Rail line figures updated

NJT: More riders to use SB route

by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   New ridership projections from NJ Transit estimate that a commuter train line through South Brunswick will attract the greatest number of travelers of the three Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail alternatives.
   NJ Transit’s newest study, which was released last week, was designed to take into account a proposed rail tunnel that would allow diesel trains to travel directly into New York’s Penn Station. Previous studies assumed that commuters would need to get off their trains in Newark because diesel trains are not allowed to travel through the existing tunnels under the Hudson River.
   According to NJ Transit, the line running through Monmouth Junction would attract 27,450 riders per day; a line running through Matawan would attract 24,050 riders; and a line running through Red Bank would attract 16,800 riders.
   Each of the three lines would begin in Lakehurst, run through Lakewood and eventually connect with the Northeast Corridor line. The Monmouth Junction route would travel west from Lakewood through Freehold, Jamesburg, Monroe and connect with the Northeast Corridor line in Monmouth Junction. The Matawan line would run to Freehold and then head north to Matawan, where it would connect with the North Jersey Coast line. The Red Bank line would run north from Lakewood and connect with the North Jersey Coast line in Red Bank. The North Jersey Coast line connects with the Northeast Corridor line in Woodbridge.
   A 2005 study done by NJ Transit assuming a Newark terminus projected that the Matawan route would have the most riders at 10,900 daily trips, followed by Monmouth Junction at 9,000 trips and Red Bank at 7,900 trips.
   The change in destination from Newark Penn Station to New York would go through a proposed second Hudson River tunnel. The change resulted in the Red Bank and Matawan routes roughly doubling their ridership, while the Monmouth Junction route projections tripled.
   NJ Transit spokesman Joe Dee said Wednesday that NJ Transit is estimating greater population growth in the area around the the Monmouth Junction route. He also said the new population estimates go to the year 2030, while the previous study only projected out to 2025.
   Mr. Dee says the projections for growth used in the study were approved by the North Jersey Transportation Authority.
   Local officials in South Brunswick, Monroe and Jamesburg dismissed the new figures. Officials in all three towns are opposed to the Monmouth Junction route, saying the line would not serve their residents, would cost more than the others, would disrupt lives and pose a possible danger to pedestrians.
   ”There is no proof that this route would have the most riders,” Jamesburg Mayor Tony LaMantia said. “ I don’t believe the study, I don’t believe it is accurate.”
   Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci and Councilman Irwin Nalitt made similar statements Monday night regarding the line.
   ”Middlesex County didn’t support the line,” Mayor Pucci said. “We don’t understand why this is surfacing again. We need to monitor and participate in the process. If the proposal is as it was before, Middlesex County will be the losers.”
   South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese vowed to continue fighting the MOM Line.
   ”That line is never going to come through South Brunswick,” he said. “We’ll have people laying on the tracks if we have to. You don’t just come through a town and disrupt it like this; I don’t know how they can even contemplate doing it.”
   Mr. Dee says that NJ Transit will first have to create a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for each of the proposed lines, which says he expects to be completed in 2009, before a route is chosen. In the meantime, Mr. Dee says, NJ Transit will continue to meet with local and county officials for their input in the project.