Association of Railroad Passengers NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012 Published Bi-Monthly PO Box 68, Chatham, N.J. 07928-0068 www.NJ-ARP.org

Transaction Conference Reveals Major NEC Improvements On The Way NJ-ARP Morris Representative Jishnu Murkerji was express tracks. Possible confi guration of a two level one of several members attending this year’s annual station where the upper level has connectivity with the Transaction Conference in Atlantic City on April 11, 12, present station but cannot be extended eastwards, and 13. He has provided the following report. and a lower level that does not have connectivity with There were two separate sessions on Amtrak the current station but can be built out eastwards is Capital Projects on the . One was being considered. There are a dozen or so alternative on Gateway and Portal and the other one on the $450 confi gurations being studied and no fi nal determination million High Sped Rail (HSR) project. This is a brief set has been made yet. of jottings from the sessions and associated sidebar –Tier 1 PEIS (Programmatic Environmental Impact discussions. Of necessity there are a few NJ Transit Statement) for all of NEC is in progress and is expected issues intertwined, but on the whole it is an Amtrak run to be completed in 3 to 3.5 years. project, though 75% of its use is by NJT. Next speaker was Tom Schulze of NJ Transit: Gateway and Portal –Trans Hudson all modes ridership growing This was a joint NJT & Amtrak presentation. The again. fi rst presentation was by Drew Galloway of Amtrak: –Trans Hudson two-thirds of the ridership is by – and Tunnels have bus, one third by train. the highest mainline train density in the Western Hemisphere. –We have enough capacity to handle expected growth for the next 10 or so years, but beyond that we –Train miles in the Newark - segment will need additional capacity to be in place. have doubled since 1976 when Amtrak took over operations. –Acknowledged that realistically something like 7 to Secaucus will probably be necessary in addition to –Growth over next 40 years is projected to be tunnels to Penn Station for the long haul. between 45% and 70% depending on what baseline and growth scenario is used. –NJT is redoing forecasts with NYMTC and NJTPA to take into account the downturn to make sure that –The Sawtooth Bridge where the High Line crosses too much capacity is not being projected based on out the M&E near Hudson Tower carries over 400 trains of date projections and baselines. per day and is 105 years old is being held together at present by toothpicks and bailing wire. Galloway –Bus and Ferry are integral part of the mix. showed pictures of patched up fatigue cracks. This –FTA grant of $4.5 million is being used to build a bridge needs to be replaced and will be a major project bus terminal at Secaucus Jct. to off-load some buses involving shoe-fl ies during reconstruction. Proposal is from PABT. The GWB Bus Terminal is being revived for replacement with a 4-track bridge. by PANYNJ to enable diversion of some buses from –$15 million this year is being used for completing PABT to relieve congestion at PABT and Lincoln Tunnel. fi nal design of Portal North Bridge - a 50 feet high fi xed The XBL in the morning carries 700 buses per hour. span for two tracks consisting of three main linked No XBL in the afternoon due to logistical reasons. arch spans and approach viaducts. Design will be –Considering terminating more trains at Newark completed by the end of the year and it will be ready to recognizing the fact that Newark has signifi cant O/D be constructed. There is a $60 million TIGER request connecting to PATH and local buses. This to relieve for next year to begin construction. Portal North Plans congestion at NY-Penn while reducing overcrowding leaves the current Portal Bridge in place pending the west of Newark. construction of Portal South. –Gateway is projected to be in the 2025 time frame –Once Gateway gets going it will require funding in current capacity planning. at about a $3 billion per year level for 4 or so years. $450 million NEC High Speed Rail (HSR) –So far no technical fl aws or regulatory show This was another joint session between Amtrak and stoppers have been found in Gateway plans. NJT. The lead presenter was Al Fazio of Amtrak, who –There is an issue about the ability to build east used to work for the RiverLine during its construction. from the Block 780 station. If the station is at the same Now he is Chief Engineer of NEC HSR. NJ Transit level as the current station then it is not possible to dive down fast enough to get under the 6th Ave IND (Continued on page 4) PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE NJ-ARP DIRECTORS April is the cruelest month! and OFFICERS, 2012 Well here it is folks. April, that is. Springtime. And who else but T. S. Eliot said it best in NJ-ARP OFFICE/NORTH “The Wasteland” which begins, “April is the cruelest month… mixing memory and desire.” 1219 Garden Street Thoughts of what has been and what will yet be. Surely that. With the Christian holiday of Hoboken, NJ 07030 Easter generally celebrated in April, T.S. Eliot’s phraseology takes on increasing meaning. 201-798-6137, Ext. 2 Death and resurrection is the core meaning of the holiday. And to some of “us,” especially Douglas John Bowen, Director those who worked so long and hard to morph the NJ Transit-designed trans-Husdon rail crossing into something truly fi t for the ages, Eliot’s poem takes on an especially bittersweet NJ-ARP OFFICE/SOUTH meaning. Here for us, there’s certainly memory (past but not forgotten) and desire (for the 22 Hartford Road future), I’ll submit. Now I’ve been told (admonished actually) that all you out there in NJ- Medford, NJ 08055 ARP land have tired of hearing about the ARC project - sunk as it is thanks to Governor 609-654-5852 (eves only) Christie’s seat-of-the-pants rejection of that albatross in October 2010. Carol Ann Thomas, Director

