June 26, 2001 Published Bi-Monthly. PO Box 7305, Freehold, N.J

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1 June 26, 2001 Published Bi-Monthly. PO Box 7305, Freehold, N.J CUT-OFF DEAL REACHED; STUDY STILL TO COME As May ended, the Lackawanna Cut-Off, seized by the state of New Jersey in 1997 under eminent domain, was the uncontested property of the state, at a cost of $21 million. The purchase nets businessman Jerry Turco a profit of nearly $20 million. It nets New Jersey a rail route through northern New Jersey, one of the last areas in the north yet to be fully ruined by sprawl (though it looms ever nearer, ever thicker). Interestingly, the... Purchase Also Includes Slateford Junction Bridge, Pennsylvania Track: New Jersey's Department of Transportation's purchase includes a key bridge spanning the Delaware River, not part of the condemnation proceedings, and nearly a mile of track into Pennsylvania, making roughly 27 miles of right-of-way purchased.the bridge is a critical, quite literal bistate link: Paul Hart, president of NJ-ARP sister organization KARP, the Keystone Association of Railroad Passengers, has kept this bridge in KARP's sights for years so that future service would be possible between (New York) Hoboken and Scranton, and not end at the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border. According to Hart and the Pocono Daily Record, the... Bridge Purchase by NJDOT Expedites Matters: Pennsylvania officials sought to purchase the bridge, but negotiations stalled, and the Monroe County Railroad Authority moved toward condemning the bridge. But NJDOT decided to buy the bridge and recoup some of its costs later from Pennsylvania, instead of going through lengthy condemnation proceedings on the Slateford Bridge as well. That leaves... Ten Miles of Pennsylvania Track Still to be Acquired: That lies between Slateford Junction and Analomink, Pennsylvania. Talks between the track's owner, Norfolk/Southern, and the Monroe County Railroad Authority are moving along, according to Lawrence Malski, executive director of the Lackawanna County Railroad Authority. Following that purchase, Pennsylvania and New Jersey can begin drawing down the $184 million approved by the federal government for the project. For its part... NJ-ARP Salutes Penn-Jersey Coalition, Readies NJ-ARP 's Own Role: Kudos to the Penn-Jersey Coalition, a group of New Jersey and Pennsylvania rail advocates (including KARP), who have kept the Cut-Off issue highly visible in political circles. Thanks in part to the coalition, NJ-ARP has had the luxury to work largely behind the scenes in recent years, laying plans for schedules and possible equipment purchases. But we're no laggards: NJ-ARP was instrumental in securing state funds (though less than $21 million) in a 1989 state bond issue for the Cut-Off's purchase. NJT ASSIGNS MOM EIS STUDY Systra Consulting Inc., of Bloomfield, N.J., got the nod from New Jersey Transit on June 13 to begin a 25-month environmental impact statement (EIS) on Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) rail options. NJ-ARP Director William R. Wright was on hand to voice support for the $4.5 million contract, both on behalf of NJ-ARP and (per its request) as a stand-in representative of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition. No anti-mom voices bothered to show for the NJT meeting, but that hasn t stopped... NIMBY Criticism of EIS Process, Study Team Selection: State Sen. Peter Inverso (R-14) on June 20 demanded the federal EIS process add a Freehold-to-Matawan option for study, and introduced state Senate Bill S-1674, legislation for state funding to force the issue. No one apparently has told the state senator that the state has determined Freehold-to-Matawan will function as a hiking/biking trail. Other anti-mom voices are protesting NJT s selection of Systra, based on its very existence as a local New Jersey company. (Who might be more objective in NIMBY eyes? A company based in Virginia? In Alaska? Might not a New Jersey company see the unique nature of rural South Brunswick?) For their part... MOM Supporters Ready to Review Strategy in Support of EIS: Since the e in EIS stands for environmental, NJ-ARP welcomed an invitation from MOM-area environmental concerns to discuss passenger rail service on June 25, and NJ-ARP Director Dan Kerwin continues to take NJ-ARP s case to local rail-friendly concerns including those in Middlesex communities South Brunswick, Jamesburg, and Monroe, whose voices are ignored or overlooked by local anti-mom officials. Meanwhile, NJ Transit has noted that its new train command center in the Meadowlands Maintenance Complex will include signal and control systems for MOM, the Lackawanna Cut-Off, and West Trenton lines as well as current operations. That s planning for rail passenger system growth and NJ-ARP approves.

