(The following story by Larry Higgs appeared on the Asbury Park Press website on January 14.)
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — While new projected ridership figures are in for the three routes proposed for the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line, it will be a long ride until necessary studies are done by NJ Transit officials and a final route is selected.
Experts have more homework to do, studying how potential riders for the rail line from Lakehurst north would be accommodated in new stations and parking lots and the effects of building them. Federal regulations say the studies have to be done if the agency wants federal dollars for the rail line, NJ Transit officials said.
“Ridership is not a slam dunk,” said Penny Bassett-Hackett, NJ Transit spokeswoman.
The schedule calls for a draft environmental impact statment to be completed in 2009, which includes an addendum to take in the latest scenario of operating MOM trains through the proposed Trans-Hudson Express tunnel to New York, said Jack M. Kanarek, NJ Transit assistant director of planning and capital projects.
After that, public hearings would be held to get comments, which would be analyzed and included in the DEIS, he said.
One of the three routes for the MOM line would be selected between the DEIS and EIS, Kanarek said.
An implementation plan has to be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration, which includes identifying a funding source to design the MOM line, Kanarek said. The next step would be to apply for federal new starts funding, he said.
If the FTA deems the MOM project is eligible for new starts funding, the final EIS would be completed and the federal agency would issue a record of decision, he said.
Transit advocates said NJ Transit is taking its time completing the studies, which they contend were originally scheduled to be completed in 2006.
“That (2009 completion date) is a year longer than it needs to be. The original premise was 2006,” said Douglas Bowen, New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers. “I think it’s fair to say there is no sense of urgency from NJ Transit.”
Although rails exist on the Monmouth Junction route and the Red Bank line, and a county hiking trail converted from a former railroad line is now on the Matawan alignment, service would be considered a new start-up by the FTA, requiring full environmental studies, Kanarek said.
“There are a couple of areas between Freehold and Farmingdale where the track is there, but overgrown (on the Monmouth Junction Route), the Freehold to Matawan Route has a trail on it, but the tracks are gone,” Kanarek said.
Part of the Monmouth Junction Route from Freehold to the Northeast Corridor line in South Brunswick and the line from Red Bank to Lakehurst are used by freight trains, he said.
Bowen contends that the Matawan route only is being considered to appease Middlesex County officials who have opposed the Monmouth Junction Route.
“It’s not NJ Transit’s fault they’ve been forced into this,” Bowen said. “The Matawan route is a waste of time and money. It’s a charade to say they’ll undo a bike path that’s paved and paid for.”
The association, along with officials in Monmouth and Ocean counties, support the Monmouth Junction route, which has a better potential to take cars off traffic choked Route 9 and would give Shore area residents train access to New Brunswick.
“Congratulations to (Middlesex County Freeholder Director) David Crabiel and his followers for getting everyone to waste their time; no one takes it seriously — it’s Red Bank or Monmouth Junction,” Bowen said. “Monmouth Junction serves New Brunswick, all the others don’t, and that is key.”
Federal regulations require an environmental impact statement for a project where more than $1 million of state funds are spent, or if federal new starts funding for new rail or bus lines is sought, he said
“It needs to go through the new starts evaluation process. The level of analysis is intense,” Kanarek said. “The tracks there aren’t adequate (for passenger service).”
It might be easier to list what doesn’t have to be studied.
To be evaluated for the draft environmental impact statement are environmental issues such as wetlands, the effect on historic resources, such as the tracks of the Monmouth Junction Route, which crosses Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan, and local land-use regulations.
There is a lot to be built — passing sidings, new signals, stations, high-level platforms, a rail yard to store trains at night, estimated to be upwards of $100 million, Kanarek said. Those costs will be re-estimated as part of the studies, he said.