But hold on now, wait just a minute. Follow me on this one. One theory of history of ❇ ❇ ❇ ❇ which I am a life long and devoted adherent says that life is a series of sequential events. (That brings to mind a Gospel reading at Christmas time that traces the lineage of the House NJ-ARP E-MAIL CONTACT of David down from Abraham all the way to Joseph and Jesus of Nazareth.) On a more secular http://www.nj-arp.org/contact.html note (probably), without a Pearl Harbor there wouldn’t have been a Hiroshima or a Nagasaki NJ-ARP WEB SITE or, for that matter the great Pacifi c War (as it’s now called by many historians). But you get http://www.nj-arp.org the point here. Without an ARC, really a sunken ARC (RIP), there would never have been NJ-ARP LIVE the seed of a Gateway Project. Here again, as with a fl owering annual plant, something had Twitter @ NJ_ARP to die to be reborn. As I mentioned in Philadelphia at the NARP Mid-Atlantic meeting, at ❇ ❇ ❇ ❇ the very worst, all of the advocates and stakeholders have the opportunity to “get it right” this second time around and with the knowledge technically - and most assuredly politically - that we gained through unstinting participation in the ARC undertaking we intend to do Albert L. Papp, Jr., President just that. In a way of speaking, this time, we’re getting in on the proverbial ground fl oor 973-762-1831 BEFORE the 16 alignments that Amtrak has under study are released to the public. Jack May, Vice President 973-746-0757 Lester W. Wolff, Corresponding Secretary We are blissfully hopeful that such a “seat at the table” also extends to the NEC Tier 1 201-573-0146 (10a-4p only) PEIS (Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement) which is scheduled for completion Douglas John Bowen, Director in the next three to three and a half years. That didn’t really happen with ARC and even 212-620-7236 (days) though we were an active part of the Regional Citizens’ Liaison Committee (RCLC), the 201-798-6137 (eves) hard and nasty reality (feeling? perception?) was – that while we assembled periodically, it Jim Ciacciarelli, Director seemed only to hear “the word” from on high. We made our peripheral comments from the 856-988-5190 sidelines and ARC hurtled ever onward, like the unsinkable Titanic (100 years ago April Philip G. Craig, Director 14-15 this year; oh, there’s that April again), and met the same fate. It sunk; hit an iceberg 973-744-1765 named Christie, and had absolutely no chance of survival. But like that doomed, lauded, Jack McDougal, Director lamented, celebrated, memorialized and autopsied vessel, some ultimate good did emerge 908-638-8010 for the trans-Atlantic “blue ribbon” fl eet. All new ships were mandated to have adequate Carol Ann Thomas, Director lifeboats to evacuate passengers in the event the “unthinkable” ever happened again. (And, 856-642-3800 (days) as suspected, it did.) And so good things will occur for Gateway, thanks to the ARC sinking. 609-654-5852 (eves) Read on... ❇ ❇ ❇ ❇ At that Philadelphia NARP conclave, we were told that, under present engineering design criteria, advocates and other stakeholders would be faced with - and I quote - a Leonard Resto, Treasurer “Hobson’s Choice.” Puzzled? So was I until I heard what the “choice” was. According to 973-635-5373 the Amtrak spokesperson, the problem is the 3.34% descending eastward grade from the Paul Mulligan, Cape May rep new Block 780 subterranean 31st Street terminal/station (at about the same depth as current 609-884-9161 (eves only) trackage, but south of it) which will permit EITHER redundancy between the old and new Daniel Kerwin, Middlesex rep 732-416-8776 (eves only) tunnels OR a connection between Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal but not both. William Armstrong, Monmouth rep Specifi cally, we are told that there would be insuffi cient clearance between the southbound 732-919-3660 (eves only) descending grade of the 1967-built 6th Avenue subway deep level express tracks (which George Musser, Jr. have no stops between the West 4th Street and 34th Street stations) and the proposed track Montclair/Boonton rep extension that might lead to Grand Central Terminal, or another terminal/station complex in 973-259-9389 (eves only) the immediate vicinity. As the Amtrak spokesperson said, “We can pursue a station plan that Jishnu Mukerji, Morris rep maximizes redundancy, reliability, operating effi ciency or, we can pursue a concept which 973-912-9923 (eves only) provides for future expansion to the east (GCT, Queens, etc.) BUT, we will not get both. Gary Johnson, Northeast Corridor rep The 6th Ave subway construction effectively ends that goal and would require gradients in 973-482-3372 excess of 3.5%.” The constraint is the 2.05% grade that NJ Transit imposed for its locomotive Joe Versaggi, Raritan Valley rep and equipment fl eet. The spokesperson again explained that, “We must stick to the 2.05% 908-725-2316 (eves only) gradient (whether you like it or not) in order to get buy-in from New Jersey Transit. Without Orrin Getz, Rockland rep it, we have no project. It’s that simple. We think a station can be located adjacent to Penn 845-638-4494 (eves only) that will provide good connectivity and still meet operations criteria. Real estate interests Tim Apgar, Sussex rep are vital and, either we develop a package that gets them interested or, the project will fail. 201-230-7225 They are key to fi nding adequate funding.” Rose M. Heck, Government Affairs (Continued on page 7)

