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Transportion Expert Disagrees With NJ Transit, Amtrak Deal

Phil Gregory
/
WBGO

Martin Robins with the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University says diverting access to New York City on only one train line is a simple plan.

“The only one that it does affect is the Morris and Essex that turns back the clock twenty years on them.  If you were to ask me about putting forward an equitable plan as opposed to a simple plan, I would not have selected this,” Robins said.  “If I were a rider on Morris and Essex I’d be a little perturbed about the particular choice that New Jersey Transit made because they didn’t have to do this, putting all of the burden on one group of riders.”

Robins says the inconvenience should have been spread across multiple lines.

“You might end up stopping maybe two trains on each line during the peak period, send the Morris and Essex line trains to Hoboken, and the other trains would be stopped at Newark Penn Station. That would have spread the burden along to the other lines as well.”

Construction at New York Penn Station is expected to affect commuters for eight-weeks, starting in July.