(The following article by Larry Higgs was posted on the Asbury Park Press website on January 15.)
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington’s legacies are more trains for commuters to ride to and from New York, and a second Hudson River rail tunnel scheduled to start construction in two years.
He may not have made the trains always run on time, but Warrington’s back-to-basics program was credited by some transportation advocates for giving riders a seat when many were standing.
Warrington, who resigned Thursday and will leave the post March 31, also was criticized by some for focusing too much on New York and the tunnel and not providing more intrastate travel options for those who live and work in the suburbs.
“Was he a competent executive director? In many ways, yes. His backers will point to improvements, some of which are real,” said Douglas Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers. “He was a hostage to 1950s thinking . . . getting people to and from the city center. He didn’t sufficiently acknowledge or care about the suburban passengers going to suburban work places or the off-peak rider.”
Among Warrington’s accomplishments was his back-to-basics program, which focused on better maintenance and upgrades and adding 100 trains to the Northeast Corridor Line to provide badly needed seats, Bowen said.
Warrington also was accessible to the advocacy community, Bowen said.
But he lost sight of improving intrastate services or starting new ones, such as the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line, which is still under study, and restoring rail service to the Lackawanna cut-off in Northwestern New Jersey, Bowen said.
“MOM should have progressed under his watch, even allowing for real politics,” Bowen said. “There was a relaxed approach to MOM under Warrington.”
Fares increased under Warrington’s watch in July 2002 by 9.9 percent, which left some commuters grumbling that the agency should have taken smaller 3 percent annual increases instead of a big bite. Off-peak riders saw a larger increase.
But Warrington also did something that even former Rep. Bob Franks couldn’t — uniting New York and New Jersey interests behind construction of a second Hudson River Tunnel.
“He kept the agenda focused on the rail tunnel, which is a critical project for the region,” said Damien Newton, Tri-State Transportation Campaign New Jersey coordinator. “The good news is the (NJ Transit board) seems to be dedicated to the idea.”
NJ Transit also is taking the first comprehensive study of urban bus service in years under Warrington, Newton said. Those buses are essential for hundreds of thousands of people to get to work, he said. Warrington said that the agency is set to purchase another 1,400 urban transit style and suburban commuter buses.
Newton also credited Warrington for restoring financial discipline to the agency by reducing the use of money budgeted for capital projects to cover operating expenses.
“He didn’t reverse it, but what he’s doing is important,” Newton said.
Warrington’s salary was $288,915 this year. He said NJ Transit accomplished a very significant agenda over the past five years, such as expanding the level of service, running 100 more trains a day, than when he arrived, expanding light rail lines and implementing an aggressive parking program.
A host of new communication systems were implemented, including an improved Web site, e-mail, pager and cell phone service alerts and other customer service initiatives, he said.
However Bowen said advocates were upset over Warrington’s criticism of the River Line light rail before it opened.
“He trash talked it before it opened, could you imagine the CEO of General Motors trash talking a product?” Bowen said.
Bi-level passenger cars, another one of Warrington’s accomplishments, also has advocates divided. One concern is the new cars will take too long to unload during the morning rush in Newark and New York, delaying other trains, said Ralph Braskett, Committee for Better Transit New Jersey Coordinator.
“The bi-levels are a mistake, because what we need at Newark and New York is fast in, fast out,” Braskett said. “They’ll slow the egress and slow the operation.”
Warrington disagreed and said the bi-levels were designed with a rider advisory board and had to be engineered to fit in the existing almost 100-year old Hudson River tunnels.
Braskett also is concerned that the cost will escalate to build the Hudson River tunnel and a new station deep under 34th Street in Manhattan.
Bowen said the cost of the tunnel is delaying other projects in New Jersey, such as MOM and the Lackawanna cut-off. He credited Warrington with starting Atlantic City to New York train service.