Off- Peak +46% Peak +24% NJT- North New vs. Old. NJT- North New vs. Old. NJT-North Off-Peak cost now 38% higher

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1 Testimony of Joseph M. Clift*, Lackawanna Coalition** New Jersey Assembly Budget Committee FY2012 Budget Public Hearing 03/23/11, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I speak to you today as a representative of the Lackawanna Coalition and a past Director of Planning for the LIRR. Additional information is listed below. I am here today to request that you focus on New Jersey doing more with its limited resources to improve State mobility, specifically to obtain information in advance of your FY2012 Budget hearing with DOT and NJ Transit: 1. To determine definitively how much of the governor s $43.2M increase in NJT operating assistance will go to the riding public for rail & bus service improvements and a reduction in the excessive cost of off-peak rail travel. 2. To understand what specific efforts are planned over the next year to respond to the governor s October 7, 2010 request to Commissioner Jim Simpson and NJT Executive Director Jim Weinstein to explore approaches to modernize and expand capacity for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) on a New Jersey-affordable basis. I also offer my participation in your Transportation Roundtable at 10:00am, Thursday, March 31, 2011, as a rail advocate speaking for the Lackawanna Coalition and the many riders it represents unable to attend the roundtable. The Coalition strongly supports the proposed $43.2 million FY2012 increase in State operating assistance for NJ Transit (pgs. D-335/336, FY2012 Governor s Budget), but we feel strongly that those funds should go back to the riding public in service improvements and off-peak fare reductions after last year s massive fare increases, rather than to cover inflation attached chart shows that NJT off-peak rail fares are excessive relative to other operators. Additionally, reduced off-peak fares will reduce pressure on peak-hour capacity into and out of Penn Station NY. The Coalition advocates responding to Gov. Christie s October 7 request by moving forward now, not later, on an affordable trans-hudson mobility effort in full partnership with Amtrak, at an estimated $6B cost, compared to NJ Transit s independent $12-$14B ARC project and Amtrak s independent $13.5B Gateway project. Only as full partners can the two rail operators design the best plan and afford a trans-hudson mobility MOS Minimum Operable Segment that will accomplish the long-established and currently critical ARC strategic goals of increased trans-hudson capacity and Northeast Corridor (NEC) reliability and redundancy. The MOS will also set the stage for the third and most elusive ARC strategic goal a one-seat ride to Midtown Manhattan s East Side at or near Grand Central Terminal (GCT) giving New Jersey riders the same access to most Midtown destinations now enjoyed by Westchester and Connecticut riders and soon to be enjoyed by Long Island riders. Without this walking access to twice as many Midtown jobs from GCT as from Penn Station, New Jersey will find itself in a non-competitive, second-class mobility status. The trans-hudson mobility MOS contains three basic elements, shown on the attached schematic and evaluated and planned during the ARC and Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement Project EIS efforts: 1. Two new single-track tunnels under the Hudson River from the Meadowlands to 10 th Ave, Manhattan. 2. A new 2-track bridge across the Hackensack River next to the existing Portal Bridge. 3. Two new tracks (four total) on the NEC from the entry of MidTown Direct trains to existing NY Penn Station. This MOS is 100% compatible with a first phase of Amtrak s $13.5 billion Gateway plan (see attached), but the Coalition prefers future East Side access instead of Gateway s new terminal (see attached) south of Penn Station. Also, Gateway should put to rest previous claims that new tunnels (see attached) could not be built to Penn Station. The full partnership of NJ Transit and Amtrak on this effort makes possible funding it s $6 billion cost without a direct impact on New Jersey s annual budget, as each operator has access to funding sources that the other does not: 1. $3.4B in FTA New Starts funds offered by USDOT on 10/24/10 NJ Transit un-withdraws from Program. 2. $1.7B in FRA Amtrak-only funds and High Speed Rail Program funds (50% of New Starts funding). 3. $0.9B in New Jersey and New York capital funds, including Port Authority funds not charged against a state. The MOS concept is classic investment analysis strategy to ensure the wise expenditure of scarce resources. With an MOS you don't get your wish list, but you do get a project that's affordable now. Otherwise, nothing will get built! Thank you for this opportunity to share the opinions and concerns of the Lackawanna Coalition. * Joseph M. Clift can be reached at jmclift@alum.mit.edu & He served as Director of Planning and Director of Strategic Planning for the Long Island Railroad and Manager of Operations Improvement & Strategic Planning Analyst for Conrail. He holds a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. ** The Lackawanna Coalition is an independent non-profit organization that advocates for better service on the Morris & Essex (M&E) and Montclair-Boonton rail lines operated by NJ Transit, as well as on connecting transportation. P.O. Box 283, Millburn, NJ,

2 Lackawanna Coalition Testimony: 03/23/11 New Jersey Assembly Budget Committee Off- Peak +46% NJT- North New vs. Old Peak +24% NJT- North New vs. Old NJT-North Off-Peak cost now 38% higher than LIRR & Metro-North, vs. Peak cost 4% lower. Lackawanna Coalition Testimony: 03/23/11 New Jersey Assembly Budget Committee

3 Legend Existing tracks New tracks Right-Sized Trans-Hudson Tunnels Direct Access to Penn/Moynihan Station Via Four-Track Northeast Corridor New tracks, Hunter Interlocking Montclair- Boonton Line Not to scale Newark Broad Street Main Line Portal Drawbridge Expanded - 4 tracks Bergen Co. Line / Pascack Valley Line / Meadowlands Branch Northeast Corridor Lautenberg Station Secaucus Hudson tunnel portals Dock Bridge Morris & Essex Lines Penn Station Newark Penn Station Swift Interlocking Hoboken Hunter Interlocking / Connection to Raritan Valley Line new flyover Paul DiMaria, November 2010 Features of Plan 1. Two tracks added to Northeast Corridor between point west of Hudson portals to Secaucus station, and from Secaucus station to Swift Interlocking. 2. Allows full operational flexibility for NJ Transit and Amtrak trains to use any track into Penn Station.

4 Gateway Project PENN STATION NEWARK to MOYNIHAN/PENN STATION Page 4

5 Amtrak Gateway Project Concept Track Plan in Manhattan Excerpt from 02/07/11 Sen. Frank Lautenberg Press Conference Handout Joseph M. Clift, 02/10/11

6 Amtrak Gateway Project Concept Track Plan in Manhattan Excerpt from 02/07/11 Sen. Frank Lautenberg Press Conference Handout Joseph M. Clift, 02/10/11 33 rd Street 31 st Street 30 th Street

7 Hudson River LIRRTrain Yards ARC Tunnel Connection to Moynihan/ NY Penn Station LIRR Shops Notes: No major building impact Envornmental issues resoved in Draft Envornmental Impact Study Saves ~ $3B, improves regional mobility, and provides more reliability Post Office/Moynihan NY Penn Station/ Madison Sq. Garden JMC/