Standing at a podium at the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus this afternoon, Governor Phil Murphy drove a railroad spike into what he cited as an infamous decision made by former Gov. Chris Christie regarding the ARC tunnel.

It was fitting, Murphy said, that they stand in the station named after the Lautenberg, whose dream of the ARC (Access to the Region’s Core) tunnel ran into Christie, who pulled the plug.

“His legacy brutally assaulted by Governor Chris Christie,” said Murphy, who called the late senator as close a friend as he had.

His political minder, Essex Freeholder President Brendan Gill, once served as Mr. Lautenberg’s state director.

“These short sighted decisions turned our once heralded  mass transit system into one of the worst,” Murphy said, hearkening to Christie.

The sitting governor said he’s optimistic about the future, and his investments into NJ Transit.

“NJ Transit is one of the most consequential examples about how the wrong decisions by a governor can impact the people we serve,” he said.

“We are spiking no footballs but we are clearly moving in the right direction”.