New Jersey State Rail Plan The New Jersey Railroad System Chris Christie, Governor Jamie Fox, Commissioner, Department of Transportation Veronique Hakim, Executive Director, NJ TRANSIT FINAL REPORT April 2015 New Jersey State Rail Plan The New Jersey Railroad System Prepared for NJ TRANSIT Newark, New Jersey State of New Jersey Department of Transportation Trenton, New Jersey FINAL REPORT April 2015 The New Jersey Railroad System Foreword The New Jersey State Rail Plan is a product of over a year of research and study. TheP lan was designed both to meet the federal requirements for state rail plans stipulated by the Passen- ger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 and to provide a framework for future rail improvements in the state. The plan provides the opportunity to focus on state- wide transit and freight planning in New Jersey. Both the New Jersey Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit have long been engaged in rail planning, relying heavily on input from a cross-section of stakeholders. In developing the state rail plan, significantinput was provided by both agencies. The New Jersey DOT is currently preparing a Freight Rail Strategic Plan for the state identifying the rail needs of the major freight stakeholders. The state rail plan drawsheavily from that considerable effort and the Freight Rail Strategic Plan, itself, in profiling the freight system and identifying key issues and initiatives. In addition to input from the two state agencies responsible for rail transportation, open houses were sponsored by the state’s three MPOs. The open houses were located to draw from three regions of the state to provide an opportunity for a broad audience to provide its perspective on rail issues facing the state as input to the plan. Meetings were held in Newark, Trenton, and Vineland. The rail plan focuses on commuter and intercity passenger rail and freight rail. Light rail systems or urban transit systems such as PATH and PATCO are incorporated in the plan only with respect to their connectivity with the commuter and intercity passenger rail operations. The River LINE is described because of its shared use with freight railroads. The New Jersey State Rail Plan was developed with the help of many industry professionals, including the State’s transportation agencies, the metropolitan planning organizations that oversee transportation planning and funding in New Jersey, and the railroads that serve the state. FINAL April 2015 iii [FOREWORD] Credits Following are individuals who made significant contributions to preparation of the plan: • Steve Brown, PANYNJ • Marina Castro, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency • Timothy Chelius, SJTPO • Janna Chernetz, Tri-State Transportation Campaign • Rick Crawford, Norfolk Southern Railway • Ted Dahlburg, DVRPC • William Goetz, CSX Transportation • David Heller, SJTPO • Greg Krykewycz, DVRPC • Ted Matthews, NJTPA • Kelvin MacKavanaugh, NJ Short Line Railroad Association • Peter Palmer, NJTPA • Jakob Rowinski, NJTPA • Tim Tierney, Conrail • Ray Tomczak, NJDOT In addition, all the contributors to the New Jersey Statewide Freight Rail Strategic Plan are acknowledged contributing to this plan. Leadership of the planning effort was provided by: • Richard Roberts, Chief Planner, NJ TRANSIT • David Kuhn, Assistant Commissioner, NJDOT Development of the plan was guided by the New Jersey State Rail Plan Committee. Its membership comprised: • Alan Kearns, NJ TRANSIT, Project Manager, New Jersey State Rail Plan • Miki Krakauer, NJDOT, Project Manager, New Jersey Freight Rail Strategic Plan • Talvin Davis, NJDOT • Robert DeSando, NJDOT • David Dieck, NJ TRANSIT • Thomas Morgan, NJ TRANSIT • Robert Parylak, NJ TRANSIT • Thomas Schulze, NJ TRANSIT • Andrew Swords, NJDOT • Paul Truban, NJDOT • Richard Wisneski, NJ TRANSIT Special thanks to: • Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission • North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority • South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization iv New Jersey State Rail Plan Table of Contents Executive Summary ES-1 1. The New Jersey Rail System 1-1 The New Jersey Rail System 1-1 Background and Purpose of the Rail Plan 1-1 North American Freight and Passenger Rail Industry 1-3 Freight Rail 1-3 Passenger Rail 1-6 History of Railroads in New Jersey 1-7 Early History 1-7 Integrated Full Service Carriers Era 1-12 Separation of Passenger and Freight Rail Services 1-12 Penn Central Bankruptcy Era: The 3R Act and USRA, the Coming of Conrail 1-14 NERSA and its Aftermath: 1981 to Present 1-17 New Jersey Commuter Rail Operations - Legacy Rail Lines 1-19 Role of Railroads in the NJ Transportation Network 1-22 The Role of Freight Rail in the New Jersey Transportation Network 1-22 The Role of Inter-City & NEC Passenger Rail