2 June 26, 2001 Page 2 EDITOR S EYE VIEW Lots of Linkage Yet to Line Up Are we in New Jersey the ultimate local yokels? We at NJ-ARP have always shunned such an approach. We ve ridiculed NIMBYs and other anti-rail partisans who truly believe that, per Pangloss in Voltaire s Candide, we live in the best of all possible worlds. Per Leonard Resto s President s Perspective in the April NEWSLETTER REPORT, we believe decisions within a town s walls seriously affect neighboring areas. NJ-ARP believes in a unified, statewide New Jersey Transit bus/rail/lrt network. And most of us Corridor Kids believe in a national rail passenger network. We believe in linking the two to each other. We champion positive redundancy the ability to choose multiple transit options for any given trip. And while as individuals we may care most about what s closest to our home, NJ-ARP has always been proud of our regional focus. Just one example: Our best expert on Secaucus Transfer, Greg Bender, lives in Toms River...not exactly nearby. But if we criticize the NIMBY fear of outsiders (read: other New Jerseyans) as fraudulent, and reject NIMBY attempts to prevent linking communities to each othere, then we d better be careful not to fall into the same trap. Thus we paid attention as two Austin, Texas outsiders light rail transit advocates Lyndon Henry and Dave Dobbs offered their comments on New Jersey LRT development, seeing things from a different perspective. New Jersey, of course, is not Texas, certainly in terms of distances, and Henry and Dobbs allowed for that from the start. Both were impressed by Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit, diplomatically suggesting that the good news on HBLRT isn t getting out to others (we think they re right). They examined the Newark City Subway (with one-mile extension) closely and asked plenty of questions on Union County LRT route choices. Some things they questioned (connections/signage to/from PATH at Pavonia/Newport;); other things they applauded (the same station s potent access to shopping). But at the end of a threeday, two-tour visit, both politely asked: Why so many local focus points? Why so many initial operating segments scattered like seeds? We were set to object: New Jersey distances can t equate with those of Texas; Hudson isn t Houston; HBLRT and SNJLRT might be adjacent in a Texas county but are at opposite ends of the Garden State. But, as Texas and New Jersey LRT advocates together studied the New Jersey rail map, looking to link up HBLRT, Union County, City Subway, Bergen County, it became clear that, even if one measures distances by New Jersey standards, the Texans were right. We have lots of LRT flowers blooming at present all isolated from each other. As great as HBLRT has been in spearheading the light rail cause, boosting Bayonne, stimulating office and new urban neighborhoods in Jersey City...as good as it s doing, as good as it will do, our Texas guests still couldn t take it to get to Newark Airport...couldn t take it even if Union County s LRT project was up and running. If all politics is local, so far LRT is too, hampered (even as it s sometimes helped) by the very same home rule forces that constrain statewide and regional planning efforts. Our Texas guests had no time to visit SNJLRT, but they listened in amazement when briefed about NIMBY fears of those people, whether from Camden or north Jersey invaders. By its very nature and purpose, New Jersey Transit s regional rail and bus systems aren t as badly constrained, but even these, of course, are thwarted by home rule. Witness MOM. Witness NYS&W s lack of momentum. NJ-ARP remains proud of its leadership role for New Jersey LRT development, and its corresponding belief in a unified NJ Transit system. After all, progress is at hand, and for LRT, galloping me-tooism is more evident each week. New Jersey is a clear LRT leader in the Northeast, and in fact may soon be second in the nation (behind only California) in number of LRT operations, once SNJLRT opens in And making LRT connections requires having LRT systems to connect so now we do. But as good as we ve done in 20 