(The following article by David A. Michaels was posted on the Bergen Record website on August 2.)
BERGEN, N.J. — NJ Transit approved a $1.5 billion budget on Tuesday without raising passenger fares, and approved a capital program that includes $65 million for diesel train service in Bergen and Passaic counties.
George Warrington, NJ Transit’s executive director, said he was confident the transit agency would not have to raise fares mid-year, despite increasing bus service and paying almost double last year’s prices for diesel fuel.
“We have to keep a very close eye on things like fuel prices,” Warrington said. “The good news here is ridership has clearly been up.”
NJ Transit thinks passengers will increase 4 percent next year, a jump Warrington attributed to high gas prices.
The capital plan, also approved Tuesday, is worth $1.3 billion and includes $503 million in federal money. It includes funds for engineering and planning the new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York, and $15 million to extend Hudson County’s light rail south to Eighth Street in Bayonne.
In a separate vote, the board of directors approved an $82 million contract for preliminary engineering of the tunnel, awarding it to a consortium of Parsons Brinckerhoff, STV Inc. and DMJM Harris.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, based in New York, worked on Boston’s Big Dig, the tunnel project that came under scrutiny last month after concrete ceiling tiles fell on top of a car, killing a motorist. It also has worked on New York City subway extensions and East Side Access, a proposed tunnel under the East River that would funnel trains into Grand Central Terminal.
“They have extensive experience with this kind of work: deep-bore tunneling,” Warrington said.
The tunnel would be built at the same time that NJ Transit and Amtrak expand the Portal Bridge, a narrow but essential span in the Meadowlands used by trains bound for New York. Owned by Amtrak, the two-track bridge has suffered malfunctions and caught fire last year, choking off traffic. Warrington called it an “obsolete structure.”
NJ Transit awarded a $3.3 million contract Tuesday to study how to expand the bridge by several tracks. Construction may eventually cost $400 million to $500 million, Warrington said.
“Amtrak has never had the resources available to do that on its own,” Warrington said. “NJ Transit is stepping up and accepting some responsibility.”
The capital plan also funds $40 million for engineering and property acquisition for train service in eastern Bergen County. NJ Transit has settled on diesel-multiple units, or DMUs, for the line.
The budget contains $25 million for the same type of work in Passaic County, where DMUs would travel from Hawthorne to Hackensack.
In a separate vote, the board also approved $1.9 million to make the Ridgewood station fully accessible to people with disabilities.