as Part of the New Jersey Transportation Network 1-23 General Impacts of Rail Transportation 1-25 Environment 1-25 Energy 1-26 Community 1-27 Economy 1-28 Institutional Structure of State Rail Service Delivery 1-28 New Jersey Railroad Legislation 1-28 Role of the New Jersey Department of Transportation 1-30 Role of NJ TRANSIT 1-31 Working Relationships Among Agencies 1-32 Safety and Security Programs 1-34 New Jersey Safety at Railroad Crossings Leadership Oversight Committee 1-34 Operation Lifesaver 1-34 FINAL April 2015 v [TABLE OF Contents] Current Rail Funding 1-35 State Sources 1-35 Federal Sources 1-35 Funding – NJ TRANSIT 1-38 2. New Jersey Freight Rail Profile 2-1 Description of the New Jersey Freight Rail Network 2-1 New Jersey Freight Railroads 2-1 Freight Traffic Profile 2-8 Existing Rail Intensive Industries 2-8 Future Rail Intensive Industries 2-9 Commodity Mix 2-9 Overview 2-10 Weight Versus Value 2-11 Directional Analysis 2-11 Directional Analysis – Inbound Rail Freight 2-14 Directional Analysis – Intrastate Rail Freight 2-18 Directional Analysis – Through Rail Freight 2-18 Analysis by Commodity Type 2-22 Rail Commodities – All Directions 2-23 Rail Commodities – Inbound 2-25 Rail Commodities – Outbound 2-26 Rail Commodities – Intrastate 2-28 Rail Commodities – Through 2-29 Analysis by Rail Trading Partners 2-30 Rail Trading Partners 2-31 Illinois 2-33 Ohio 2-34 Canada 2-36 Summary 2-37 Freight Traffic Trends - Oil By Train 2-38 Freight Multimodal Connectivity 2-38 Marine Terminals 2-39 Rail Intermodal Terminals 2-41 Rail Intermodal Freight Flows 2-48 3. New Jersey Passenger Rail Profile 3-1 Commuter Rail Services – Metro North 3-19 Commuter Rail Services – SEPTA 3-19 River LINE 3-22 NEC and Intercity Rail Services 3-25 Transit Intermodal Facilities 3-27 vi New Jersey State Rail Plan The New Jersey Railroad System 4. New Jersey’s Rail Challenges 4-1 System Wide Challenges 4-1 Managing Shared-Use Assets 4-1 Effective Risk Management 4-1 Key Passenger Rail Challenges 4-3 NEC FUTURE Program 4-3 Operational Fragmentation 4-5 Trans-Hudson Mobility 4-5 State of Good Repair 4-5 Unfunded Regulatory Mandates and Compliances 4-6 Addressing the Changing Locus of Economic Activity 4-6 Funding and Appropriate Investment Models 4-6 Further Exploiting Technology 4-7 Key Freight Rail Challenges 4-7 Weight Limitations Restricting Use of 286,000 Pound Railcars 4-7 Dimensional Restrictions of Tunnels and Bridges 4-9 System Chokepoints and Connectivity 4-9 Terminal Capacity 4-11 Preservation of Rail Rights of Way 4-11 New Jersey Rail System Goals and Objectives 4-11 5. Rail Improvement Programs 5-1 Transportation Planning Process in New Jersey 5-1 New Jersey Transit Improvements 5-2 NEC Corridor Signal Improvements 5-3 NEC Mid Line Loop 5-4 NEC Mid Line Yard Expansion 5-5 NEC Middle Zone Stations 5-6 Station Platform Improvements 5-7 Hunter Flyover Project 5-7 Northeast Corridor Joint Improvement Projects 5-8 Other NJ TRANSIT Lines Improvement 5-8 Other Potential Long-Term Projects 5-12 Lehigh Line Capacity Improvement Project 5-12 Raritan Valley Line Capacity Improvement 5-12 West Summit Interlocking Project 5-13 Ridgewood Junction Interlocking Project 5-13 Westbound Waterfront Connection Project 5-14 Main Line (Waldwick) Third Track Project 5-14 Morris & Essex Line Third Track Project 5-15 New Commuter Rail Corridor Initiatives 5-15 Other Proposed Passenger Rail Improvement Initiatives 5-21 NEC Gateway Program 5-21 Barracks Yard Expansion and Access for SEPTA 5-22 FINAL April 2015 vii [TABLE OF Contents] Freight Rail Improvement Programs 5-22 Current Projects 5-22 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Initiatives 5-31 Greenville Yards Improvements 5-31 Port Related Improvements 5-31 Strategic Initiatives 5-32 Rail Planning Studies 5-36 Rail Freight Capacity and Needs Assessment to Year 2040 5-36 Cross Harbor Freight Improvement Program 5-36 Funding Alternatives 5-37 Representative Rail Funding Models 5-38 Public Investment Funding 5-44 Private Investment Funding 5-45 Conclusion 5-48 Figures Figure 1-1 U.S. Class I Railroads 1-3 Figure 1-2 Intermodal Traffic Composition 1-5 Figure 1-3 U.S. Rail Freight Commodity Mix (tonnage) 1-6 Figure 1-4 Amtrak Route System 1-6 Figure 1-5 U.S. High-Speed Rail Corridors 1-7 Figure 1-6 Southern New Jersey: Railroad Network Rationalization - 1930s 1-10 Figure 1-7 Northern New Jersey - Pre Penn Central 1-13 Figure 1-8 Northern New Jersey Rail System–The Conrail Era 1-15 Figure 1-9 Southern New Jersey Rail System–The Conrail Era 1-16 Figure 1-10 New Jersey Rail System–Post Conrail 1-18 Figure 1-11 New Jersey Rail System–The Aldene Plan 1-21 Figure 1-12 New Jersey Transit Rail System 1-24 Figure 1-13 U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2009 by Economic Sector 1-26 Figure 2-1 New Jersey Rail System Ownership