years, it s not enough. Those systems (where applicable) need to be linked; those segments need to become one. We ve done well with linking LRT to NJT passenger rail; now we also need to link LRT to itself, many times and places over. Douglas John Bowen NJ-ARP DIRECTORS and OFFICERS, 2001 NJ-ARP OFFICE/NORTH 1219 Garden Street Hoboken, NJ (all times) Douglas John Bowen, Director NJ-ARP OFFICE/SOUTH 22 Hartford Road Medford, NJ (eves only) Carol Ann Thomas, Director NJ-ARP TELEPHONE HOTLINE Available 24 Hours; Updated on Sundays (all times) NJ-ARP INTERNET HOTLINE NJ-ARP INTERNET INFO Robert Scheurle, Webmaster Leonard Resto, President (all times) Douglas John Bowen, Vice President (days) (eves) William R. Wright, Secretary (all times) William P. Armstrong, Treasurer (eves only) Jim Ciacciarelli, Director (all times) Daniel Kerwin, Director (eves) Albert L. Papp, Jr., Director (all times) Carol Ann Thomas, Director (days) (eves) Tim Apgar, Sussex liaison , x5485 (all times) Orrin Getz, Rockland liaison (eves) Paul Mulligan, Cape May liaison (eves) Joe Versaggi, Raritan Valley liaison (eves) Jonathan Woolley, Bergen liaison (eves)

3 Reprinted from The Courier-News, Friday, June 22, 2001 New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers June 26, 2001 Page 3 Raritan Valley Line Changes Promise to Ease the Squeeze By LARRY HIGGS, Staff Writer Raritan Valley Line commuters who dreaded missing the 6:23 p.m. train can slow down. There will be a new train on the schedule starting Sunday. Reverse commuters also will get another evening train on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line when the new timetable takes effect Sunday. "This is in response to customer requests and completes the cycle of timetable changes started during `The Year of the Raritan Valley Line' in 1998," said Michael Klufas, NJ Transit spokesman. "The Year of the Raritan Valley Line" was a multimillion dollar effort to improve service and station conditions on the Central Jersey rail line. The change buys extra time for Hunterdon Countybound riders. With the current set-up, if commuters miss the 6:23 p.m. train, they have to wait more than an hour for the 7:34 p.m. train. The changes recognize that the traditional evening rush period has stretched out, Klufas said. "Now the next train to High Bridge will be at 6:45 p.m.," Klufas said. "This will reduce crowding by people trying to squeeze on the 6:23 p.m. train." The outbound changes taking effect Sunday are: Train 5445 will leave Newark Penn Station at 6:29 p.m. and run as an express to Westfield and Plainfield. At Plainfield, the train will return to Newark and no longer run west of Plainfield. Train 5447 will leave Penn Station at 6:45 p.m. instead of at 6:56 p.m. and will run to High Bridge. Train 5713 will leave Penn Station at 7:15 p.m. instead of 7:34 p.m., making stops to High Bridge A new train, 5449, will leave Penn Station at 7:46 p.m. for Raritan. The remaining evening trains will continue to follow the current schedule, starting with Train 5451 leaving at 8:14 p.m. Inbound riders traveling from Central Jersey will see similar changes and a new train leaving Raritan at 5:34 p.m. for Penn Station. "It's great news, not only for people working in the city late, but for reverse commuters who take 884 Wheels shuttle to Somerville," said Joe Versaggi of Bridgewater, [...] of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers. "The last practical train they were able to take was the 5:12 p.m. Now they can take the 6:34 p.m. train." Inbound changes include: Train 5449 will leave Raritan at 5:34 p.m., make all stops except Finderne, and arrive at Penn Station at 6:26 p.m. Train 5448 will leave Raritan at 6:34 p.m. instead of at 6:01 p.m., arriving in Newark at 7:24 p.m. Train 5450 will leave Raritan at 7:26 p.m. instead of at 7:17 p.m., arriving in Newark at 8:17 p.m. NJ-ARP Editor: Douglas John Bowen Assistant Editor: Mary Ann H. Bowen Production: Lester W. Wolff The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, founded in 1980, is closely allied with the National Association of Railroad Passengers, based in Washington, D.C. [(202) ].

