One involves having passengers walk across a platform at a station to be built in South Brunswick to board trains to the northeast corridor, and the other would have MOM trains use a freight line, known as the South Amboy secondary, to join the North Jersey Coast Line near South Amboy.

“These new alternatives will provide many of the benefits of the originally proposed Monmouth Junction line,” D’Amico said. “They will provide much needed passenger rail service to Ocean County and western Monmouth County, spur economic development in the vicinity of the new station stops and enhance property values in areas that will have easy access to the rail lines.”

Currently, there are three routes being considered for the MOM Line, which would begin in Lakehurst. The Monmouth Junction line, the one preferred by Monmouth County, would serve western Monmouth County and three southern Middlesex County towns before joining the Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line in South Brunswick.

The other two options include a proposed Red Bank route that would join the North Jersey Coast Line in Red Bank, and another that calls for laying tracks along the Henry Hudson Trail’s Southern Extension to join the North Jersey Coast Line in Matawan. These two lines significantly impact Red Bank and Matawan, respectively, and provides no service or relief of traffic congestion in western Monmouth County.

The two new alternatives were proposed because NJ Transit’s preliminary findings indicate that even though the Monmouth Junction route would generate the most riders, it would be more costly because it would require building a tunnel to bring southbound trains from the corridor to the MOM line, possibly derailing the necessary federal approval of the Monmouth Junction route.

The South Amboy alternative and the Monmouth Junction alternative with the station platform connection would provide major economic benefits, reduce congestion and pollution, service State Development and Redevelopment Plan “growth areas,” and provide rail to the underserved markets in the central New Jersey region, D’Amico said.

“The new Monmouth Junction alternative would offer the most passenger destinations,” D’Amico said. “The only disadvantage is it will result in a two-seat ride for northern New Jersey- and Manhattan-bound commuters similar to the ride of North Jersey Coast Line commuters who board south of Long Branch, where they must switch trains.
  
“The South Amboy alternative would not only benefit Monmouth and Ocean counties, it would also provide considerable assistance to Middlesex County in relieving traffic on Route 9 and Route 18,” D’Amico said. “It also would connect with Middlesex County’s Transit Village and transit hub in South Amboy, and is less costly than the Monmouth Junction alternatives.” 

D’Amico is urging freeholders in Middlesex and Ocean counties to embrace the new routes in order to benefit from federal stimulus and other funding.

With assistance from the New Jersey congressional delegation, state legislators and officials in Monmouth and Ocean counties, NJ Transit has received $980,000 in the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2008 and $535,000 in the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 to advance the MOM rail project.  
 
“It is imperative that a rail alternative be selected quickly so the state can take advantage of stimulus money and the Surface Transportation Reauthorization funds that can be used to build this critically needed rail line,” D’Amico said.

“In view of this available funding,” D’Amico continued, “I urge the Boards of Chosen Freeholders in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties to request that NJ Transit use the omnibus appropriation funding to officially include the Monmouth Junction platform connection and the South Amboy plan in the MOM Draft Environmental Impact Study as two new alternatives to provide passenger rail service to central New Jersey.”

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