New Bergen County Rail Plan (as mentioned on TSTC.org)

This was in the latest "Mobilizing the Region" from TSTC. Is there an "official" version of this plan or map anywhere? Should be built by what....2054? 2104?

Warrington Unveils Extended Bergen County Rail System

NJ Transit director George Warrington presented a new northern NJ rail plan to the Bergen transportation summit last Tuesday. Its most interesting feature is the connection of new light rail lines to the new cross-Hudson passenger rail tunnel NJ Transit is planning. That would mean direct light rail access to Manhattan. The new projects Warrington identified were a two-branch diesel light rail system and a spur of the electric Hudson-Bergen light rail to the Xanadu/Giants Stadium site. These would be added to the new cross-Hudson tunnel, a rail loop around Secaucus that NJ Transit has developed as part of the tunnel project to give the Pascack and Bergen-Main lines direct access to Manhattan and the pending Xanadu commuter rail connection from NJ Transit’s Pascack Valley Line

The diesel light rail lines would run from Hawthorne to Hackensack on the NY Susquehanna & Western freight line and on the Northern Branch freight line from Tenafly to Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. The Hawthorne Line would join the Tenafly line at a rail junction further north in North Bergen. Tonnelle Avenue would become a major rail crossroads where riders could switch between the diesel and electric light rail lines. From that junction, a rider could take light rail to Xanadu, points north, the Hoboken-Jersey City waterfront business districts or Manhattan. At least part of the funding for these lines would be obtained by saving $1 billion currently allocated to extend the Hudson-Bergen electric line to Tenafly. The diesel light rail option saves money by eliminating big electrical infrastructure needs. Some kind of hybrid diesel-electric light rail vehicle would be needed to allow trains on the diesel lines to enter Penn Station or a new underground Manhattan station constructed along with the new rail tunnel.

Warrington said Bergen County had a high percentage of commuters to Manhattan, but compared to other nearby NJ counties, the proportion of its commuters using trains was low. He predicted strong ridership if the plan is realized.

Warrington’s plan has a number of political advantages. First, the Hawthorne branch incorporates a long-held Bergen County ambition for a rail line that can serve trips within the county. It also may win Passaic County’s support. Second, it ties transit plans for the northern NJ counties to the need for the new rail tunnel to Manhattan. If Transit can show that project as the linchpin for most New Jersey rail expansion aspirations, it improves its ability to win the big funding the tunnel requires.

The plan also raises several questions. Among them: Will the new Manhattan tunnel in fact have the capacity to accommodate higher ridership on existing lines as well as new services from areas as far-flung as Ocean and Passaic Counties? Does the plan to loop the Bergen County commuter rail lines around Secaucus make the expensive new station there obsolete within a generation? Can the timing, phasing and funding for the complex plan play out in a way that keeps constituencies for its various parts content over the long period it will take to implement?

http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20041018/mtr47703.html

LRT access to Manhattan is a non-starter, nor was it ever on any NJT capital project. It certainly would not be part of new North River Tunnels into Penn Station NY.

It seems that people are getting DLRV mixed up with DMU yet again, what with the DMU tests on the NYSW cross-county and the Northern Branch. Any extension of HBLRT would be electrified anyway. No DMU would be going into Manhattan either; that would require dual-mode operation, which NJT IIRC has gone on record as being unwilling to invest in.

The Access to the Region's Core "folly" loop is also mentioned, with its continued false hope of a one-seat rail ride from the Main/BCL/PVL into NY Penn Station. TSTC raises a question that I myself have often raised, that being the obsolescence of Secaucus Junction that would result with a one-seat ride from North Jersey into Manhattan. And of course, the lack of willingness of NJT to use dual-mode power.

Hawthorne to Hackensack on the NYSW is interesting. I figured they'd build a ramp to take the 18 foot grade differential to the Pascack line, but running it all the way to Tonnele Avenue is different.

Didn't the original NYSW plan take the Sparta to Hawthorne commuter trains onto the NJT Main just south of the Hawthorne station and north of Paterson?

Same thing—DMUs, Loop, Meadowland link etc..

NJ Transit unveils broad rail plan
Wednesday, October 13, 2004

NJ Transit has drawn up plans to link Bergen and Passaic train riders to Manhattan—without a transfer—through a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

"This means a one-seat ride for Bergen County customers to midtown Manhattan for the first time ever," NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington said Tuesday. "The power of this cannot be overstated."

Money to fund the plan, which could exceed $6 billion in costs, would come largely from the federal government. If funding is in place, the rail lines could be up and running by 2009 and the new tunnel under the Hudson ready for service by 2014, Warrington told the Bergen County Transportation Summit.

The tunnel project alone, dubbed "Access to the Region's Core" or ARC, is expected to cost $4 billion to $5 billion. Design work and environmental impact studies are already under way.