4 Reprinted from The Star-Ledger, Thursday, May 10, 2001 New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers June 26, 2001 Page 4 NJ Transit is trying to make the morning commute a little easier for New York-bound passengers on the Raritan Valley Line. By JOE MALINCONICO, Star-Ledger Staff The line ends in Newark, requiring riders to transfer to other NJ Transit trains or the PATH in order to get to Manhattan. Sometimes the passengers only have to walk across a platform from one train to another. But more often than not, because of heavy traffic at Newark Penn Station, the Raritan Valley Line ends at one platform and the connecting train is waiting on another. That sends the crowd of city-bound passengers rushing en masse down a staircase, through the crowded concourse and back up another stairway in order to catch the train to New York. New Jersey Transit officials yesterday announced an $8.8 million project that would double the number of Raritan Valley trains that stop at the same platform as their connecting trains to the city. "This is a relatively low-cost improvement that will benefit thousands of passengers along the Raritan Valley Line," said state Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein, who also serves as NJ Transit's chairman. "It's one of those intangibles that will make the commute a lot easier," said Leonard Resto, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, a rail riders' advocacy group. The $8.8 million will pay for construction of an extra 2,165-foot track in Harrison, on the east side of Newark Penn Station. The so-called pocket track will allow NJ Transit more opportunity to maneuver trains through the Newark station and direct Raritan Valley trains to platforms that would allow for easy transfers to connecting trains. NJ Transit yesterday approved a $2.36 million engineering contract with SYSTRA Consulting Inc. of Bloomfield to design the project. Construction will not begin until next fall, officials said. Once the new pocket track is open, the number of morning rush-hour Raritan Valley trains with same-platform transfers will grow from four to eight. That would mean about 3,600 of the Raritan line's 6,000 morning peakperiod riders will be able to simply walk across the platform to catch a connecting train. However, about 2,400 Raritan passengers headed into the city would still end up on trains that do not stop at the same platforms as their connecting trains. Joe Malinconico covers transportation. He can be reached at jmalinconico@starledger.com or (973) July 14 August Sept. 29 NJ-ARP + U = SNJLRT NJ-ARP + U = Midtown Direct NJ-ARP + U = HBLRT NJ-ARP + U = Montclair Connection NJ-ARP + U = CMSL (Cape May Seashore Lines) NJ-ARP + U = Waterfront Connection NJ-ARP + U = Secaucus Transfer U made it happen! Thank U!! NJ-ARP MEETING SCHEDULE Sat., 12:00 Noon Medford-Home of Carol Ann Thomas No meeting scheduled Sat., 10:00a.m. ANNUAL MEETING: Details to be published in the August. If you wish to attend meetings, contact NJ-ARP at ( ) at least five (5) days prior to the meeting. Please leave your name and telephone number.

