(The following article by Jean Mikle was posted on the Asbury Park Press website on May 23.)
LAKEWOOD, N.J. — Brick resident Eric Schnittman would like a shorter, and easier, commute to his Manhattan job. Retired Berkeley residents Leonard and Mary Gehlhaus wish there was an easier way to get to theaters in the city. Jan Larson of Dover Township hopes a new rail line could improve the environment by cutting the number of cars on local roads.
Schnittman, the Gehlhauses and Larson were all at a rally Sunday afternoon in Lakewood in support of the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line, or MOM.
The rally was organized by the Central Jersey Rail Coalition, Lakewood Mayor Charles Cunliffe, the Township Committee, and Lakewood’s Transportation Board.
White signs emblazoned with slogans like “Let the Trains Roll Again!” “Bring Rail Back!” and “We (heart) MOM,” were placed on chairs in Lakewood’s town hall.
“The weather didn’t cooperate, but I thank you all for coming,” said Bill Braden, chairman of the rail coalition, which has been advocating for a new train line for nearly 30 years.
Schnittman, who nine years ago moved his family from North Jersey to Brick, described his daily trip into Manhattan as “extreme commuting.”
A lawyer with offices in the city, Schnittman said it takes him about two hours and 20 minutes by bus to get to his office. Increased traffic has added about 45 minutes to his commute in the last few years.
“I usually get a bus out of the Park & Ride in Brick about 7:45 a.m.,” Schnittman, 45, said. “I leave New York about 5:50 p.m., and I get home about 8:15.” That leaves little time to spend with his sons Mark, 10, and Jonathan, 5, both of whom he brought to Sunday’s rally.
All three of the proposed lines would originate in Lakehurst. The proposal favored by the rail coalition would cut west from Farmingdale to Freehold, and then continue on to Monmouth Junction in Middlesex County. Alternative routes being considered would end in Red Bank or Matawan. New Jersey Transit is slated to present a final report and recommendation for the route of a new rail line to the Federal Transit Administration by early next year.
The Gehlhauses, who moved to Holiday City in Berkeley from Long Branch about a year ago, miss the easy access to the New York-bound trains they had in Monmouth County.
“In Long Branch we could catch the train to go to the theater,” said Leonard Gehlhaus, 66.
“We don’t understand why, if all these groups are supporting it, if all these politicians are supporting it, it can’t be done,” Gehlhaus said. “I just feel sorry for people who have to get up so early in the morning and take the parkway in order to get to New York.”
The rail coalition, the Ocean and Monmouth Boards of Freeholders, and dozens of public officials, including state legislators in the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 30th districts, along with Republican Reps. H. James Saxton and Christopher H. Smith, strongly support the route from Lakehurst to Monmouth Junction.
Lakewood Mayor Cunliffe, Dover Township Mayor Paul C. Brush and Pine Beach Mayor Russell K. Corby, who attended Sunday’s rally, joined with Freeholder James F. Lacey to express their strong support for restoration of commuter rail service to the inland areas, many of which have witnessed explosive population growth within the past 20 years.
“You can get on Route 9 or Route 88 at almost any time of the day and you will experience, gridlock,” Cunliffe said. “Where is the help for Monmouth and Ocean County? We don’t think the answer is to put more cars, trucks or buses on Route 9.”
Brush, who commuted to New York, Morristown and Newark for more than 30 years after his family moved to Dover Township, agreed that a rail line is an absolute necessity.
“Commuting was terrible. I hated it,” said Brush, who retired two years ago. “You get on the parkway at 5 a.m., and it’s mobbed. The most widely used resource to get to work is the single-passenger automobile, which is terrible for the environment.”
It was concern about the environmental effects of increased traffic congestion that led Dover Township resident Jan Larson to attend Sunday’s rally.
“I’ve been supporting the return of rail service in Ocean County for 20-plus years,” said Larson, who chairs Dover’s Environmental Commission. “It’s got to happen now, to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, and to reduce air pollution.”
At a March 22 meeting, NJ Transit indicated that the Lakehurst-to-Monmouth Junction route would be the most expensive of the three options. NJ Transit also says the Monmouth Junction route would have lower ridership than a line ending in Matawan.
The Central Jersey Rail Coalition argues that the Monmouth Junction route would offer passengers the most options by connecting to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Line, providing riders with the ability to transfer either north to New Brunswick, Newark or New York or south to Princeton, Trenton and Philadelphia.
Douglas John Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, and Daniel S. Kerwin, director of the association, said the group opposes the Lakehurst-to-Matawan route and supports the Monmouth Junction route instead.
The Middlesex County Board of Freeholders and officials from the Middlesex County towns of Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick are opposed to the Monmouth Junction route because it would greatly increase rail activity on a quasi-dormant line through the towns.
But Bowen and Kerwin said that when they speak to residents of those towns, many of them favor the new rail line and do not think it would have a negative impact on their property values.