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 2 Recent articles and video of interest for NJ-ARP Members

DATE SOURCE SUBJECT WEB LINK 03-19 nmrailruner.com New Mexico Railrunner expands weekend service. http://nmrailrunner.com/newweekendsched2012.asp 03-23 abc news (Australia) Sydney (Australia) Monorail to be scrapped. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-23/last-stop3a-sydney27s-monorail-to-be-scrapped/3908166 03-23 L.A. Metro Expo Line to open April 28. http://thesource.metro.net/2012/03/23/expo-line-to-open-to-the-public-on-saturday-april-28/?utm_source%3Drss%26utm_ medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dexpo-line-to-open-to-the-public-on-saturday-april-28 03-23 N.Y. MTA MTA Capital Program. Interesting info on Fulton Transit Center & Jamaica Station plus major service changes proposed for Jamaica-Brooklyn service. http://www.mta.info/mta/news/books/pdf/120326_1400_Cpoc.pdf 03-28 Railway Age Boston railcar deliveries behind schedule. http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/commuter-regional/mbta-railcar-deliveries-behind-schedule.html?channel= 03-28 Montclair Patch Commuter wishes NJT would take over DeCamp buses. http://montclair.patch.com/articles/op-ed-a-disgruntled-commuter-wishes-nj-transit-would-take-over-decamp 04-00 Ultimate Factories VIDEO (46 minutes) Watch the construction of a NYC R160 subway car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_zARKdiKKI 04-02 Progressive Railroading Tucson selects team for streetcar project. http://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/article/Tucson-selects-joint-venture-team-for-streetcar-project--30461# 04-02 Progressive Railroading Charlotte, NC seeks contractors for LYNX Gateway Station project. http://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/article/North-Carolina-DOT-Charlotte-to-gauge-developers-interest-in- Gateway-Station-project--30467 04-02 Newsday LIRR considers restoring Port Washington branch service cuts. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/lirr-mulls-options-on-port-washington-line-1.3639277 04-04 Progressive Railroading L.A. Metro greenlights Gold Line Foothills extension. http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=30513 04-04 dailyprincetonian.com Megabus subsidiary of Coach USA that NJT supplies buses to, will compete with NJT rail. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/04/04/30490/ 04-05 Star-Ledger PANY/NJ to spend one quarter BILLION (with a “B”) dollars for PATH Harrison station rehab. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/harrison_hopes_upgraded_path_s.html 04-05 cbslocal.com Thousands of Brookynites fi ght to save G train extension. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/04/05/thousands-of-brooklynites-fi ghting-to-save-g-train-extension 04-05 Brown Daily Herald Providence, RI approves $126.7 million streetcar system. http://www.browndailyherald.com/funds-put-plan-for-streetcar-line-in-motion-1.2725504#.T4oriXZVXEV 04-05 Washington Post D.C. to buy two more streetcars for $8.7 million. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/post/dc-to-buy-two-streetcars-for-87-million/2012/04/05/gIQAVT65xS_blog.html 04-06 atlanticcites.com PHOTO ESSAY Subway platforms from around the world. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/04/subway-platforms-around-world/1693/#.T4OdKqzvr4A.gmail 04-09 Progressive Railroading Atlanta: A streetcar they desired. http://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/article/A-streetcar-they-desired--30535?source=0412PR-spot1# 04-09 hamptonroads.com Odds would be in light rail’s favor in referendum to extend The Tide. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/04/odds-would-be-light-rail’s-favor-referendum 04-09 mta.com (NYC) Subway ridership at highest levels since 1950! http://www.mta.info/news/stories/?story=599 04-10 New York Times Report disputes Christie’s basis for halting ARC. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/nyregion/report-disputes-christies-reason-for-halting-tunnel-project-in-2010.html?_ r=2&ref=todayspaper 04-11 Progressive Railroading Fairfax County VA approves WMATA Silver Line extension. http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=30620 04-11 City of Cincinnati Information about Cincinnati’s new streetcar system. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/noncms/projects/streetcar/docs/news_CAF_USA.cfm 04-11 Star-Ledger NJT’s defends Christie’s ARC cancellation (with quote by NJ-ARP President, Al Papp, Jr.) http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/nj_transit_boss_defends_gov_ch.html 04-12 Bergen Record NJT spends $408M on locos for scuttled ARC Project (with quote by NJ-ARP VP Jack May). http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/NJ_Transit_spends_408M_on_locomotives_built_specially_for_scuttled_tunnel_project.html 04-12 centraljersey.com Another round fi red in the DINKY war. http://centraljersey.com/articles/2012/04/13/the_princeton_packet/news/doc4f8744ab3d803424465040.txt 04-13 Tucson Star Tucson Streetcar to be named “SunLink”. http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/streetcar-system-has-a-name-sunlink/article_82ba1691-6db5-59d1-84f0- 9e6e7a377d41.html 04-16 Progressive Railroading Starbucks coming to Chicago subway. (Note: North/Clybourn is an underground station.) http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=30681 04-20 CTA-Chicago “L”-megeddon on the loop “L” starts 04-20-12. Months of weekend diversions. http://www.transitchicago.com/looptrackrenewal/

