Less than two weeks before the election, congressional Democrats toured New Jersey Transit’s plagued Northeast Corridor with Amtrak and NJ Transit leaders — but they said answers on the railway issues are still a month away.
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), and Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) toured the railway with Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett on Wednesday afternoon. The officials said they believe short-term repairs made during the “summer of hell” have reduced the number of delays, but are still looking for the exact cause of the plethora of failures that caused delays for commuters throughout the summer.
The group said a third-party investigation into the causes of overhead line failures is set to be released next month, and that the report will guide long-term steps. Pallone also said the transit groups are awaiting approval for federal grants to replace overhead wiring and signal systems, but it’s unclear whether those grants will be approved until next month.
“It’s our job to try to get funding annually for the repairs and larger funding for capital improvements in the future,” Pallone told reporters. “But we as Democrats are doing that, it’s the Republicans that are not, and so I’m going to be very partisan here and say that we’re going to continue to make that effort, but we do face an uphill battle when we’re dealing with a Republican majority in the House.”
Pallone said Gov. Phil Murphy has made commitments to match the grants with state funds, which the congressman said would be necessary.
“The bottom line is, when you’re talking about infrastructure, every aspect is so old, right?” Pallone told the New Jersey Globe. “And I think he recognized from the very beginning that there had to be some major investments by the state, and he’s been making those investments, and he’s willing to make more.”