GORDON, WEINBERG ATTACK CHRISTIE-CUOMO GATEWAY PLAN TO HAVE NEW YORK PAY LESS, NJ COMMUTERS PAY MORE

Senators criticize Christie plan to make NJ Transit trans-Hudson rail commuters pay for new Gateway tunnel to make up for his cancellation of ARC tunnel

TRENTON – Senator Bob Gordon and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg today attacked an agreement announced by Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo that would let New York State pay less than New Jersey for the new Gateway Rail Tunnel and cover New Jersey’s share by imposing fare hikes on trans-Hudson rail commuters starting at $38 a month and rising to over $90 a month.

“The agreement by Governors Christie and Cuomo is a travesty and clearly violates earlier agreements to have New York State pay its fair 50 percent share of the cost of the Gateway tunnel project,” said Senator Gordon (D-Bergen-Passaic). “Why is Christie agreeing to have New Jersey pay $1.9 billion when New York is only paying $1.75 billion? What Christie is proposing to do is to commit the state to a 35-year fare hike on NJ Transit rail commuters to Manhattan on his way out the door. He should leave that decision up to the new Governor and Legislature that will be sworn in next month.”

“This is an outrageous back-door maneuver by Christie to hit NJ Transit rail riders with exorbitant fare hikes to pay for the construction of the new Gateway Rail Tunnels, which will be twice as expensive as the ARC rail tunnels he cancelled in 2010 to avoid raising gas taxes when he was planning to run for president,” said Senator Weinberg (D-Bergen). “Commuters have suffered for years due to Christie’s mismanagement, neglect and underfunding of NJ Transit. They have had enough, and so have we.”

Senators Gordon and Weinberg, who serve as chair and vice-chair of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee, said the Christie-Cuomo Gateway plan would be a focus of the committee’s joint January 5th hearing with the Assembly Judiciary Committee on NJ Transit issues.

“The Christie-Cuomo plan to start charging NJ Transit rail commuters for the cost of the Gateway tunnel construction beginning in 2020 makes no sense when we have been told that we do not have to start paying off the 2% Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Fund loan for the tunnels until after completion of the project,” Gordon said.

Based on the 2% RRIF interest rate, the cost of paying off $1.9 billion in RRIF loans over 35 years would be just over $100 million million a year and could be included in the next Transportation Trust Fund extension, which would begin in Fiscal Year 2026.

The senators also expressed concern that the Christie-Cuomo agreement failed to recommit both states to completion of the full Gateway project, including the expansion of the Northeast Corridor from two tracks to four between Newark and Secaucus, construction of the “Bergen Loop” and the construction of Penn Station South to enable NJ Transit. These projects, which are part of the overall $26 billion Gateway plan, are necessary to enable NJ Transit to double rail ridership to New York and provide one-seat rides to Manhattan on all of its rail lines.