Local officials, residents comment on loss of N.J. Transit AC Rail Line
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
TRAIN, from Page 1
train derailments and collisions.
at the time of the shutdown an-
nouncement, NJ transit said its
plan was for the aCrL to re-open
in early 2019. However, in a press
release from NJ transit dated Jan-
uary 25, that timetable was pushed
back to “the second quarter of
2019,” which will force NJ tran-
sit’s aCrL and raritan Valley
Line (rVL) riders to continue to
find alternate forms of transporta-
tion until the shutdown ends.
“We regret the inconvenience
this will cause our customers on
the rVL and aCrL … We have
made substantial progress on our
PtC project and we’re continuing
to ramp up installation. as we
push to complete PtC installation,
i ask for customers’ patience dur-
ing this process as the end result
is a safer railroad for everyone,”
NJ transit executive Director
Kevin Corbett said in the release.
Many southern New Jersey res-
idents have been inconvenienced
by the lack of train service during
the past five months, including
many residents and business own-
ers in Hammonton, whose train
station at the intersection of South
egg Harbor road and Line Street
is one of the nine stops along the
aCrL route, which terminates at
the Southeastern Pennsylvania
transportation
authority
(SePta)’s 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia. the aCrL also uti-
lizes NJ transit’s river Line to
connect to its Northeast Corridor
Line, which terminates at NJ
transit’s Newark Penn Station in
Newark.
Councilman Joseph Giralo said
southern New Jersey communities
like Hammonton are entitled to
the key rail line, and said the pro-
longed length of the suspension is
an indictment of Governor Phil
Murphy’s awareness of southern
New Jersey issues.
“i blame the governor’s office
with the way they have handled
the Department of transportation
… this is an absentee governor
for the southern part of the state.
i’d be on the record to tell you that
i don’t know if this governor
knows where South Jersey really
is,” Giralo said.
Giralo said he recently spoke
with New Jersey State President
Stephen Sweeney about the train
suspension and was informed that
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the New Jersey League of Munic-
ipalities just passed a resolution
demanding the aCrL go back
into service immediately. Giralo
said he believes every municipal-
ity should enact a similar resolu-
tion to be sent to the governor’s
office and state legislators, which
he will ask town council to do for
Hammonton.
On february 25, town council
voted to send a letter urging the
reopening of the aCrL.
Many local residents have no-
ticed the effects of the aCrL
being shut down.
resident Mary Young, owner of
local gift shop Chatter’s Baskets,
said the train was convenient to
have in town for her and her fam-
ily when it was in service because
her son, ryan, would use it to get
to college at the University of the
arts in Philadelphia. Since then,
he graduated from college and
now lives in Philadelphia. Young
said it’s now a lot more difficult
for her son to visit his family in
Hammonton without the aCrL
running.
“Personally, i think it’s horrible
that it stopped ... in order to come
here now, he has to go to Linden-
wold [High Speed Line station]
and then i have to pick him up.
and then, to get home, i have to
take him back to Lindenwold. So,
it just cuts a big part of our visit in
half,” Young said.
the aCrL being suspended has
also affected those who frequently
used it to travel eastbound towards
atlantic City. resident tracey
Dwinell said being without the
local train service has made it dif-
ficult for her to run errands, visit
friends and travel to the shops and
restaurants in atlantic City like
she used to because she now has
to use NJ transit’s buses, which
she said don’t run as frequently as
the trains once did.
“i use it normally to go to at-
lantic City. i go down, go shop-
ping; there’s some restaurants and
things near the train station that
are actually decent … it’s conven-
ient like that when it’s running …
Now, it’s inconvenient. i have
gone into atlantic City once,
where normally, i would have
taken like five or six trips because
i don’t want to deal with the has-
sle of it not running,” Dwinell
said.
Dwinell said she expected a
lengthy suspension when NJ tran-
sit first announced the PtC instal-
lations, but she said she now
believes there is another reason
for the aCrL to remain inactive.
“i don’t think that they’re keep-
ing us updated enough because we
don’t hear enough about it, and i
do think that they’re dragging
their feet because they just need
the people upstate and that they
don’t want to hire new people.
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