(The following article by Patrick McGeehan was posted on the New York Times website on March 3.)
NEW YORK — The outlook for mass transportation in New Jersey has gone from gloomy to sunny in a hurry, according to George D. Warrington, the executive director of New Jersey Transit.
At the start of this year, Mr. Warrington and other state officials were wringing their hands about the lack of a plan to pay for all of the needed repairs and planned improvements to the state’s transit system. But yesterday, he said the agency expected to receive more money from a replenished state fund, more money from the federal government and more support from New York’s senior senator, Charles E. Schumer.
Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, pledged last week to lead the drive in Washington for federal funds for a second rail tunnel linking New Jersey and Manhattan under the Hudson River.
The proposed tunnel, which would end at a new terminal under West 34th Street, is high on the list of priorities of New Jersey’s top officials, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the state’s two United States senators, Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.
Mr. Warrington has convinced those officials that the tunnel plan, estimated to cost $6 billion, would reduce congestion at Pennsylvania Station and on the tracks in northern New Jersey that connect to it. It could also provide a one-seat ride to residents of Bergen County, who now change trains for Manhattan in Hoboken or Secaucus.
But why is a senator from across the river linking arms with New Jersey officials?
New York City needs better transportation links to keep growing, Mr. Schumer said yesterday in a telephone interview from Washington. “Just because there’s a state line somewhere in between doesn’t gainsay the need,” he said.
And in New York, residents of Rockland and Orange Counties, a fast-growing region north of New Jersey, would benefit from the same one-seat ride, he said. Their commutes could be shortened by 13 minutes each way, on average, he added.
Rockland County officials have been campaigning for a direct rail link to Manhattan, but the route they have in mind goes over a proposed new Tappan Zee Bridge, built to accommodate commuter trains, and down Metro-North tracks to Grand Central Terminal.
Mr. Schumer’s endorsement of the tunnel plan, some transportation analysts say, could hurt chances of the bridge alternative being chosen, because the two projects might eventually compete for federal funds. But Mr. Schumer said he did not see a conflict.
Mr. Warrington said New Jersey Transit would have more financial flexibility in the early stages of the tunnel project because of recent decisions in Trenton and Washington. He said Mr. Corzine’s proposed five-year plan for the Transportation Trust Fund would give the transit agency $675 million a year, up from $530 million. According to a new interpretation of the federal transportation bill passed last year, he said, the agency should annually receive an additional $100 million in federal funds.
As additional evidence of clearing skies, he observed that on Feb. 23, all of New Jersey Transit’s 731 trains arrived at their destinations on time. (On time, to America’s commuter railroads, means less than six minutes late.)
New Jersey Transit had not accomplished that feat, which he likened to pitching a perfect game in baseball, since Aug. 24, 2004, and never before on a weekday in winter.