(The following article by Larry Higgs was posted on the Asbury Park Press website on January 16.)
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — NJ Transit’s grand plan to build a new $6 billion Hudson River rail tunnel to New York has flaws that could cause delays on the Jersey side, a group of New Jersey rail advocates said.
The plan, known as the Trans Hudson Express Tunnel, or THE Tunnel for short, will enter the preliminary design phase this year. It calls for replacing the 96-year-old Portal River Drawbridge and building four tracks over that bridge, five tracks through Secaucus Transfer station and the second Hudson River tunnel, parallel to the existing 100-year-old tube to Manhattan.
Al Papp Jr., a director of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, criticized the project’s plans for only three, not four, tracks between Penn Station, Newark and Kearny Junction, on the Northeast Corridor line. Papp contends that will create a potential bottleneck. That busy section of railroad is also used by Amtrak and North Jersey Coast Line trains, and after the THE Tunnel is built, Raritan Valley Line trains would be added.
The association also criticized plans to build a loop track between the Morris and Essex Lines and the Northeast Corridor, which would be used by 19 M&E Midtown Direct trains during the morning rush, if the Portal Bridge isn’t replaced in time. Officials said the loop also would be used as a detour for other trains, if there is a problem elsewhere on the Corridor line.
Riders want to save time
NJ Transit officials estimate that detour could add three minutes to each trip. Now, Midtown Direct trains use the Kearny Connection track to get on the Corridor.
Coast Line commuters interviewed at Red Bank station Friday night said they would welcome anything to shave time off their ride.
“Additional service isn’t a bad thing,” said Dan Isanuk of Fair Haven, who commutes daily to New York. “For $6 billion, while it depends on the cost, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add an extra track (between Newark and Kearny).”
While not concerned about the extra track, commuter Caitlin Moscatello of Fair Haven said she’d welcome any project to shorten her ride.
“It’s two hours in the morning and two hours at night; it’s like working a second shift,” she said.
Adding a third track to the two between Newark and Kearny Junction will handle the predicted increase in rail traffic, said Richard R. Sarles, NJ Transit assistant executive director of capital planning and programs. Those plans are being studied, and a computer simulation will be done as part of an ongoing draft Environmental Impact Statement on THE Tunnel, he said.
“We’ll do computer simulations to help us,” Sarles said. “We’ll verify this is the scheme that works, and if it doesn’t, we’ll make adjustments.”
Federal Transit Administration has been reviewing the work, and NJ Transit officials hope to hear from them in the next month or two, Sarles said. Public hearings on the impact statement would be held later this year, after the federal review, he said.
Rail advocates say they’re glad the Portal bridge will be replaced, but are skeptical about the three tracks east of Newark and the loop track, Papp said.
“We don’t want to see that diversion off the M&E. If we put that money (to build the loop) into the corridor, we could have four tracks all the way,” Papp said.
Real delays may be longer
The Association of Railroad Passengers disputes official projections of three minutes extra travel time for Morris and Essex trains to loop around Secaucus Transfer and on to the Northeast Corridor.
“Real world (time) is 10 to 15 minutes,” Papp said. “All it takes is one stuck train or one signal malfunction. It is clearly unacceptable.”
The loop is being built in case the new Portal Bridge isn’t finished when the THE Tunnel is scheduled to be completed in 2015, Sarles said.
“This is a contingency. This serves as a good back door for reliability if there is a breakdown before Portal bridge,” Sarles said. “Today, all the trains stack up with nowhere to go. This gives us a detour.”
Meanwhile, overall tunnel plans are moving ahead. Contracts are being advertised for preliminary engineering on THE Tunnel projects, and funding for design work was included in last year’s federal transportation funding legislation, he said.
Construction is scheduled to start on THE Tunnel projects in 2009, Sarles said. That includes building the second Hudson River tunnel; a new station beneath 34th Street, Manhattan, adjacent to Penn Station; adding platforms and some track at Penn Station; and track and signal work on the Northeast Corridor.
Funding for the $6 billion tunnel projects will be a combination of money from the federal government, New Jersey and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Sarles said.
One part of the project that is being pushed off until future years is extending NJ Transit tracks from Penn Station to Grand Central. Delaying that part of the project is a mistake, Papp said, because the number of peak-period passengers to Penn Station is projected to hit 86,000 after the THE Tunnel is completed. That would tax subways and sidewalks.
“How many people in Monmouth, Ocean or other counties would ride a train if they knew one stop they could get off at is Grand Central, instead of parking the train in the same spot on 34th Street and having to walk and get on a crowded subway to the east side?” Papp said.
Sarles said because of the high cost to build the THE Tunnel, officials decided that the Grand Central extension will have to wait. However, Penn Station in New York is overcrowded now, said commuter Dan Isanuk.
“It gets ugly by 5 p.m. It’s packed; you can’t move,” Isanuk said.