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WISNIEWSKI: LATEST SERIES OF NJ TRANSIT TRAIN DELAYS FURTHER PROOF 2ND HUDSON TUNNEL WAS NEEDED

Commuters Doubly Shortchanged; Paying More for Less and Less Reliable Service

(TRENTON) — With NJ Transit users and commuters facing a second consecutive day of far-reaching, train delays and cancellations due to continuing complications caused by a train derailment on the North East Corridor line Tuesday, Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee Chairman John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) issued the following statement:

“That a single train derailment could cause a multi-day disruption to virtually all train travel into and out of Manhattan is both disturbing and vexing.

“Tuesday’s accident is disturbing because it clearly illustrates how easily our only major railway into New York could be incapacitated. If it had been, God forbid, an act of terror, who knows how long our railway would have been crippled.

“And the accident is vexing because many of the problems it caused could have been avoided if Gov. Christie had chosen sound transportation policy over far right wing political posturing and allowed the ARC tunnel project to go forward.

“A second rail tunnel under the Hudson River to Manhattan would have been able to absorb the chaos caused by Tuesday’s derailment with minimal effect on transit users. And it would have helped take much of the burden off of the century-old North Jersey Corridor line.

“Instead, the Governor chose to put politics over policy, losing $3 billion in federal dollars promised the state, foregoing thousands of temporary and full time jobs and forcing commuters and transit users continue to pay more for less reliable and less frequent service.”