“NJ Transit Grab Another $511M for Operations as New Summer of Hell”

Today the NJ Transit Board voted on and passed their Capital Budget today. NJ Transit’s FY 2019 Operating Budget is in the amount of $2.316 billion. They will divert $511 million from state and federal capital funds to cover operating costs. This is a $50 million increase from the prior year from an account intended to pay for buses, rail cars and major improvements. NJ Transit has criticized by its commuters, calling their experience “The Summer of Hell 2”. This past week, NJ Transit canceled 20 trains serving New York City-bound commuters, citing mechanical issues and a lack of engineers.

“This is another nightmare summer for commuters. NJ Transit commuters can’t get to work on time and now they agency is going to raid its capital budget once again. Instead of putting money towards improving the system, they are robbing it for operations by over $511 million. The agency can’t even run what they are running now. This is getting out of control. We need this money to replace our outdated bridges like the Portal Bridge and for positive train control instead of paying for salaries and non-essential things,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “New year but same messed up agency. Too many Governors have decided on short-sided approaches towards operations that did not work. Governor Whitman did it, Christie did it, and now Murphy did it.”

New Jersey is the second biggest commuter railroad in the nation and was once a national model until Governor Christie cut its budget eight years in a row.  It has been reported that NJ Transit has 12 times more equipment failures than any other commuter train in the nation. This is the direct result of funding being slashed by 90 percent in the past 11 years. Slashing funding has led to an increase in accidents and federal safety fines, plummeting its national model title. NJ Transit commuters have called their commuting experiences in the summer, “The Summer of Hell 2”.

“Diverting half a billion dollars from an account intended to pay for buses, rail cars and major improvements to use for operation costs is downright dangerous. Our transit system is a commuter nightmare after 8 years of diverting capital funds by the Christie Administration.  This has hurt our economy and businesses, caused people will be delayed and get to work late, while worsening our air quality problems. NJ Transit has raised fares 9 times while cutting back on services. They even want to cancel lines like the Atlantic City Line,”said Tittel. “That capital money could be spent for The Portal Bridge. It is a critical component for commuting but without it getting replaced it would be a nightmare for commuters and will undermine our efforts for Gateway.”

Others have pointed out that federal funding that was supposed to go towards Positive Train Control braking systems instead went to operations and maintenance. New Jersey Transit received approval for a 2-year extension to finish positive train control.  Positive Train control is a safety system Congress required 12 years ago. The system is designed to prevent collisions and derailments.

“NJ Transit is stealing money that should be used for positive traction and spending it on operations. We are getting a two-year extension to install positive control which is good because we won’t lose out on $600 million in federal funding. However, if we do not get positive control in time, we will lose federal funding. What’s even worse is in the meantime, people are still at risk,” said Tittel.

With Governor Christie, the agency went rogue, ruining what was once one of the best transit systems in the country. While ridership has gone up 20 percent, capital spending has gone down 19 percent. Governor Murphy, in January said that capital funds should be used to make improvements, not to plug short term, day-to day budget shortfalls.

“We need to make capital improvements in order to make our transit system better. If we don’t make improvements to our rail system, we could have a disaster. In the past we have received $8 billion in federal funding for capital improvements, but that money went to operations and maintenance. Now we are diverting those funds again. Governor Murphy is letting NJ Transit go rouge by approving NJ Transit’s budget. Murphy chastised Christie for diverting NJ Transit funds, but now Murphy is following in Christie’s footsteps.  He is letting agency get away with robbing our capital budget at an amount even higher than when Christie was Governor,”said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Our budget is going in the wrong direction. New Jersey cannot keep robbing the future to pay for the current. This is basically taking money that is set aside for you mortgage to pay for groceries and your electric bill.”