County wants updated numbers used in rail study
Monmouth freeholders pass resolution in pursuit of favorable outcome
BY MARK ROSMAN Staff Writer
The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders remains staunchly behind a proposal to build a passenger train line that would run through the western part of the county.

The Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex (MOM) passenger rail line is the name used to describe several possible passenger rail lines that could serve inland Monmouth and Ocean counties and in one option, southern Middlesex County as well.

The Ocean and Monmouth County governments support the Monmouth Junction alignment, which would have passenger trains running between Lakehurst in Ocean County and the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick in Middlesex County.

That rail line would pass through Lakewood, Howell, Freehold Township, Freehold Borough, Manalapan and Englishtown.

The Monmouth County freeholders offered up the latest salvo in the decades-old passenger rail saga on June 10 when they passed a resolution and forwarded it to NJ Transit.

A spokesman for NJ Transit told Greater Media Newspapers on June 26 that the agency's executives have received a copy of the resolution that was passed by the Monmouth County freeholders and are reviewing the document.

At the present time, a consultant hired by NJ Transit is compiling a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to select one of three alternatives to provide passenger rail service for Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties to help address the growing congestion in the region, according to the resolution.

The resolution makes several statements, among them:

• The Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex region is one of the fastest growing areas of the state with a projected population of up to 2,426,300 by 2030 based on NJ Transit's 2004 forecast;

• More and more commuters and residents are seeking public transit alternatives as gas prices continue to rise;

• In the DEIS, which is currently under way, the figure of $2.50 a gallon was used for the price of gas and should be increased in the model to at least the current gas price of $4 a gallon and maybe considerably higher for the 2030 year projection;

• Monmouth Junction is the only alternative in the DEIS that will help to alleviate traffic congestion in all three counties by providing superior access to jobs, universities, medical centers, cultural and recreational facilities.

The freeholders call on NJ Transit administrators to "use improved assumptions in the DEIS ridership projection model such as using up-to-date, realistic gas prices and providing needed commuter parking spaces."

In regard to the Monmouth Junction rail line, the freeholders state that NJ Transit staff and consultants "should spend extra time and make a concerted effort to help make this alternative receive a medium to high rating from the Federal Transit Administration to allow this project to advance."

NJ Transit has been conducting a study of three potential passenger railroad routes through central New Jersey for more than five years.

One of the routes is the line that would run on an existing freight line from Ocean County through western Monmouth County and into Middlesex County, where it would connect with the Northeast Corridor rail line in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick. From that point riders could head north to New Brunswick and New York, and south to Trenton and Philadelphia on the Northeast Corridor.

Monmouth County and Ocean County officials, as well as officials in municipalities along that route, have supported the Monmouth Junction alternative.

Middlesex County officials and officials in the Middlesex County municipalities of Monroe Township, Jamesburg and South Brunswick have been adamantly opposed to this passenger rail line for years.

The other two possible central New Jersey passenger rail lines that are being studied would run from Ocean County to Red Bank, connecting with the North Jersey Coast Line; and from Ocean County to Aberdeen-Matawan, also connecting with the North Jersey Coast Line. The North Jersey Coast Line provides rail service to Newark and New York City.

Officials in Marlboro have opposed the Aberdeen-Matawan route, which would bring passenger trains through their community.