This is a capital plan like no other. NJ Transit’s five-year plan, totaling $11.21 billion, represents the agency’s first multi-year plan.
It’s designed to help NJ Transit catch up on decades of putting off equipment and infrastructure replacement that is less reliable as it ages, said Richard Schaefer, NJ Transit chief engineer.
“We have incredibly old infrastructure in congested, dense areas. We have a lack of reliability and an ancient fleet of (bus and rail) rolling stock,” he said. “This funds what we need to be best in class.”
The capital plan and a broader strategic plan were introduced by Gov. Phil Murphy and agency officials on June 8 to deal with issues brought up in an audit he ordered and after reviewing other transit agencies.
NJ Transit’s fiscal year 2021 capital budget takes a bite out of that, allocating $1.43 billion of resources only to multi-year projects that are under construction, under contract or have funds designated for them.
The budget, which takes the agency to June 30, 2021, buys another 197 new cruiser buses, spending $185 million on buses to be delivered in 2022, said Jim Smith , an NJ Transit spokesmen.
It also completes a two-year replacement of 110 articulated buses that carry 100 passengers and bend in the middle. NJ Transit will spend $29 million in this budget to complete the purchase. Some of the buses are in service now in Hoboken.
Although it won’t be until Dec. 2022 when the first prototypes of 113 electric powered multi-level rail cars will be delivered, the budget has $109 million for the design and purchase of the replacements for the 40-plus year old Arrow III cars.
The first of 16 electric buses to be tested in Camden and Essex Counties will be delivered in FY 2021. Buses will be delivered to the Camden garage in the third quarter of 2021 and the first bus is scheduled to arrive at the Maplewood garage in late 2022. A $2 million federal grant is funding that program, which could determine how electric buses are deployed in the future.
Riders also are getting a $29 million station “state of good repair” program to do “quick hit” work of deficiencies identified through inspections at a “wide range of locations throughout the state,” said Eric DaLeo, Capital Projects vice president.
“We prioritized customer-facing facilities and this year, developed individual location work plans,” he said, citing replacement of a hole ridden staircase at New Brunswick station and a rotted station platform beam in Trenton as examples.
Busy Newark Penn Station is undergoing an ongoing restoration of historic wooden waiting room benches, and its bathrooms with new ‘no touch’ fixtures, Daleo said. Improved lighting and historic tile repairs are underway along with a “deep cleaning” of station’s exterior facade and interior floor improvements, he said.
Other work coming at Newark Penn includes repaving and improved lighting of bus lane waiting areas, upgrading station heating and cooling systems and converting freight elevators for use by disabled passengers.
The plan funds design work of the platform D restoration. Proposals also will be taken to restore the train shed and all platforms, improving the station interior layout, and station entries and exits, DaLeo said.
Construction continues of a new $49.27 million Elizabeth train station, and of elevators and high level platforms on the Northeast Corridor line. New electric substations are under construction in Hoboken and other places to improve reliability of electric powered rail service.
“We came up with our most value-based projects,” Schaefer said. “We can’t do everything we need all at once. We created a more realistic plan based on cost estimates and schedules.”
Is it too ambitious?
Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, a member of a joint legislative panel that investigated NJ Transit, said the agency has to do a better job telling the public what they’re getting for the money. Legislators should get a hyper local list of projects in their district and “realistic” schedules they can share with constituents.
“It’s how it’s being spent and how it is being communicated to people and, if they’re delivering on it,” Munoz said about the budget. “Everything NJ Transit does…they should look at it from the eyes of the passengers that pay the fares and use the service.”
She cited a rail bridge replacement project in New Providence affecting local businesses and residents because the old span is closed, but work is delayed.
Chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee Daniel Benson, D-Mercer, said he’s concerned that the agency continues to raid $460 million from the capital budget to fund operations.
“I reiterate the concerns raised by the NJT Board of Directors that continued reliance on capital to balance the operating budget will not improve NJT’s financial position in the long-term,” Benson said, who added he was pleased with some of the priorities in capital plan.
He named two large replacement projects of the Portal North bridge on the Northeast Corridor and the Raritan River Bridge on the North Jersey Coast Line and purchasing new buses and trains, he said.
“It’s always difficult to strike a balance between reasonable spending and meeting the needs of riders in a state as densely populated as New Jersey,” Benson said. “The needs of commuters must always come first.”
NJ Transit board members also agreed progress has to be monitored.
“We need to put metrics in place to see if we are delivering on the capital budget,” said Cedrick Fulton, acting board vice-chairman.
Where does the money come from? A total of $760 million comes from the state Transportation Trust fund, $549 million from Federal Transit Administration funds, $75 million from the Federal Highway Administration and from successful federal competitive grant applications, Smith said.
The total $11 billion five-year plan is “already funded from previous, current or expected funding resources,” Daleo said.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected].