Assembly gives passenger rail line a boost
By CHARLESW. KIM
JERRY WOLKOWITZ A Conrail freight train approaches Conover Street between Elm and Mechanic streets in Freehold Borough on May 10. A push for passenger rail service could one day make sights like this commonplace in the borough.
T
he Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) passenger rail plan took a major step forward on May 8.
NJ Transit’s plan to use an existing freight line to transport commuters from Lakehurst, Ocean County, to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line, in South Bruns-wick, Middlesex County, will now go to the full state Assembly for a vote.
After only one day of hearings on May 8, the Assembly’s Transportation Commit-tee moved the Assembly bill forward by a vote of 6-1 to be considered by the full body.
If passed, the commuter link is one step closer to inclusion in the state’s Circle of Mobility Legislation which would make the estimated $300 million project eligible for federal funding.
A state Senate version of the bill must still be approved before the legislation goes to Gov. Christie Whitman for a signature.
Hearings on the Senate version of the plan started two weeks ago and will continue because of the number of people wishing to testify on both sides of the issue.
While legislators in Ocean and Monmouth counties support the passenger rail plan, Middlesex County, including the communities of South Brunswick, James-burg, and Monroe Township, oppose it.
Assemblyman Gary Guear (D-14) said on May 9 that he was not surprised by how fast the Assembly bill moved through the committee, but added that he will "do everything he can" to stop it.
"My constituents tell me they don’t want this," Guear said, adding that the proposal "is not right for Middlesex County."
Guear said he will contact his colleagues in the Assembly and express his opposition to the inclusion of the plan in the mobility legislation.
"There are alternatives," Guear said.
The speedy nature of the Assembly hearing and vote took one town opposing the plan by surprise.
"I received a call from Assemblywoman (Linda) Greenstein (D-14) about 10 p.m. Sunday," South Brunswick Mayor Debra Johnson said.
Johnson asked Township Manager Matt Watkins to notify the Legislature that the township wanted to be informed of when the hearings were scheduled.
"They must be published somewhere," Johnson said.
Opponents fear the rail plan may be much harder to defeat if it is included in the larger legislation.
Not everyone was disappointed with the vote, however.
William R. Wright, director of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP) and a supporter of NJ Transit’s plan, expressed his pleasure with the Assembly’s May 8 hearing.
"It is long overdue," said Wright. Noting that he is old enough to remember passenger service on the line, he added, "We never should have lost that service."
According to Wright, the MOM plan will take cars off the road and save families $7,000 a year in vehicle expenses.
"You can buy a lot of train tickets for that," he said.
Wright said while the rail service cannot address every trip origin, there is no other "practicable" way to address present congestion on the region’s roads.
"People will use the train for local trips," he said, criticizing opponents who claim the line will not serve local communities on the route. "By what right does a handful of people tell others that if you don’t drive, you don’t count?"
Wright also said he believes Jamesburg will benefit from the line.
"Jamesburg is a backwater. It will help Jamesburg develop in an organized fashion," he said.
NJ-ARP lists 100 sources of rail trip origins in its "position paper" on the issue, including locations such as the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, Monmouth Battle-field State Park in Manalapan and Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
As things are now, Wright said, "you need to provide a car" to Rutgers students in the region.
Wright also said that many seniors who are reluctant to drive would use the service regularly.
"This gives them mobility. They want to go to New York," he said.
Monroe Township, which has a large senior population, opposes the service.