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 3 Major NEC Improvements On The Way (Continued from front page) was represented by Steven H. Santoro who is in charge tension catenary using completely new fi xtures. Some of capital programs and planning at NJT. of the existing poles may be reused. The fi nal design –Brief discussion about Acela replacement, Tier is yet to be completed. 3 standards and modifi cations thereof to allow mixed –Metuchen Converter gets 80 MW capacity boost. operation of Tier 3 and Tier 2 at speeds higher than Two new substations will be built at Hamilton and an a yet 125 mph under specifi c high speed PTC system like to be determined location. In general the power system ACSES. Apparently Amtrak has entered into such a for the segment will be completely revamped. discussion with FRA and Volpe Center with Al Fazio and his staff leading. The concept of Short Interval Temporal –Midway Interlocking will be rebuilt with #20 higher Separation (SITS) developed on the RiverLINE is being speed moving frog crossovers. Midway will also cease used as one of the foundation pieces in this work. to be the point where outer zone NJT expresses cross over from/to inner tracks to/from outer tracks. For that, –NJT will be re-certifying the MLVs at 125 mph, as two purpose built 80 mph crossovers (#32.7) will be will MARC for operation on the NEC. The Outer Zone put in at new interlockings at Adams and Delco. Expresses of NJT will use the center track at this speed up to County (Jersey Avenue) and then move over to –Concrete ties will be renewed on 1 and 4. Entire the outer tracks clearing the way for 160 mph Amtrak ROW will be excavated and sub-grade renewed at trains on the center tracks. This will effectively increase Midway. Track 2 and 3 centers will be spread wherever the capacity of the center tracks since NJT expresses feasible. Curves 275 and 276 will be realigned to allow will require less time on them than at present. higher speed, i.e. better helical curve alignment. –The outer tracks between County and Ham –This project is viewed as a “Model Home” project (Trenton) will be upped to 125 mph. with intention of developing standards to be deployed in a cookie cutter fashion on other segments of the NEC. –The infrastructure is being designed to meet the First targeted add on segments are - New Brunswick to proposed operations plan. Metuchen and Trenton to Holmesburg. Other segments –A new turning loop including a fl yover across the to follow include Ragan to Prince west of Wilmington. NEC will be constructed just west of Adams using the Additional work needs to be done for anything west of Delco Lead from Jersey Ave. Yard to get to it westbound. Perryville because freight traffi c is much, much heavier It will join track 1 just west of Adams. Room will be left between Perry and Bayview. Also the procedures, for future North Brunswick station at the old J&J site. protocols and standards developed here will help raise This will eliminate all confl icting crossovers at County the speeds in New England from 150 to 160 mph. interlocking for the mid-zone trains O/D at Jersey Ave. –NJT will be ordering new higher speed EMUs for Jersey Ave. will get a full fl edged high platform station use on stopping trains on the NEC. on the . This is an NJ Transit Capital Project. Amtrak is just putting the connection points in place. –Time saving on NJT Trenton Express trains will be much much more than for an Acela as a result of all –Old PRR signaling system with ACSES overlay this work and upgrades of infrastructure and equipment. will be completely replaced by a new integrated ACSES An Acela will save somewhere between 2 and 2.5 system while keeping all interfaces to trains unchanged. minutes. NJT saving will be somewhere between 5 and Block lengths will be variable and will be determined by 10 minutes, and even more if they get rid of some of operational needs typically with shorter block lengths the gratuitous padding. And on the whole we will have approaching interlocking while longer block lengths are a more fl uid free fl owing system in place in 2017. used away from interlockings. All trackside signals will be removed and this segment will become purely cab –The I Ladder to be put in place at Penn A signal based Rule 562 territory. Additional blocks will interlocking will, at present, allow Empire Corridor be included on the outer tracks to improve following trains to use any of the higher numbered platforms up train performance. to #19 if necessary. In the future the ladder will provide connectivity from the Gateway tunnel leads to the higher –Catenary will be completely replaced by constant numbered tracks.

