From the Record:
Folks in Northwest Bergen and Passaic counties have been talking about it for years — when the train comes to town, things will be different.
Property values will jump. Downtowns will be revived. People will come.
Indeed, NJ Transit has mulled the idea of running commuter trains on a freight line that runs 40 miles from Hackensack into Sussex County, passing through Hawthorne, Oakland, Butler and other communities. NJ Transit even prepared an extensive report on the project in the mid-1990s.
But it has gone nowhere.
Instead, NJ Transit has focused on building a train tunnel under the Hudson River. The areas that could be served by the rail line, which is operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, are covered by NJ Transit’s bus operation, and some people say there may not be enough riders to warrant opening the line to commuters.
That hasn’t stopped locals from dreaming.
This year, Oakland Mayor John Szabo unveiled a downtown redesign plan that played on the hope for a train station.
“We would welcome the opportunity to provide commuter service to Oakland as a means to revitalize downtown,” Szabo said in a phone interview last week. “I just wish there was more outreach and communication to the various towns as to the status.
“It’s disappointing.”
In northern NJ, Sussex is the only county without rail service. It also does not have NJ transit bus service. That said it should be noted that if you live in Montague the Port Jervis terminus of the Paskack Valley line is just across the NJ border in NY.
Rail reactivation is a pricey thing and the Lackawanna cutoff is more of a priority at this point. It has been discussed for over 20 years and still is under environmental review.
BTW the train tunnel into NYC is IMO and many others in transpo planning, a very big priority. The urban core needs investment and upgrades. Capacity is nearing full on the current rail system going into NYC from NJ.