(The following article by Shannon D. Harrington was posted on the Bergen Record website on August 12.)
BERGEN, N.J. — Amtrak and NJ Transit officials renewed their pleas for federal funding Thursday to overhaul the antiquated rail corridor that serves about 700,000 passengers a day.
The officials were joined by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who was given a tour of Amtrak’s Dock Interlocking tower that uses equipment as old as 76 years to marshal 365 trains a day over six tracks.
Lautenberg, a Democrat who sits on a subcommittee that oversees Amtrak, is co-sponsor of a bill that would allow the passenger railroad to reorganize its finances. Under the bill, Amtrak could issue tax-credit bonds and cut debt and pension obligations from the annual appropriation it gets each year from the federal government, which President Bush has threatened to cut off.
Lautenberg said Amtrak, which has been dogged by equipment malfunctions, track problems and train delays, needs to become a bigger priority for the federal government.
“It isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity to keep our economy strong,” he said, adding that an efficient passenger rail system will take cars off the highways and some congestion from regional airline flights.
NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington, a former head of Amtrak, said reduced Amtrak funding could cause significant problems for the state transit agency, which relies on the Northeast Corridor and an Amtrak-owned tunnel under the Hudson River for access to Manhattan.
“A policy that starves Amtrak,” he said, “directly impacts the reliability and performance of NJ Transit.”
At the interlocking tower, 31 switches and dozens of signals are controlled by equipment that in some cases dates to 1929, when the tower was built. Amtrak official Keith Holt said the facility has become unreliable and needs about $16 million to be refurbished.
The tower, he said, was responsible for about 3,500 minutes of train delays last year, and when equipment breaks down, railroad crew must physically move the switches on the tracks to route trains.