Letter to the Editor [Member Charles P. Lamb sent an interesting suggestion Thanks, regarding our NJ-ARP rail map that was on page one Charles P. Lamb of the February 27, 2012 NEWSLETTER REPORT.] Les: Thanks for that idea Charles. Lots of rail service has been lost in New Jersey – sadly, some forever – as The map is excellent but to be accurate shouldn’t it rights-of-way have been removed, or encroached upon. also include service lost during NJ-ARP’s existence NJ-ARP has hopes of someday seeing Raritan (west and yet to be restored? By my reckoning this lost of High Bridge), West Trenton and Cape May returning service is as follows. to service. Ocean City, however is a goner. 1. service west of High Bridge. 2. West Trenton Line service. When we do the next map, I’ll try to incorporate 3. Ocean City Branch service. those three lines that we have hope for. 4. Cape May Line service. –Les Wolff, Editor

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 4 EDITOR’S EYE-VIEW Streetcars belong. Even on the street Much like any group, NJ-ARP members split into municipalities in New Jersey, do have streets. Some subsections or specialties of interest or belief – high U.S. locations are wisely restoring “streetcars” on some speed rail, Amtrak, regional/commuter, rapid transit, of those thoroughfares, and the inveterate holdouts LRT – and, for some of us streetcars. Interests overlap, (San Francisco, New Orleans) are expanding what they of course, and NJ-ARP has always prided itself on its never surrendered. Yes, yes, the latter is blessed with rail-modal fl exibility. that nice center median along Canal Street, but all in all those streetcars can be found (yea, verily!) on the street. So I was slightly taken aback recently during an on- But what about safety? Far be it for me to excuse going e-conference concerning the proposed NJ-ARP streetcars from such an issue, but why do streetcars extension of MTA New York City Transit No. 7 line into carry the burden unduly? Don’t automobiles have a New Jersey. Amidst talk of MTA Chairman Joe Lhota’s safety issue? They sure should, given their better-but- ill-timed, ill-phrased rejection of such a prospect, and still-lethal daily tally (an average of two fatalities per day amidst trading ideas over ’s next move, the NJ-ARP in New Jersey). The presumption today, however, is conversation veered into streetcars and their worth, that streets are for cars fi rst and foremost. No bicycles and, apparently, their place. and, oh my gosh, no streetcars, please. That would At that point, one NJ-ARP member, a grizzled make things dangerous. veteran of the battle for HBLRT, fl atly insisted that all Buses, backed by 60-plus years of U.S. “give the passenger rail needs to be grade-separated, all the poor suckers something” philosophy, get a federal time, no matter what (including no matter what the and state bye, however, and backers of more buses cost? He didn’t say). “Careful on streetcars, Doug,” my (including Bus Rapid Transit) love pointing out to me critic admonished. “The logical extension of what you’re that buses can circumvent auto obstacles on the street suggesting is that NYC would be a thriving metropolis – no exceptions. They sure don’t live in my hometown, it is if the ‘subways’ were all at grade level.” where double-parked cars on both sides of Washing- I’m not aware of that logical extension at all, let ton Street can do a great job obstructing buses. Cars alone my advocacy of it. But it wouldn’t hurt some of the parked in the bus stops also force those magical buses streets of New York, or anywhere else, if some street- to load and unload passengers in mid-street – more cars were added to the mix. NJ-ARP Vice President obstruction, more delays. But streetcars – they’re sup- Jack May continually reminds us all that, once upon a posedly too infl exible for today’s motor madness. time, that’s exactly what streetcars did in most of the I don’t buy it, and, fortunately, neither do some city’s boroughs. Retaining them, instead of scrapping dedicated citizens across the continent, be they in them, wouldn’t have prevented New York’s continued Atlanta, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Portland, Salt Lake growth in the 1940s and 1950s, or its growth today. City, San Francisco or Seattle. And while Los Angeles But for argument’s sake, let’s buy into the very rea- is not yet the size, and may never be the density of New sonable assertion, made by rail activists and anti-rail York, it, too, is turning to streetcars to supplement its voices alike, that the world isn’t New York, nor should LRT. Like me – and, I hope, like most NJ-ARP mem- it be. Let’s also acknowledge most of the worlds’ mu- bers these places believe streetcars are aptly named, nicipalities don’t have subways, nor (perhaps) should and one of their places is on the avenue. Expect that they automatically have same. Put differently and more reality to occur more often in the decade ahead. Maybe provincially, New York City isn’t New Jersey. even here and there in the Garden State. But places in North America, including those 566 –Douglas John Bowen