The plan to bring trains directly to Manhattan from North Jersey builds on an idea to link Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties to Xanadu, a $1.3 billion entertainment, retail and office complex set to be built in the Meadowlands.

It also depends on taking the $1 billion needed to bring the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail from Ridgefield to Tenafly and redistributing it to other projects that would create a cohesive mass transit system for the first time.

The light-rail system would still be built—and even extend out to Hawthorne in Passaic County—but it would be up to $800 million cheaper because of a new technology.

Riders of the current Bergen, Main and Pascack Valley lines would have a connection to Xanadu through a proposed Meadowlands Rail Link.

Those riding these new rails would reach Xanadu through a transfer at a Tonnelle Avenue station in North Bergen. From there, riders could also continue directly to Manhattan or transfer onto the light rail to head south through Bayonne.

Al Cafiero, chief emeritus of the Bergen County Transit Committee, wasn't sold on the idea.

"I think there are a lot of problems," he said. "First, the time frame. And then I'm afraid what they are going to do is just build the light rail diesel to Tonnelle Avenue and then just forget about the rest."

The key funding move to get the plan rolling would be to scrap the Bergen County portion of the light-rail system - essentially an electric trolley - and replace it with a self-powered diesel train, a relatively new technology, that would provide similar service.

The "diesel multiple unit," or DMU, would run from Ridgefield to Tenafly on Bergen County's Northern Branch, a freight line. It would also stretch from Hackensack to Hawthorne on a freight line operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway.

The DMU is a new type of train that does not need to be pulled by a locomotive. Instead, small diesel engines mounted near the wheels power the passenger car, which can pull two additional cars.

The DMU is rated to run on freight lines, meaning it can withstand a collision with a bigger train. The advantage it offers over an electric trolley is mainly economic.

DMUs do not require electrical substations, new tracks, overhead electrical wires, or raised station platforms.

The cars have better fuel economy than a typical diesel, burning about 1 gallon of fuel for every two to three miles they travel. A typical diesel locomotive drinks 5 gallons of fuel each mile, officials have said.

"The DMU allows us to achieve getting rail service to the eastern part of Bergen County in a much quicker time frame than the electrified system," said state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge. "By doing it this way, we are taking years off the time frame and we are saving an unbelievable amount of dollars."

The components of the plan include:

• A new rail tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station in New York, connecting Newark Penn Station and North Jersey to Manhattan directly.
• A loop at Secaucus Junction that would allow riders on the Bergen, Main and Pascack Valley lines to reach Manhattan without changing to another train at the transfer station.
• A 1.5-mile spur from the Pascack Valley Line in East Rutherford to a new station in the Meadowlands. The Pascack line runs from Montvale through Hackensack to Hoboken. This $150 million spur is expected to be completed in 2007 and has been funded by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
• A one-mile link from the new Meadowlands station to the Bergen County Line. The Bergen line runs from Mahwah through Fair Lawn to Hoboken. The project has been estimated at $244 million.
• A continuation of the Meadowlands link from the Bergen to the Main Line. The Main Line runs from Mahwah through Paterson to Hoboken. The cost is estimated at more than $100 million.
• An extension of the Bergen-Hudson Light Rail from Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen to a park-and-ride in Secaucus. Eventually, a rail bridge will be built across the Hackensack River, providing a direct train connection from Hudson County to Xanadu.
• Using DMUs to connect Hackensack with Hawthorne and Ridgefield to Tenafly. The total DMU program in Bergen and Passaic counties is expected to cost $100 million to $200 million.

Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, said he will work to get funding for the project through his seat on the House appropriations transportation subcommittee.

"We are committed to going ahead with the very ambitious process," he said. "I have already begun my effort to secure federal funding."

Jon Orcutt of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, an advocacy group that monitors transit issues, said the success of the project will come down to one thing.

"It's all going to depend on funding," he said. "I think politically, it's a smart move by Transit to sort of harness Bergen County into supporting the ARC project. All these lines become more viable once they connect to the city than a simple suburb-to-suburb connection that won't attract as many riders."

Jeffrey Zupan, senior transportation fellow at the Regional Plan Association, agreed.

"I think it's very ingenious," he said of the proposal. "The problem with the light rail line ... is that it didn't get people into New York City. This proposal gives both: a relatively low impact service in terms of negative impact on the community and at the same time it provides direct service into Manhattan."

(BergenRecord.com)

If the Meadowland link is constructed first—just who is going to use it and how—with 1-way commuter and no weekend service on PVL.
Anyway, the very next day Sierra Club sued the Xanadu project

What a load of horse manure. This is nothing but pandering to the Bergen County electorate. Gov-in-Waiting Codey is now going to be able to campaign next year on how he has a plan to help Bergen's transit system.

