(The following story by Joe Tyrrell appeared on The Star-Ledger website on December 4.)
SOMERVILLE, N.J. — A study of reviving rail service west to Phillipsburg should be completed within a year, but there are no guarantees it will produce results, transit officials said Monday.
Members of the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition reiterated their support for extending passenger service west from High Bridge during a Monday meeting.
That is the focus of NJ Transit’s study of rail service in the Route 78 corridor into eastern Pennsylvania scheduled for completion in November. The survey is intended to build on a just-completed analysis of bus and car-pool service along the interstate.
“We’ll be detailing the rail extension options” at least to Phillipsburg, with the possibility of future connections west to Allentown,” said Jack Kanarek, an NJ Transit senior director of project development.
But asked when the concept would become reality, Kanarek said, “I wish I could tell you.” The study will estimate costs and include some conceptual design work, but no funds are earmarked to follow its recommendations, he said.
“We’re really in the data collection phase” including environmental analyses “so we understand what is doable,” he said.
Coalition members, including politicians and transportation officials from counties and communities in the study area, said NJ Transit could take some steps promptly, such as re-establishing rail service to Hampton.
That’s one locale targeted in the first study as a potential site for a regional park-and-ride lot, which could connect to the rail line as well as bus routes, said Lois Goldman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, who prepared that report.
Negotiations also will continue for other park-and-ride sites in Alpha and Bloomsbury, Goldman said. But enlarging or replacing a lot near Clinton has been politically “sticky” although that area has become a major bottleneck on the interstate, she said.