New Jersey State Rail Plan - NJ Transit

1 New JerseyState rail PlanThe New Jersey Railroad SystemChris Christie, GovernorJamie Fox, Commissioner, department of TransportationVeronique Hakim, Executive Director, NJ TRANSITFINAL REPORT April 2015 New JerseyState rail PlanThe New Jersey Railroad SystemPrepared forNJ TRANSITN ewark, New JerseyState of New JerseyDepartment of TransportationTrenton, New JerseyFINAL REPORT April 2015 FINAL April 2015 The New Jersey Railroad SystemiiiForewordThe New Jersey State rail plan is a product of over a year of research and study. The plan was designed both to meet the federal requirements for State rail plans stipulated by the Passen-ger rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 and to provide a framework for future rail improvements in the State .

2 The plan provides the opportunity to focus on State - wide Transit and freight planning in New the New Jersey department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit have long been engaged in rail planning, relying heavily on input from a cross-section of stakeholders. In developing the State rail plan , significant input was provided by both agencies. The New Jersey DOT is currently preparing a Freight rail Strategic plan for the State identifying the rail needs of the major freight stakeholders. The State rail plan draws heavily from that considerable effort and the Freight rail Strategic plan , itself, in profiling the freight system and identifying key issues and addition to input from the two State agencies responsible for rail transportation, open houses were sponsored by the State s three MPOs.

3 The open houses were located to draw from three regions of the State to provide an opportunity for a broad audience to provide its perspective on rail issues facing the State as input to the plan . Meetings were held in Newark, Trenton, and rail plan focuses on commuter and intercity passenger rail and freight rail . Light rail systems or urban Transit systems such as PATH and PATCO are incorporated in the plan only with respect to their connectivity with the commuter and intercity passenger rail operations. The River LINE is described because of its shared use with freight New Jersey State rail plan was developed with the help of many industry professionals, including the State s transportation agencies, the metropolitan planning organizations that oversee transportation planning and funding in New Jersey , and the railroads that serve the Jersey State rail plan [FOREwORD]ivCreditsFollowing are individuals who made significant contributions to preparation of the plan .

4 Steve Brown, PANYNJ Marina Castro, Environmental Protection Agency Timothy Chelius, SJTPO Janna Chernetz, Tri- State Transportation Campaign Rick Crawford, Norfolk Southern Railway Ted Dahlburg, DVRPC William Goetz, CSX Transportation David Heller, SJTPO Greg Krykewycz, DVRPC Ted Matthews, NJTPA Kelvin MacKavanaugh, NJ Short Line Railroad Association Peter Palmer, NJTPA Jakob Rowinski, NJTPA Tim Tierney, Conrail Ray Tomczak, NJDOTIn addition, all the contributors to the New Jersey Statewide Freight rail Strategic plan are acknowledged contributing to this of the planning effort was provided by: Richard Roberts, Chief Planner, NJ Transit David Kuhn, Assistant Commissioner, NJDOTD evelopment of the plan was guided by the New Jersey State rail plan Committee.

5 Its membership comprised: Alan Kearns, NJ Transit , Project Manager, New Jersey State rail plan Miki Krakauer, NJDOT, Project Manager, New Jersey Freight rail Strategic plan Talvin Davis, NJDOT Robert DeSando, NJDOT David Dieck, NJ Transit Thomas Morgan, NJ Transit Robert Parylak, NJ Transit Thomas Schulze, NJ Transit Andrew Swords, NJDOT Paul Truban, NJDOT Richard Wisneski, NJ TRANSITS pecial thanks to: Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority South Jersey Transportation Planning OrganizationvFINAL April 2015 Executive Summary New Jersey rail System1-1 The New Jersey rail System 1-1 Background and Purpose of the rail plan 1-1 North American Freight and Passenger rail Industry 1-3 Freight rail 1-3 Passenger rail 1-6 History of Railroads in New Jersey 1-7 Early History 1-7 Integrated Full Service Carriers Era 1-12 Separation of Passenger and Freight rail Services 1-12 Penn Central Bankruptcy Era: The 3R Act and USRA, the Coming of Conrail 1-14 NERSA and its Aftermath.

6 1981 to Present 1-17 New Jersey Commuter rail Operations - Legacy rail Lines 1-19 Role of Railroads in the NJ Transportation Network 1-22 The Role of Freight rail in the New Jersey Transportation Network 1-22 The Role of Inter-City & NEC Passenger rail as Part of the New Jersey Transportation Network 1-23 General Impacts of rail Transportation 1-25 Environment1-25 Energy1-26 Community1-27 Economy1-28 Institutional Structure of State rail Service Delivery 1-28 New Jersey Railroad Legislation 1-28 Role of the New Jersey department of Transportation 1-30 Role of NJ Transit 1-31 Working Relationships Among Agencies 1-32 Safety and Security Programs 1-34 New Jersey Safety at Railroad Crossings Leadership Oversight Committee 1-34 Operation Lifesaver 1-34 Table of ContentsNew Jersey State rail plan [TAbLE OF CONTENTS]