NJ-ARP Members Make Their Mark

[Member Steve Lanset’s full, uncensored letter to the Weehawken’s Lincoln Harbor and to Amtrak and NJ Star-Ledger, parts of which appeared April 5, concerning Transit at Secaucus Transfer. NYC MTA chairman Lhota’s quote saying that 7 to Secaucus will not be built in our lifetime is below] Mr. Lhota’s claim that New Jersey riders simply want a $2.50 subway ride to Manhattan is a cheap “You erroneously reported on April 4th that New shot. What’s wrong with that? Most riders, I suspect, York MTA chairman Joseph Lhota has successfully however, would be willing to pay $5.00, maybe more, euthanized a proposed No. 7 New York City subway to bypass the infernal traffi c jams at the Lincoln Tunnel line extension to Secaucus. Mr. Lhota is beset by and a misplaced hub at Penn Station 34th St New York. uncompleted mega projects and a shortage of money. Tens of thousands of New Jerseyans, especially bus He does not, however, have the last word. Mayor riders and commuters bound for uptown Manhattan, Bloomberg and Governor Christie both still favor would not benefi t from the proposed Amtrak Gateway a No. 7 extension. And many concerned citizens Tunnel favored by Mr. Lhota. Gateway would primarily concur. See http://subwaytosecaucus.com , which benefi t inter-city travel and should be pursued on its favors a No. 7 extension directly west to HBLRT at own merits. “

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 5 $36,739.38 per Passenger for a Rail Station Renovation? We know there are those who think that NJ-ARP will to spend for a single station overhaul. support anything that facilitates rail transportation but Of course, there will be those who could argue that we respectfully defer on the Port Authority of New York the PANY/NJ did economize on this project. The $256 & New Jersey’s (PANY/NJ) plan to spend $256 million million pales by comparison to the new PATH World dollars to re-build the PATH Harrison station. Trade Center transportation hub designed by Santiago According to its own statistics, 6,968 passengers Calatrava. Projected fi nal cost for this project has spi- utilized the station each weekday in 2011. That $256 ralled to $3.8 billion. That works out to about $63,000 million works out to a bit under $37,000 per passen- for each of the approximately 60,000 passengers that ger. We agree that the current station built in 1936 is use the PATH’s WTC station each weekday. in sore need of an upgrade and conformity with ADA Just as private individuals should not tell others regulations, but we blanch at the cost of this project. what to do with their money, NJ-ARP is not usually in What’s worse, is that $256 million doesn’t even include the business of dictating the merits of one project over relocation of both PATH tracks onto the south (east) another. But the funds being spent here is OUR money side of the NEC which would greatly streamline PATH, (in a collective sense) so we will volunteer that just a NEC, M&E and Waterfront Connection service. small fraction of the over $4 billion being spent could have provided better transfers between PATH and the We also wonder if Amtrak’s Gateway project and Hudson Bergen Light Rail at Newport-Pavonia. 4-tracking of the NEC happens, did the PANY/NJ take into account spreading the right of way, or do they What’s perversely amusing here is that, for once, intend to bill Amtrak $100 million to destroy a newly the proverbial shoe is on the other foot and automotive built platform and build it again? lobbyist, the National Motorists Association is scream- ing “bloody murder” at the lack of fi scal control shown Put in perspective, the Harrison station re-build is by the PANY/NJ in spending motorist’s toll dollars on costing about $40 million more than the entire Mead- wildly extravagant rail projects. owlands Rail Line (including the new station) did. It’s also costing almost $200 million more than the one For more on the Harrison station plans, click on the mile HBLRT extension and new station at Bayonne-8th link to the April 5 Star-Ledger story that may be found St. did. $256,000,000 seems a rather obscene amount in the Recent Articles of Interest section on page 3.

Bye Bye Bikes on NJ Transit Rail? Are bicycles on NJT trains a thing of the past? Transit claims this wasn’t a change in policy, but Your editor received an e-mail query from a member rather a rewriting of the rules to make them more which read: “...on my latest trip, I got the unpleasant understandable. But the net result is that train personnel surprise of NJT restricting bicycles to high and mid- are enforcing rules they never did before. Hopefully levels platforms stations...” “I asked a conductor, who that will change as more pressure is put on NJ Transit said he has been riding the RVL for 20 years, what a by bicycle advocates. Supposedly an “Advisory Panel” mid-level platform is: ‘I have no idea. I guess the bike- will take up the issue and report on it soon. friendly stations are the ones with a wheelchair icon in Meanwhile bicyclists would be advised before the schedules (the exception being Roselle Park, since they head for their station to check NJT’s web site it has a high-level platform but no handicap access at http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv?hdnP because of those steep stairs).’ ageAction=BikeProgramTo for the complete rules Well, NJ-ARP did some checking. New Jersey and regulations on bicycle access to the rail network.

