Shore rail proposal rekindles turf war

3 Middlesex towns oppose Lakewood link

Date: June 15, 1999
From: Star-Ledger

By P.L. Wyckoff, Star-Ledger Staff

A simmering Central Jersey rail war is heating up, with key Jersey Shore politicians determined to get passenger rail service running from the Northeast Corridor line to Lakewood over the objections of officials and residents in three critical Middlesex County towns.

The controversial 32-mile rail link which has been suggested and rejected before, has support from NJ Transit, whose officials say they are working with the State Department of Transportation to overcome the obstacles that have scuttled those earlier proposals.

Fierce opposition from the Middlesex communities of South Brunswick, Monroe and Jamesburg killed the last proposal three years ago, when NJ Transit leaders decided to avoid a testy turf battle. Instead, the agency's board members approved a plan to spend $67 million to add bus service and bus-only lanes on Route 9 from the Shore to the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike.

But NJ Transit's acting executive director said yesterday little has been done to implement the bus plan, and the agency now will support the rail line - providing all the communities can be brought on board.

"Consensus is a key," said Stanley Rosenblum. He said state Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein has been meeting with officials from all three counties to see if common ground can be found.

Project supporters say the proposed Middlesex-Ocean-Monmouth - or MOM - rail line would relieve traffic congestion on Route 9 and other major roads, as the three counties contend with a massive development and population boom.

But those fighting the proposed line, which would use a freight right of way, argue it would endanger the quality of life in southern Middlesex County, because of what they call lax development controls by officials from the Jersey Shore counties.

"It's absolutely critical," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean). "The infrastructure of the roads ... is sorely deficient."

"This is not a solution for us, for Middlesex County," countered Assemblywoman Barbara Wright (R-Middlesex), appearing at a Transportation Committee hearing in Trenton flanked by officials from Monroe and South Brunswick townships.

The wild card in the fight may turn out to be Jamesburg, a borough of 5,000 whose downtown is split by the railroad track.

Jamesburg had been a staunch opponent, but NJ Transit has performed a preliminary study showing new passenger service would bring economic redevelopment to the borough's business district, according to Mayor Joseph Dipierro.

"The preliminary report sounds favorable, but the jury is still out," Dipierro said yesterday. He said the town's official position is still against the line, at least until he and other government leaders see a final economic report and have a chance to poll borough residents on the issues.

About the only thing all parties agree upon is the general outline of the MOM rail plan. Diesel trains would carry commuters and other riders from Lakewood - or even Lakehurst farther south - north to Freehold and then over to a connection with the busy Trenton-to-New York Northeast Corridor main line in South Brunswick.

The proposed line has not seen passenger service since the early 1950's, officials said. Rail service now for Monmouth and Ocean is limited to the North Jersey Coast Line, which hugs the Shore and barely extends two towns into Ocean County.

The counties have been growing rapidly inland, however. In a decade or two, Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex could make up a quarter of the state's population, according to projections. Rail proponents have been pushing to restore passenger service for two decades or more to meet the commuting demand.

Studies done by NJ Transit several years ago projected about 5,000 riders making some 10,000 trips per day once the MOM line got running. Upgrading the existing freight right-of-way and other work would cost about $280 million, money which would have to be allocated either from the state Transportation Trust Fund or federal sources. Yearly operating expenses would be added on top of that.

Wright and other opponents say those figures show the line is a waste of money, and that buses can get the job done more quickly and at far less cost. They also say there are many places in the southern Middlesex towns where the line would be a softball pitch away from new housing developments.

That, they say, would lower the value of housing, create noise and other quality-of-life problems, and bring safety risks to local children.

But those who want rail service - including environmental groups, the Monmouth and Ocean freeholder boards, legislative delegations and local officials - say trains are the only sensible way to move people from their homes in the Shore counties to their jobs farther north. A parade of those officials appeared before Ciesla yesterday to champion the idea.