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Old Posted Feb 19, 2012, 10:08 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: North Jersey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by k1052 View Post
The MTA would be footing most of the bill (amount variable due to likely federal funding), Christie indicated that NJ would participate financially what that would look like is TBD. As far as limiting NJ-NY transit expansion to make NJ somehow more attractive to corporations...lol. The MTA has already invested billions in the ESA and not corporate business parks on Long Island for a reason. Businesses want to operate in NYC. Subway service to either Secaucus (which is horridly underused for how big it is) or Hoboken (where NJT has room to grow) would be making better use of NJT, not taking away from it.

The current PA capital plan includes about $5.5B in projects. Their wish list swells that to $25ish billion. None of which includes PATH expansion (actual construction) which already operates at capacity during rush and is increasingly shouldering more passengers due to toll increases. The signal project will up capacity some but it isn't going to accommodate another 10 years of growth.

I think at least parts of Gateway are going to happen and should but it's going to take a lot longer than proposed.
The MTA plans on extending service into Penn station via the Metro North lines after the ESA is completed and would need some more space opened up via the Gateway Project. lets look at the cost of the expansions... 8.7 Billion for 5 mile extension of the 7 line into NJ with maybe only 2 stations vs the 13-16 Billion Gateway Project which includes all the lines that would be allowed to be restored on the NJ side and added capacity and service on the NY side. The Gateway Project would allow for 9 lines to be restored on the NJ side with 64 stations.... The 7 Extension would not allow for this and it would delay this... Secaucus was overbuilt and badly , but there is also no room for Expansion in terms of Capacity , NJT can't turn around NEC trains on the NEC. No room for a loop track ,or Yard , so they have to go and use the Sunnyside Yard in Queens.... Even if you build a Subway to Secaucus it won't solve anything...it would make things worse... Ridership would only be 50-70,000 from what i'm hearing , for that much $$$ its better to build something on a Regional Scale. The Gateway Project and Regional Rail Expansions would service 450-500,000 Daily , including Amtrak expansions into PA and increased trains. Half of the Prep work for the Gateway is done already , making Major construction easier to do...

As for the PA , its corrupt , most of the $$$ pours into the WTC , not the PA projects its been audited recently.... The PATH rush hr is pretty short , at least in terms of crowds , only 30 trains are wall to wall.... which occurs from 5.30pm to 6.45pm...the rush hr starts on the PATH system between 4pm to 7pm.... The system can handle more then they let on , the system can handle more , the only problems are some of the station sizes... But the trains can safely handle the extra load. The Signal upgrade will allow for more trains which will reduce some of the station congestion and increase capacity up 350,000 if I recall correctly.

NJ and Urban Jersey are in a constant battle over NY stealing business and treating us badly , thus most New Jerseyites are against lines feeding into NY. Operating in NY is expensive so over the past 10 years Urban Jersey has sucked 50,000 jobs from NYC....were starting to win , and most New Jerseyites are realizing the value of investing in our Urban areas....
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