Lenora Farber and John Riggs and South Brunswick Mayor Johnson.
“These other alternatives were preferred by NJ Transit but they met community opposition and now this is the only one left on the table and there is still community opposition,” said Sen. Inverso, a Republican. “I received a promise two years ago from the chairman of NJ Transit that this line would not be built. Not because of the community opposition but because NJ Transit believed it wasn’t the best alternative.”
Mayor Dipierro and council members from Monroe and Jamesburg said the train would pose a threat to the safety of their children and cause more traffic, and that it offers no benefits to their residents. In addition, they said it was illogical.
“The only NJ Transit study we have said that this is the worst of all the alignments,” Mayor Johnson said at last week’s hearing, citing that the estimated cost of the MOM alignment is double that of the Red Bank alignment.
Supporters of the proposed rail line say the alternative routes have been adequately studied and the MOM alignment was determined the best alignment because it would not only allow people access to New York, but also the Route 1 corridor and universities and hospitals in New Brunswick.
“There are many rail possibilities,” said Salvatore Betoia of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition. “We’d like to see many of them built, not just MOM. But the Red Bank route helps a different part of Monmouth County than we are looking to help with this plan.”
They also said the oppositions’ argument about safety was inaccurate because NJ Transit has a good safety record and that automobiles cause many more accidents than trains.
“Our county has a Coastal passenger rail line that has many more grade crossings and trains per day than the proposed MOM rail line,” said Bonnie Goldschlag, assistant planning director of the Monmouth County Planning Board. “It is viewed as an asset to the 28 Coastal municipalities that are proximate to the line.”
Ms. Goldschlag said that the Middlesex County communities also will see many benefits from the train including reduced congestion, increased property values by more than 6 percent and corporations will move there to be close to the train.
South Brunswick officials have maintained that they believe a train station in South Brunswick would increase congestion from people driving to get to the train station. They also have pointed out that South Brunswick is seeking to limit development in its rapidly growing community, and are not in any way looking to attract more development.
If the legislation passes in both the Assembly and Senate, Gov. Whitman, who has endorsed the project, would have to approve it for it to be eligible for federal and state funding. If the funding comes through, the next step is in the hands of the NJ Transit board of directors.
Mr. Weinstein has said that while NJ Transit does recognize the opposition to this project, he believes there are ways to mitigate their concerns.
“We have to try and address those concerns but we still have to look at the support of all the other communities,” said Mr. Weinstein last week.