NJ Transit Plans Nicer Stations Where Riders Can Wait Out Delays

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Transit riders stuck waiting for their trains will at least be able to linger in nicer stations.

The agency will oversee at least $100 million in station upgrades on the Northeast Corridor, the busiest U.S. rail route, as the agency recovers from years of financial neglect, Governor Phil Murphy said Tuesday.

In Elizabeth, a $71 million replacement station is under construction, and other work will be done at New Brunswick, Princeton Junction and Trenton, officials said at a New Brunswick news conference. Funding is coming from the Federal Transit Administration and the New Jersey Transportation Trust Authority, which is fed by the state gasoline tax.

The announcement came after NJ Transit scrubbed about two dozen trains on a holiday, and at least six during the morning commute. Murphy blamed a staffing shortage and mechanical troubles.

The cancellations, a longtime commuter gripe, should ease soon, Murphy said, as seven students are set to graduate Tuesday from NJ Transit’s locomotive engineer training.

“Yesterday was a lousy day -- you get crushed on days like that,” Murphy said. Still, he said, “the data and the metrics, without question, slowly but surely are going in the right direction.”

Budget cutting under Chris Christie, Murphy’s predecessor, had led NJ Transit to stop the training and hire few replacements for retirees and others who had gone to higher-paying railroads.

Murphy promised a “new experience” for passengers, particularly those who will benefit from Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, and a boost for the economy. High-growth industries being courted by Murphy, a retired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. senior director, are drawn to reliable mass transportation, he said.

Some of the station upgrades had been on a wish list for years, though stalled because of “years of literally next to zero cooperation” by the previous administration with Amtrak, Murphy said. The nation’s passenger railroad owns the Northeast Corridor tracks and shares them with NJ Transit.

Station improvements include longer or reinforced platforms, new escalators or elevators, painting and stairwell repairs. New Brunswick will have a pedestrian walkway connecting the station to a 12-acre (5-hectare) downtown redevelopment area, yet to be built, planned as an incubator for biosciences and technology.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, William Selway, Stacie Sherman

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