5 June 26, 2001 Page 5 West Shore Hearings: Three Route Options New Jersey Transit has announced its schedule for public scoping meetings for the West Shore Region MIS/EIS; meetings will be held for each of three (3) rail passenger proposals (NJ-ARP plans to speak on each proposal). The schedule: West Shore Corridor: Thursday, July 12, 2001, 3:00 p.m.-to-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-9:00 p.m., Orangetown Town Hall, Courtroom, 26 Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, N.Y.; Wednesday, July 18, 2001, 3:00 p.m.-to-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-9:00 p.m., Teaneck Recreation Center, 250 Colonial Court, 2nd Floor, Teaneck, N.J. Northern Branch Corridor: Wednesday, July 11, 2001, 3:00 p.m.-to-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-9:00 p.m., John Harms Center for the Arts, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, N.J. Cross-County Corridor (NYS&W): Tuesday, July 10, 2001, 3:00 p.m.-to-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-9:00 p.m., Bergen County Freeholder s Meeting Room, 5th Floor, 1 Bergen County Plaza, Hackensack, N.J.; Tuesday, July 17, 2001, 3:00 p.m.-to-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.-to-9:00 p.m., Passaic County Freeholder s Meeting Room, Room 223, 401 Grand Street, Paterson, N.J. Registration to speak will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will remain open until 4:30 p.m. for afternoon sessions; registration will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will remain open until 8:30 p.m. for evening sessions. Meetings will conclude at 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. respectively, if there are no remaining registered speakers. NJ-ARP urges its members, particularly those who live in Bergen County, to air their support for any (or all!) of the three proposals as county residents and individuals. We also seek county NJ-ARP members who are willing to testify on NJ-ARP s behalf; contact us at our telephone Hotline ( ) if you d like to speak on behalf of NJ-ARP or if you have any questions or concerns. Our thanks to NJ-ARP member Al Cafiero, chairman of the Transit Committee of Bergen County, for supplying this information. GROWTH PRODUCT Remember when the doubters said rail was doomed to fail? That no one would ride rail? Why bother bolstering schedules, adding service, adding new routes? NJ-ARP remembers; it wasn't all that long ago. We're glad we didn't listen. NIMBYs aside, today the biggest complaints about passenger rail are quite different: There's not enough service. There's not enough room. The trains are too slow. (OK, OK, so some things DON'T change.) Today's problems are very often the problems of SUCCESS... and NJ-ARP is here to address them, too. That's because for more than two decades, NJ-ARP has been instrumental in growing that success, in nurturing it, and in prudently planning ahead for the next stage, even as others say, 'OK, that's enough growth.' But there's nowhere near enough rail, light rail, bus, ferry or bicycle...not yet. Join NJ-ARP... and let New Jersey's changing rail passenger scene grow on you. [ ] Basic $20.00 [ ] Family $30.00 [ ] Sustaining $50.00 [ ] Patron $ [ ] Student/Senior $10.00 (Up to 3 People) Enclosed is $ for membership(s) in NJ-ARP. Name Address City/State Zip Phone (day) (eve) news.0106.arp

6 June 26, 2001 Page 6 Expands Distribution With this issue, NJ-ARP has added and expanded its publication reach; we ve resumed mailing to all New Jersey state legislators (in case they forgot who we were), and added numerous state, county, and local officials to the mix. (Thanks to NJ-ARP Director James Ciacciarelli for his hard work here.) The June NEWSLETTER RE- PORT also should be reproduced in crisper form thanks to computer capabilities of Chatham Minuteman, of Chatham, N.J. which has assisted NJ-ARP on format and printing issues (let us know if you notice any improvement, or even if you don t!). 'Opening Daze' Swamps NJT As 2001 reaches the halfway mark, numerous N.J. Transit rail projects remain unfinished, and some have gone far past original deadline(s). As best NJ-ARP can determine, here's a thumbnail sketch of expected openings: Newark City Subway extension: "sometime" in the fall of 2001.The extension had been expected to open in Montclair Connection: Early 2002 seems more and more likely, despite NJT's "official" intention of opening in the "late fall" of Newark Airport Rail Station: This project, in cooperation with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, appears roughly on schedule for opening in late September, Secaucus Transfer: At present, still targeted for sometime in HBLRT extension to Hoboken: Now pegged at "fall, 2002." The 1-mile extension, the last portion of HBLRT Phase 1, had an "original"-original opening date of fall, Warsh to Address NJ-ARP Annual Meet New Jersey Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh will be NJ-ARP s featured speaker at the group s annual meeting September 29. Warsh has confirmed his attendance even before NJ-ARP has finalized its meeting location plans, saying he wants to meet with many of the organization s members as NJT continues to tap NJ-ARP input and expertise. Full details of the annual meeting, including exact location, time, and cost, will be made available in the August but NJ-ARP thought it wise to advise its membership of Warsh s intent incentive enough, we think, for those who want to be brought up to date on NJT s positions and progress. New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers P.O. Box 7305, Freehold, NJ Want the latest news in transportation issues? Call the NJ-ARP HOTLINE or visit us on the web at U.S. POSTAGE PAID CHATHAM, NEW JERSEY