(The following article by Judy Rife was posted on the Times Herald-Record websiteo n February 21.)
NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. — U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday became the second prominent New York politician to endorse NJ Transit’s plan to build a new rail tunnel to Midtown Manhattan beneath the Hudson River.
Schumer said the tunnel and corresponding new station near Macy’s on 34th Street would provide a one-seat ride to Midtown for thousands of commuters f rom Orange and Rockland counties within five or six years.
The $6 billion project as a whole is known as Access to the Region’s Core and the tunnel as the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel.
“It’s the best kind of gift, the gift of time,” said Schumer as he estimated commuters would knock 25 percent off their travel time when they eliminated a transfer at Secaucus Junction.
Schumer, like Gov. George Pataki before him, said his support was not without its price. When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ Transit’s partner in ARC, asked him to help obtain federal funding, Schumer asked for help in building a new rail link that would connect Stewart International Airport to New York City.
In exchange for endorsing ARC six months ago, Pataki got Richard Codey, his then-counterpart in New Jersey, to support his request to the Port Authority for more money for his tunnel – for a rail link between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport.
The Port Authority, Schumer said, has agreed to look at Metro-North Railroad’s proposal to tie Stewart to the Port Jervis line – and thus to the city. U.S. Rep. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah, got Metro-North $100 million last year for further study.
“That would put Stewart on the map and attract the kind of flights that we’ve been seeking,” said Schumer.
A 2003 feasibility study maintained that a rail link between Stewart and the city was as essential as the Interstate 84 interchange at Drury Lane in attracting a low-cost carrier and preparing the airport for its future role as a “regional reliever airport.”
The link would cost as much as $592 million in 2002 dollars and include laying new track between the airport and the Port Jervis line and a second track from Salisbury Mills to Suffern. The figure does not include the cost of acquiring property for the three or so miles of new track.
The Port Jervis line joins NJ Transit’s Main/Bergen line at Suffern and already is a double track. With ARC, Main/Bergen line trains will travel directly into New York City.
“A one-seat ride to Penn Station truly makes us a real option for New York City passengers,” said Tanya Vanasse, the airport’s marketing manager.
Passenger traffic at the airport declined 24 percent last year, to 399,178. It now has four airlines that offer 13 flights a day.
Schumer, however, said he will not hold ARC’s progress hostage pending any formal agreement with the Port Authority, pointing out the new tunnel will benefit New York regardless.
The tunnel will provide post-9/11 redundancy for Amtrak’s century-old tunnel to Pennsylvania Station and eliminate overcrowding at the station itself. The only direction from which commuting to the city is growing is from the west, from the New Jersey and New York counties where housing can still be built at a reasonable price.
The Federal Transit Administration already is reviewing the draft environmental impact study for ARC, and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council is expected to sign off on it on March 16. The council’s action will be the equivalent of New York City’s endorsement. Construction could begin next year.
Schumer also said his endorsement of ARC shouldn’t be interpreted as a death knell for Metro-North’s plan to run a commuter rail line through the Tappan Zee corridor to the Hudson line and Grand Central Terminal. But the senator refused to say whether he supports the idea.
Few people think the federal government, which provides the bulk of the funding for these projects, will approve two new rail lines across the Hudson 20 miles apart. NJ Transit’s project is not only further along but also will serve more people.