It's no secret that the Northeast Corridor, the 900-mile railway line between Boston and Washington, is in desperate need of an upgrade. But Tony Coscia, chairman of Amtrak, put it in plain English for New Jersey Chamber of Commerce members during a Sept. 30 roundtable breakfast.
The Northeast Corridor's short connection between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station involves trains traveling "over two tracks (on) a 100-year-old bridge, (through) two tubes built in 1910 (under the Hudson River), and into a tight New York Penn Station," Coscia said.
It doesn't help matters, he said, that ridership on the corridor is up 36 percent this year, with roughly 260 million passengers traveling each year between Boston and Washington.
Coscia and Veronique "Ronnie" Hakim, executive director of NJ Transit, were the speakers at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce's Transportation breakfast in Monroe.
"Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call to all of us as to how vulnerable the system is," Coscia said. The two tubes under the Hudson River were shut down after the storm, cutting the connection between New Jersey and New York City.
Coscia discussed the ongoing Gateway Project, which is designed to address this "vulnerable" and aging stretch of the Northeast Corridor. It would double rail capacity between the two states, but the massive project, which is actually a series of projects, will take time and a lot of money that is not yet committed.
The corridor "is in dire need of investment and I think everyone agrees that trans-Hudson capacity needs to be improved," Coscia said. He added that the work needs to be done in conjunction with NJ Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), whose trains also would benefit from the increased capacity.
Hakim acknowledged the urgency. "A reliable transportation infrastructure is vital to the state, vital to business and vital to the regional economy," Hakim said. When asked if public-private partnerships may be part of the funding solution, she said, "Creativity has to come to the forefront."
As of now, the state's Transportation Trust Fund, which pays to maintain New Jersey's highway, bridges and mass transit, is in crisis mode. The Fund is on pace to run out of cash on June 30 if no new sources of revenue are created. Among ideas that have been proposed by advocates are an increase in the state gas tax, a sales tax on motor fuel, and raising car rental fees.
When asked about funding options, Hakim echoed Christie by saying, "everything is on the table."
A special thank you to Panasonic and Xerox for sponsoring the event.
For photos from the event, click on an image below:
{eventgallery event='72157670110914585' attr=images mode=link max_images=20 thumb_width=50 offset=0 }