Another View of 7 To Secaucus At Transaction ,Jim Greller (Transportation Improvement side and the entire business district in midtown from Planner for Hudson County) gave a quite persuasive New Jersey and it also enables New Yorkers to come presentation on 7 to Secaucus and Meadowlands via to New Jersey work centers. He envisages a transfer Jersey City. Some of the projected numbers on real station at 14th St. connecting with A, C, E, and L, estate and other economic benefi ts that he presented before the 7 swings west across the river. He proposes were really impressive and hard to refute. Another point stations at Hoboken under the long wharf adjacent to he made clearly is that this approach actually enables and under the HBLRT station, a station in Jersey City many New Yorkers to come to New Jersey job centers and then a run through the Bergen Arches to Secaucus thus keeping and increasing the tax base in New Jersey with possible extension to Meadowlands. instead of enabling more New Jerseyans to go to New York to work – thus removing them and their place of While it does not address the Bergen County bus employment from the tax base of New Jersey. issue as well as the original 7 to Secaucus plan does, it appears to have mitigating other positives, and possibly He was asked why the 7, and why not the 14th St. more in it economically for N.J., at least on its face. L line? He deftly answered that using 7 serves the dual purpose of giving an easier access to the upper east –Jishnu Mukerji

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 6 President’s Perspective (Continued from page 2) One possible solution the spokesperson mentioned is that and the entire right-of-way will be excavated with the subgrade of a two-level terminal/station beneath 30th - 31st Streets. The renewed at Midway. The distances between the inner express upper level could be positioned to dispatch/receive both Amtrak tracks will be widened where that can be done to accommodate and NJT trains from either the old or new set of Hudson River the 160 mph speeds of the “Acela” trainsets along with the tunnels that begin and end at Penn, and therefore achieve the straightening of two curves. Anticipated time savings for NJ desired operational redundancy - but could not be extended Transit Trenton expresses will be greater than that expected eastward. The lower level (with a lesser eastward gradient) for the “Acela” trains - somewhere in the vicinity of fi ve to ten would be located to enable the much sought after through NYP minutes for the NJT services versus two to two and a half for - GCT/east side link - but would have no connectivity with the the Amtrak speedsters. existing Penn Station. If this approach is adopted, the best of both worlds are accommodated: backup redundancy as well as At the Wednesday, April 11 New Jersey Transit Board the long sought after midtown connection and the “Hobson’s Meeting, NJ-ARP Vice President Jack May and I had the Choice” is eliminated. Importantly, despite ardent and sustained opportunity to speak with Kevin O’Connor, Vice President and criticism from certain advocacy quarters concerning various General Manager of Rail Operations concerning future NJT (perceived) defi ciencies in the Amtrak Gateway plans, please equipment acquisition policies, specifi cally electric multiple be so advised, good reader, that NO technical or regulatory deal unit cars (EMUs). Jack, NJ-ARP Director Phil Craig, and I breakers have yet been found. Huzzah! presented statements in late 2010 asking that future rolling stock include purchases of EMUs for various services. O’Connor now And while we’re commenting on possible new Penn Station disclosed that the compromise which the agency has developed and Hudson River tunnel confi gurations, the recent statewide will be pleasing to rail advocates and almost parenthetically TransAction conference in Atlantic City, N.J. revealed some mentioned that all new future passenger fl eet cars will be new information on other NEC-related projects. NJ-ARP’s multilevel in confi guration. And indeed, it will be. Unbeknownst Jishnu Mukerji attended and while a fuller text can be found to Jack and I, the very next day at the TransAction conference elsewhere in this issue, the following is a distillation of some which Jishnu was attending contained a session which let the of his observations. As you know, NJ-ARP has been an cat out of the bag - NJ Transit WILL be ordering new higher outspoken proponent of, and is on the record for, replacing the speed EMUs for use on local NEC trains. Seems they think they Portal Bridge with Amtrak’s proposed new twin-track structure. can remove 15 - 20 seats from a to-be-ordered new multilevel In Philadelphia, we were told by the same Amtrak spokesperson (MLV) passenger car, add electric motors with a total of 2,400 that was quoted above that the piers of the Portal Bridge are to 3,000 horsepower and then haul two multilevel trailers (which positioned over an earthquake fault and that they were never can be the ones already in service) behind it, European style. designed for heavy road motive power which is now standard This would result in a three car set (a triplet) with an effective operating procedure on the NEC. In 1910 1,000 HP per car and lead to rather sprightly performance. For DD-1 third-rail electrics hauled all the long hauls and commuter the M&E, where nine car trains are the norm in rush hour, this trains between Manhattan Transfer and Penn Station. They would see three EMU power units interspersed through the were lightweight and much of the rolling stock was supported consist and six trailers which could lead to an acceleration of the on six axle trucks to minimize track damage. Understand that god-awful slow schedules we’ve endured for the last 20 years. train miles over the Newark to New York Penn two-track NEC segment have doubled since 1976 and are expected to increase Recall that NJ-ARP questioned whether NJT needed an some 45% to 70% over the next 40 years. But it now seems that additional 100 MLV cars given that ARC had been cancelled there may be even more pressing concerns between Newark and that suitable single level rolling stock remained. We believed Penn and New York City on the NEC. Although not identifi ed then (and we believe now) that our positions were based on as a critical project in many rail based publications, it seems realistic facts available to us at the time. It’s all about need versus that the Sawtooth Bridge, where the NEC “Highline” fl ies want. NJT wants multilevels but doesn’t necessarily need them. over NJT’s Morris & Essex lines, is in sorry shape. Amtrak Tantalizingly, this is now complicated by their re-thinking of the says that structure carries over 400 trains per day, is 105 years situation. The good news is that the agency has recognized the old and “...is being held together at present by toothpicks and intrinsic worth of EMUs and maybe (just maybe) NJ-ARP’s bailing wire.” Amtrak intends to replace it with a four track EMU persistence has paid off. Think snatching victory from bridge and this will necessitate construction of shoe-fl ys during the jaws of defeat. Rack up another “win” for the good guys in reconstruction. the white hats!

