New Jersey to Add Trains to Midtown

Thanks to almost $100 million in new money from the Port Authority, New Jersey plans to start work next year on a long-delayed railroad connection that will give four counties a direct train link with Penn Station in Manhattan.

The project is designed to link N.J. Transit's Morris and Essex Lines with Amtrak's main New York-Philadelphia line where the two cross in a desolate stretch of Kearny near the New Jersey Turnpike, a few miles northeast of Newark.

The new system, to be completed in 1995, would allow the Morris and Essex Lines' 14,000 daily passengers from cities and suburbs in Essex, Morris, Union and Somerset Counties to bypass the Hoboken train station and its link, via PATH trains, to lower Manhattan and midtown.

Railroad old-timers say the idea for the link-up, called the Kearny Connection, originated after World War II. Over the years, major preliminary work has been done. Some designs are finished. The Morris and Essex Lines' electrical system was modernized and made compatible with Amtrak's in the early 1980's. And Amtrak and N.J. Transit, which operates the Morris and Essex, have worked out scheduling to accommodate more commuter trains on Amtrak's line.

Despite all this groundwork, construction never started because New Jersey said it lacked money. N.J. Transit says it now has enough -- about $125.5 million in all -- for all necessary work in and around Kearny. The only financing still missing is for a new concourse at Penn Station in New York and escalators linking it to train platforms to handle an anticipated 8,000 extra passengers expected to take the new direct line. But officials say the new concourse-escalator system, expected to cost up to $50 million, is not critical and lack of money for it now will not mean more delay for the Kearny Connection.

"Our preference is to have the new concourse because it will facilitate movement of people, but we can do without it for now," said Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for N.J. Transit.

The money that finally assured construction of the Kearny Connection is coming, indirectly, from the $1 toll increase that took effect April 7 on the Port Authority's tunnels and bridges on the Hudson River. Before Gov. Jim Florio and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo approved the increase, the Port Authority agreed to give each state $200 million over five years for economic development and transportation improvements. The toll increase is expected to generate $117 million in new revenue each year.

Between now and 1994, New Jersey's $200 million share is to be deposited into a state economic development fund. Of the total, $98.5 million in Port Authority money is to be transferred by 1994 to the state's transportation trust fund, which finances improvements to mass transit, highways and bridges.

The Port Authority's infusion into the trust fund will free $98.5 million in state funds committed to other projects to be used, instead, on the Kearny Connection through 1995, said Barbara Richardson, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Transportation Department.

Of the $98.5 million, $71.5 million is earmarked for construction, new tracks and switching equipment, and a storage yard. Another $27 million will be spent upgrading signals on the Amtrak tracks.

In addition, $27 million in state and Federal funds will be spent to increase electrical power on the Amtrak tracks to accommodate the additional trains. A Sense of Relief

The Port Authority is restricted, through convenants in its bonds, from subsidizing operating railroads, except for the PATH system, which it owns. Richard Kelly, head of the agency's interstate transportation department, said he planned to meet with New Jersey officials this week to review if their use of Port Authority money to free state money for a railroad construction project poses any problems with the bond restrictions.

"I don't anticipate any," Mr. Kelly said.

Commuters in the four counties have agitated for the Kearny Connection for years. And N.J. Transit's vote last week to start construction in 1992 brought a sense of relief and joy.

"It's long overdue," said John Hyde, who represents Summit on the Lackawanna Coalition, a commuter group serving 15 towns on the Morris and Essex Lines.

"It'll be a big improvement, we couldn't be happier," said James Laurie, a retired railroad consultant and Millburn's representative on the coalition. "It'll save anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to Manhattan."

A direct train to Manhattan will make midtown's theaters, stores and other attractions more accessible, and thus more enticing, to residents of the four counties, suburban officials believe. An easier commute to Manhattan will also make communities along the lines more attractive to newcomers.

The Morris and Essex Lines have three parts, vestiges of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. The main one is the Morristown Line, which runs from Hoboken to Newark, through the Oranges, and on to Morristown. The Montclair branch veers off it outside Newark and serves Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Montclair. And the Gladstone branch veers off the Morristown Line in Summit and serves towns in Union and Somerset Counties, including New Providence, Berkeley Heights, Basking Ridge, Bernardsville and Far Hills.

At least 10 trains will run on the direct line during morning and evening rush hours, said Rick Richmond, N.J. Transit's assistant executive director for engineering and construction. Off-peak service will be similar to current scheduling.

He said officials expected that 3,000 riders who now reach midtown via Hoboken and PATH would switch to the direct trains. In addition, he said, the new line is expected to lure 5,000 new riders who now drive or take buses to Manhattan.