PHILADELPHIA — For two generations, the Bordentown Secondary Freight Line has been largely quiet, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The 17 communities it crosses in Camden, Burlington and Mercer Counties have changed over the years, but the tracks have remained a quaint bit of local history.
Except for the passing of a few freight trains each night, the only time residents might notice the tracks is when their cars bump over the rails at a grade crossing.
All that is changing.
By next summer, passenger cars from the new Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit System will ride that line from Camden to Trenton – passing about 86 times between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., with the heaviest usage during rush hours. And the lives of thousands of people who live along it will change in countless ways.
“We have to live with it, unfortunately,” lamented Richard Horn of Florence, whose backyard abuts the train line.
There will be more congestion as motorists wait at the 50 public grade crossings. There are fears of crime being imported to the towns along the line. And shortcuts across the tracks will become more dangerous – especially for young people who have never seen trains on the tracks during the day.
Work is continuing along the 34 miles of track between the Tweeter Center in Camden and the Amtrak station in Trenton on the largest mass-transit project in South Jersey since the PATCO High-Speed Line opened in 1969.
Workers are finishing the 20 light-rail stations and testing warning systems at the grade crossings. The project is 80 percent complete, and service is expected to begin early next summer, said Howard Menaker, spokesman for the Southern New Jersey Light Rail Group, the consortium that is developing the line for NJ Transit. The projected cost is $604 million, but the consortium last month sued NJ Transit for more than $100 million in what it says are additional costs.
Last week, Assembly Speaker Albio Sires (D., Hudson) ordered two panels to hold joint legislative hearings to assess the project after questions arose over cost overruns, missed deadlines, and projections of low ridership. A South Jersey site and dates for the hearings will be set by Aug. 23.
The light-rail line’s first car – being completed in Germany, where 20 cars will be built for the line – will arrive this month to be tested on a five-mile stretch of track between Camden and Riverton.
At least three freight trains, with such cargo as grain and lumber, will continue to use the line each night, Conrail spokesman Bim McGeehan said.
In recent weeks, as many as 450 workers in bright vests and hard hats have been busy along the line, said Mark Wagner, construction coordinator for light rail for Bechtel Infrastructure, one of the companies in the consortium. They are finishing the Federal Street Bridge and a section of track in Camden, and working on track in Burlington City and near the station in Trenton.
Many who live along the line are not pleased with the prospect of light rail.
William Huff of Burlington City echoed many: “There’s nothing I can do about it when it starts.”
More than 40 residents interviewed in 11 of the 17 municipalities along the route expressed resignation at the coming of the line. They also said they feared for the safety of children and worried about crime coming to their towns on the light rail.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” said Stephen Cicalese of East Riverton, a section of Cinnaminson. His children, ages 14 and 9, will have to cross the tracks to get to school.
In Burlington City, Linda Cannon said she would “change the way I watch my kids.”
And Sandy Bohn of Delran worried about children breaking old habits: “It’s been dormant for so long… . Not all the kids will pay attention to it, which puts them more at risk.”
The issue of safety has not been lost on NJ Transit. Spokesman Charles J. Ingoglia said the message had been taken to thousands of schoolchildren. Adults have heard the message at a series of community meetings.
To reinforce the message, a NJ Transit coloring book on rail safety for elementary students will be distributed when schools open next month. In addition, older students will make a rail-safety video.
But the school and NJ Transit programs do not have the final word on rail safety – parents do, Ingoglia said.
“You’ve got to keep the topic alive with the kids,” he said. “Parents know this.”
Jim Bruno of Florence, whose home backs up to the rail line, said, “Our biggest concern is our privacy.”
Bruno said light-rail officials had told him that they would have a 12-foot privacy fence installed. But because the tracks are on a small rise, he said, that might not be enough.
“We may be able to make eye contact with the passengers from our deck,” Bruno said.
Others find light rail complicating their lives in unexpected ways.
Consider Jim and Barbara Aguilar, whose East Riverton neighborhood is hemmed in by the rail line and Pompeston Creek. Roads from Bannard Street, where they live, to West Broad – the main local road – all cross the tracks, and the Aguilars worry what will happen when light-rail cars are whizzing by 86 times a day. Among the estimated 100 residents in this section of East Riverton are students going to Cinnaminson High School across the creek.
The Aguilars have asked light rail and Cinnaminson officials about building a foot bridge over the creek, but have not gotten far.
They have thought about moving, but worry about one probable impact of light rail: “I don’t know if we can get what this house is worth,” Jim Aguilar said.
Or consider Rick and Nicole Snyder, whose Burlington City home has lost much of its available parking.
Like other residents of the 200 block of West Broad, Rick Snyder is angrier about the parking than the arrival of light rail, which is being built 37 feet from his front door. A siding from the new Burlington City station nearby has taken an entire lane along the rail line where residents used to park.
“It’s not like we’re against it,” the lifelong Burlington City resident said, “but we had no idea a second track would be there.”
Something else is bothering Snyder: the cracks appearing on his front porch and living-room wall, which he attributes to light-rail construction. He said he would probably start looking for a new home and wonders if his home of two years could be condemned.
Not all who live near the tracks are detractors. Rigaud Casimir of Burlington City is a bus driver in New York City. He said he could not wait until the light rail shortened his commute.
And Grace Mooney, who moved to a historic building on West Broad Street in Burlington City in 1999, said she was looking forward to “taking the light rail to have dinner and a few drinks and be safe.”