New Jersey commuters still waiting for Bergen light rail line a decade later
Written by RT&S Staff
Talk is not action. For the last decade, residents in Bergen County, N.J., have been told a light rail was coming. Today they are still waiting.
The project, a 10-mile line, is estimated to cost at least $2 billion, and the state of New Jersey would have to put up more than half. NJ Transit says it is still committed to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Northern Branch Corridor Project and will continue to work with the Federal Transit Administration on the environmental impact statement.
The line would include stations in Ridgefield, Palisades Park, Leonia and Englewood, and is expected to carry thousands of passengers daily. It would connect with a line that runs from North Bergen through Weehawken, Hoboken, Jersey City and south to Bayonne. CSX owns the track and would continue running trains at night.
Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes believes the route will help provide an economic boost to his city, and would like to see officials expedite the process that will finally get the first shovels in the ground.
The population continues to grow in New Jersey, and the services offered by NJ Transit are not keeping up with demand. In 2009, then New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine promised the Bergen extension by the end of 2011.
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