As posted above, Sierra sued the next day:
Slightly off-base for the threads, but Xanadu seems to be very much part of the picture to tie in with the new tunnels and HBLRT links going further N/NW.

Sierra Club sues over Xanadu

Thursday, October 14, 2004

The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club joined another club on Wednesday – the one whose members have each sued the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority over the $1.3 billion Xanadu project.

Jeff Tittel, the executive director of the Sierra Club chapter, said his group's suit in the Appellate Division of state Superior Court seeks to halt construction on Xanadu until sufficient traffic, parking, air quality and wetlands analyses are performed. The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Environmental Defense joined in the suit.

Secaucus-based Hartz Mountain Industries has been in litigation for 18 months over the selection of Mills/Mack-Cali's plan to build a 5 million-square-foot entertainment, retail, hotel and office complex on the Continental Arena site. The town of Carlstadt filed its own suit against the project early this month. Both suits protest the amount of retail at Xanadu, among other features.

"Xanadu is a nightmare for the residents of northern New Jersey, and it'll be the taxpayers who have to shoulder the costs of the traffic, air pollution and water degradation that this project will cause," Tittel said. "We're not saying they can't build it, but we are saying that the state has to do things right."

The Sierra Club suit further stoked bitterness between Tittel and sports authority President George Zoffinger and Bill Sheehan, who is the Hackensack Riverkeeper and chairman of the Meadowlands Conservation Trust.

Zoffinger accused Tittel of filing the suit as a publicity stunt.

"We care about the environment just as much as Jeff Tittel does," Zoffinger said. "This is an attempt by him to get publicity, after not being involved at all in the process. He's also getting funded by Hartz on this issue."

The latter charge outraged Tittel.

"He's a liar," Tittel said. "First of all, we don't take any corporate money, so that's a despicable charge. He should be fired. I haven't even talked to Hartz."

Hartz spokesman Ron Simoncini backed Tittel.

"We don't have one dime in that lawsuit," he said. "They filed it independently."

Zoffinger also contended that by filing the suit, Tittel was endangering the preservation of the Empire Tract, a 587-acre piece of land that is to be donated to the state as part of the Xanadu deal. The sports authority paid $26.8 million last week to acquire the site and turn it over to Sheehan's Meadowlands Conservation Trust.

According to Zoffinger, if Mills Corp. was denied a chance to develop on the Continental Arena site, it might be able to receive a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to build a megamall on the Empire Tract. Mills would be able to show there were no alternative sites for development, Zoffinger said.

But Tittel responded that the Army Corps "would never grant that permit," because of such problems as insufficient roads around the site and the amount of wetlands that would have to be filled.

"Zoffinger is in bed with Mills, and he doesn't care what happens to the taxpayers," Tittel said. "This is the biggest pay-to-play project the state has ever seen."

Sheehan said that after several years of battling to stop Mills from developing the Empire Tract, he thought last week's tentative sale of the land had ended that saga.

"I'm agitated because this potentially could skew the whole deal," said Sheehan, who has drawn fire from Tittel over his alliance with Mills. "A couple of years ago, I figured that Mills could never get a permit for the Empire Tract. But with this [Bush] administration in Washington, which will be there at least until January, they could get a permit from the corps in no time."

Tittel said that the Environmental Protection Agency has criticized the project for the lack of traffic and air quality studies.

"The Bush administration is being more environmentally friendly here than the McGreevey administration," Tittel said.

Mills spokesman Bob Sommer said that Tittel was off base.

"The process that they complain about was remarkably open, with all issues fairly aired," Sommer said. "The Sierra Club wants a process that goes their way all the time, and if they don't get their way, they sue."

Tittel predicted an addition of 100,000 cars per day near the Xanadu site once the project is completed, which he said would lead to gridlock. Zoffinger countered that infrastructure and transportation projects—funded by the developers, the Port Authority, and state and federal sources—would prevent that from happening.

(BergenRecord.com)

And so it goes on...

I looked around the NJT website but I couldn't find any map of this new plan. In reading the description I don't understand where this "loop" is. Has anyone seen a map of this proposal?

I wish NJT would have a separate web page for community outreach on these proposed projects. They might find much more community support if people could find out about them.

Go to the access to the region's core website and check out the west of hudson improvements.

http://www.accesstotheregionscore.com/w ... ldAlt.html

Is the completion of all this to be done to coincide with NASA's landing a man on Mars?? With all the noise last winter about the restoration of Hawthorne-Hackensack you would've figured this project would've been well in motion by now. Although I've got no doubt the state intends to fast-track the the link to the soon to renamed Jim McGreevy Megaplex (keeping in the fine tradition of vanity plated The Brendan Byrne Arena).

That loop was always my favorite idea. Build a multi million dollar transfer station to build a loop a year or so later to bypass it.