7 ViCurrent rail Funding 1-35 State Sources 1-35 Federal Sources 1-35 Funding NJ Transit Jersey Freight rail Profile2-1 Description of the New Jersey Freight rail Network2-1 New Jersey Freight Railroads 2-1 Freight Traffic Profile 2-8 Existing rail Intensive Industries 2-8 Future rail Intensive Industries 2-9 Commodity Mix 2-9 Overview2-10 Weight Versus Value 2-11 Directional Analysis 2-11 Directional Analysis Inbound rail Freight 2-14 Directional Analysis Intrastate rail Freight 2-18 Directional Analysis Through rail Freight 2-18 Analysis by Commodity Type 2-22 rail Commodities All Directions 2-23 rail Commodities Inbound 2-25 rail Commodities Outbound 2-26 rail Commodities Intrastate 2-28 rail Commodities Through 2-29 Analysis by rail Trading Partners 2-30 rail Trading Partners 2-31 Illinois2-33 Ohio2-34 Canada2-36 Summary2-37 Freight Traffic Trends - Oil By Train 2-38 Freight Multimodal Connectivity 2-38 Marine Terminals 2-39 rail Intermodal Terminals 2-41 rail Intermodal Freight Flows Jersey Passenger rail Profile3-1 Commuter rail Services Metro North3-19 Commuter rail Services SEPTA3-19 River LINE3-22 NEC and Intercity rail Services3-25 Transit Intermodal Facilities3-27 FINAL April 2015 The New Jersey Railroad Jersey s rail Challenges4-1 System Wide Challenges 4-1 Managing Shared-Use Assets 4-1 Effective Risk Management 4-1 Key Passenger rail Challenges 4-3 NEC FUTURE Program 4-3 Operational Fragmentation 4-5 Trans-Hudson Mobility

8 4-5 State of Good Repair 4-5 Unfunded Regulatory Mandates and Compliances 4-6 Addressing the Changing Locus of Economic Activity 4-6 Funding and Appropriate Investment Models 4-6 Further Exploiting Technology 4-7 Key Freight rail Challenges 4-7 Weight Limitations Restricting Use of 286,000 Pound Railcars 4-7 Dimensional Restrictions of Tunnels and Bridges 4-9 System Chokepoints and Connectivity 4-9 Terminal Capacity 4-11 Preservation of rail Rights of Way 4-11 New Jersey rail System Goals and Objectives Improvement Programs5-1 Transportation Planning Process in New Jersey5-1 New Jersey Transit Improvements5-2 NEC Corridor Signal Improvements 5-3 NEC Mid Line Loop 5-4 NEC Mid Line Yard Expansion 5-5 NEC Middle Zone Stations 5-6 Station Platform Improvements 5-7 Hunter Flyover Project 5-7 Northeast Corridor Joint Improvement Projects 5-8 Other NJ Transit Lines Improvement 5-8 Other Potential Long-Term Projects 5-12 Lehigh Line Capacity Improvement Project 5-12 Raritan Valley Line Capacity Improvement 5-12 West

9 Summit Interlocking Project 5-13 Ridgewood Junction Interlocking Project 5-13 Westbound Waterfront Connection Project 5-14 Main Line (Waldwick) Third Track Project 5-14 Morris & Essex Line Third Track Project 5-15 New Commuter rail Corridor Initiatives 5-15 Other Proposed Passenger rail Improvement Initiatives 5-21 NEC Gateway Program 5-21 Barracks Yard Expansion and Access for SEPTA 5-22 New Jersey State rail plan [TAbLE OF CONTENTS]viiiFreight rail Improvement Programs 5-22 Current Projects 5-22 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Initiatives 5-31 Greenville Yards Improvements 5-31 Port Related Improvements 5-31 Strategic Initiatives 5-32 rail Planning Studies 5-36 rail Freight Capacity and Needs Assessment to Year 2040 5-36 Cross Harbor Freight Improvement Program 5-36 Funding Alternatives 5-37 Representative rail Funding Models 5-38 Public Investment Funding 5-44 Private Investment Funding 5-45 Conclusion 5-48 FiguresFigure 1-1 Class I Railroads 1-3 Figure 1-2 Intermodal Traffic Composition 1-5 Figure 1-3 rail Freight Commodity Mix (tonnage)

10 1-6 Figure 1-4 Amtrak Route System 1-6 Figure 1-5 High-Speed rail Corridors 1-7 Figure 1-6 Southern New Jersey : Railroad Network Rationalization - 1930s 1-10 Figure 1-7 Northern New Jersey - Pre Penn Central 1-13 Figure 1-8 Northern New Jersey rail System The Conrail Era 1-15 Figure 1-9 Southern New Jersey rail System The Conrail Era 1-16 Figure 1-10 New Jersey rail System Post Conrail 1-18 Figure 1-11 New Jersey rail System The Aldene plan 1-21 Figure 1-12 New Jersey Transit rail System 1-24 Figure 1-13 Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2009 by Economic Sector 1-26 Figure 2-1 New Jersey rail System Ownership 2-3 Figure 2-2 CSX Network 2-4 Figure 2-3 Norfolk Southern Network 2-5 Figure 2-4 Canadian Pacific Network 2-6 Figure 2-5 Regional and Short Line Network 2-7 Figure 2-6 Level of rail Input Required for Production of one Dollar of