Local supporters of Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex passenger rail line proposal are urged to speak out on plan

We appreciate your feature article on our continuing push for the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex passenger rail line. It is especially helpful when forward-looking towns like Manalapan pass resolutions of approval in anticipation of the tremendous benefits that rail service will bring.

Public interest in the MOM rail line has been steadily increasing in the past few years. As a result of your news article, I have already received a large number of messages from residents of Monmouth and Middlesex counties, all of whom feel very strongly in favor of MOM.

They can’t wait to help our campaign. This is because the time is right for a rail alternative to our highways that are choked with more and more traffic every day.

We know there are even more pro-MOM residents out there. For every person who gathers the energy to write, there are 10 more who feel the same way but don’t get around to it.

The only thing I disagree with in your article is the implication that MOM is a partisan political issue whereby the Republicans favor it and the Democrats oppose it. Sorry, but that is misleading.

Party differences are only coincidental. Let all loyal Democrats and Republicans work together on MOM, for this rail line will be good for everyone, regardless of political preference.

The members of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition are all volunteers and we have been advocating for MOM since 1997. We derive no financial gain and we are politically nonpartisan. We meet once a month to review the current situation and to continue planning the best ways to advance the project.

Substantial federal funding will be necessary to construct the MOM rail line. Strict rules must be followed in order to establish eligibility, so we are now in the midst of a required draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), which will be concluded in the spring of 2005.

Three different routes are being analyzed to connect the rail line to the Northeast Corridor, and NJ Transit is supposed to choose the best one at the end of the DEIS.

That choice is called the locally preferred alternative (LPA). But there is political controversy about these three routes and we fear that they will make no decision at all.

Those readers who share our desire for MOM can help move the project by writing letters telling NJ Transit that MOM is important and that they must choose an LPA at the conclusion of the DEIS.

The rail coalition, along with Monmouth and Ocean counties, strongly favors the route known as the Monmouth Junction alignment. We hope your readers will agree and tell them so. Letters should be addressed to:

Mr. George D. Warrington, Executive Director, NJ Transit, One Penn Plaza East, Newark 07105-2246.

It would also be helpful if readers would send copies of their letters to Greater Media Newspapers and to us at the Central Jersey Rail Coalition, 6 Teri Court, Jackson 08527. Stacks of letters like these will help us document the widespread support that MOM is receiving.

Daniel Green

Secretary

Central Jersey Rail Coalition

Jackson