New Jersey rail service proposal revived

An oft-proposed $1.5 billion, 18-mile diesel light rail transit (DLRT) line serving New Jersey’s Philadelphia suburbs has been reactivated, though the Delaware River Port Authority, which has been the lead agent for the line, acknowledges it doesn’t know how to advance the project.

A contract for a $9 million environmental impact study will be brought to the DRPA board, a bistate agency serving New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in the next month or two, DRPA CEO John Matheussen says. The study is expected to take two years, and will evaluate passenger rail needs relative to ongoing and future freight rail activity expected for the line.

The contract was held up last year by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who objected to an earlier no-bid provision. DRPA has agreed to pay for the study, after being given assurances that it would be reimbursed by NJ Transit. NJ Transit in 2011 said it could not finance the project, bu that apparently has changed.

The proposed line would run 18 through Gloucester and Camden counties in New Jersey, connecting with existing PATCO and NJ Transit RiverLINE trains in Camden. A transfer to Philadelphia would be required in Camden via the other two lines, though some plans call for an overlapping service field with RiverLINE trains.

Bob Booth, chairman of the Gloucester City Business Association (in Camden County), said the rail line "will significantly increase economic development in towns along the line; it’s a no-brainer." But numerous officials of both Camden and Gloucester counties objected strenuously to a similar proposal during the 1990s, leading NJ Transit’s Office of New Rail Construction to implement RiverLINE service to nearby Burlington County municipalities instead.