The Secaucus Transfer Station will open in increments starting in fall, 2003, according to representatives from New Jersey Transit.
The new train station, a $450 million project located in the south Secaucus, is an important step towards easing traffic congestion on roadways throughout Northern New Jersey, allowing passengers easier access to central Manhattan, as well as making connections between some of the more important rail lines between Trenton and New York City. Transit officials estimate travel time to Manhattan’s Penn Station will be six minutes as opposed to 15 to 20 minutes via PATH from Hoboken or the variety of ferries. The connection could generate as many as 16,000 riders daily.
The project links many of the rail lines servicing northern New Jersey, including NJ Transit’s Main and Bergen County lines as well as Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line. This center would form a hub that is expected to make it easier for commuters to use trains from a wider area and possibly eliminate auto traffic from local highways and congestion caused in other rail terminals in Hoboken and Newark.
But the project, which was seen as a year ahead of schedule in 2000, has fallen behind schedule by almost two years, prompting pressure from U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, who has been instrumental in helping pour federal money into it.
The full opening of the Secaucus Transfer Station hinges on the completion of several critical projects, including the restoration of PATH service to lower Manhattan. The phased-in plan begins in Sept. 2003, with an anticipated full opening by winter 2003-2004, approximately when PATH service to lower Manhattan is restored. Without the restoration of that PATH service, the full operation of the transfer at Secaucus during the weekday peak period is currently projected to produce unacceptable crowding conditions on trains operating on the Northeast Corridor to and from Penn Station in New York.
“The opening of Secaucus will revolutionize the New Jersey commuter rail system and serve as an economic driver for Bergen County and the surrounding region,” said NJ Transit Board Chairman and State Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox. “The Secaucus Transfer will create new intrastate and interstate markets, giving people another transportation alternative as they travel to New York, Newark, Trenton, Bergen County, the Meadowlands, the Jersey Shore, Newark International Airport and a host of other popular destinations. It also delivers more service and more seats to the NJ Transit rail system to reduce the number of standees on trains, something that is already underway.”
Over the last two years, however, other problems have been reported. Several sources said construction dragged, and although the project has finished most of the heavy work, interior, details are still being resolved. The Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center also put pressure on NJ Transit to increase train service it could not supply. NJ Transit apparently has to wait for new double-decker train cars in order to handle the increased capacity.
Transit officials were also apparently lobbying for the construction of a new train tunnel under the Hudson River.
The delay has not, however, hurt prospects for Allied Junction, a vast commercial element including six 40-story towers with about 4.7 million square feet of rental space slated to be constructed on top of the transfer station. This phase of the project could wait until a better financial situation to begin construction, said Marc Joseph, spokesperson for Allied Junction. “According to our contract with NJ Transit, Allied Junction has eight years to begin construction after the train station begins public operations,” Joseph said. “We are moving ahead as planned.”
Harmon Cove station is doomed
One of the associated projects at the transfer station involves the construction of a new rail line in Secaucus. This rail line will turn the current Bergen Line south along the Hackensack River to connect with the Main Line – which runs through the south of end of Secaucus and directly into the Secaucus Transfer Station. The Bergen Lines’ old tracks will be removed and the space will be used to extend Seaview Drive into the Croxton Rail Yards in nearby Jersey City and would allow bus and car access to the transfer station.
The town of Secaucus is currently negotiating to sell to NJ Transit the land under which the new link is being constructed – although NJ Transit is under no obligation to purchase the property. The change, however, will doom the existing rail station at Harmon Cove.
“The Harmon Cove station will be closed,” said Mayor Dennis Elwell. “Our greatest concern is that it remain open until the Transfer Station opens.”
In the past, Harmon Cove had a significant ridership, with many residents of the condominium complex traveling to Lower Manhattan. While residents will still be impacted by the closing, the attack on the World Trade Center last year has caused numerous residents to relocate their jobs, and are now less dependent on the rail line than they were previously to Sept. 11, 2001.
While NJ Transit has supplied the town with two shuttle buses that will transport Harmon Cove residents to the Secaucus Transfer Station, it is possible that one station will close before the other opens, creating a problem for Harmon Cove residents.
Other problems for the transfer station
Other projects are also impeding the opening of the transfer station, such as the proposed construction of the exit ramp from the New Jersey Turnpike, one of the key access points for traffic. The Turnpike Authority is seeking to purchase five acres in the area from Hudson County. Where as construction has already started on a bridge over Main Line track in and out of the transfer station along New County Road, Secaucus has held out for the construction of another bridge over a rail line going in and out of the Croxton Rail Yards in Jersey City.
Another problem is the Jersey City Police weapons range located on the border of Secaucus and directly in the path of the proposed Turnpike construction. Jersey City officials want to relocate the range into Laurel Hill County Park in Secaucus, but Mayor Elwell has refused to allow it, saying he did not want weapons being fired in an area occupied by the general public. County officials are currently seeking to work out a compromise.
NJ Transit officials said other construction projects outside Hudson County also need to be completed before the trains can run smoothly.