The Trenton to New Brunswick $450 million upgrade, Along with the Amtrak “speedway” upgrade between thanks to the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Trenton and New Brunswick, another TransAction session legislation is moving smartly ahead, too. Jishnu reports that revealed that NJT has included in its capital budget a project Amtrak and NJT are working closely together to make this to construct a fl yover west of Jersey Avenue to eliminate NJT improvement a substantial one. The overhead catenary will be Jersey Avenue trains from crossing the NEC when they depart completely replaced by a constant tension system with some the yard and head north. Interestingly, space is available for an of the existing poles being kept. The problematic Metuchen oft talked about North Brunswick station at the south end of the Converter will receive an 80 megawatt increase to boost its Johnson & Johnson property. NJ-ARP will ask whether this capacity and two new substations will be constructed between station, if it becomes real, is a substitute for the Middlesex- Hamilton and a yet-to-be-determined location. The Midway Ocean- Monmouth (MOM) line originally vetted by NJ-ARP Interlocking plant will be completely rebuilt with #20 high- in 1985. We have long memories, speed moveable point frog crossovers and will no longer be the location where NJT outer zone express trains switch between So, yes, Mr. Eliot. We concur. April IS the “...cruelest month… the express center and local outer tracks. Its replacement will mixing memory and desire.” be two new 80 mph, #32.7 high-speed crossovers at Adams and Delco. Concrete ties will be renewed on outer tracks 1 and 4, –Albert L. Papp, Jr.

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 7 NJ-ARP Patron Luncheon an Informal and Informative Event The mood was collegial and relaxed as NJ-ARP Patron bus operations and nascent BRT plans. members, several directors and representatives met on Saturday, April 14 at the Glen Rock Inn, conveniently What really pleased those in attendance was Mr. located halfway between Glen Rock’s two railroad Santoro’s candor and willingness to answer any and stations. The assembled were honored to have New all questions directed toward him after each particular Jersey Transit Assistant Executive Director of Capital subject. There were also some questions directed to Planning and Programs, Steven H. Santoro joining us him about NJT’s long term fi nancial goals, and NJ-ARP at the luncheon and as guest speaker. is pleased to see that NJT seems to have a good grip on future requirements and on past debt. Of course, The luncheon took place between about 11:00 much depends on the actions of our congress, which a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to coincide with NJT’s Bergen Line – of late – seems to be anyone’s guess. 11:01 arrival and Main Line 2:35 departure. The fi rst half hour or so was spent milling around in small groups, The luncheon, which was quite good and was chatting and getting acquainted. Lunch consisting of excellently served by the Inn’s wonderful staff, was a delicious pasta appetizer, salad and the choice of concluded with dessert and coffee, after which we three different entrees was then served. said our goodbyes. After our main course, Mr. Santoro spoke and Those who had planed to take the 2:35 p.m. answered questions for slightly more than an hour about Main Line train were treated to a surprise “bustitution” a variety of subjects including many of NJT’s rail lines, because of a brush fi re in Hawthorne that had disrupted equipment procurement and possible future utilization, Main Line service between Ridgewood and Paterson. the problems of capital planning with tenuous fi nancing All-in-all, the luncheon was very pleasant – and thanks from the federal government, and fi nally about NJT’s to Mr. Santoro – very informative. Photos by Catherine Wolff NJ-ARP [Top left: NJ-ARP President Al Papp, Jr. welcomes all. Bottom left: NJT’s Steven H. Santoro during his hour plus question and answer period. Top right: Papp, Santoro, and other NJ-ARP Patrons, Representatives and Directors enjoy their salads while chat- ting about rail matters. Bottom right: NJ-ARP Director Douglas John Bowen sits in front of what else? – a painting of a rail station.] NJ-ARP NEWSLETTER REPORT Editor: Douglas John Bowen • Assistant Editors: Leonard Resto, Lester W. Wolff • Production: Lester W. Wolff Additional reporting for this issue by Jishnu Mukerji 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) 408-8362].

NEWSLETTER REPORT April 20, 2012, Page 8