GORDON, WEINBERG BLAST CUOMO PLAN FOR NEW YORK PANEL TO OVERSEE NY PENN STATION OVERHAUL

Senators call for creation of ‘One Penn Station’ public corporation representing NJ Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Railroad to run nation’s busiest rail hub

TRENTON – Senator Bob Gordon (D-Bergen/Passaic) and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) today dismissed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s appointment of a task force made up entirely of New York politicians, developers and organization leaders to oversee the overhaul of New York Penn Station, and his call for President Trump to turn over the nation’s busiest rail station to New York State to run.

“Governor Cuomo’s call for President Trump and Amtrak to turn over New York Penn Station to New York State to run would be a disaster for New Jersey commuters, Amtrak passengers and the region’s mass transit network,” said Senator Gordon, chair of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee. “Amtrak’s ownership of New York Penn Station is a problem because NJ Transit and the Long Island Railroad have 90 percent of the ridership and should be equal partners. But handing over unilateral control of the nation’s busiest rail hub to New York State would be worse.”

“Governor Cuomo’s appointment of a New York task force to oversee the overhaul of New York Penn Station is just his latest attempted power grab, following on his efforts to run roughshod over the bi-state Port Authority and try to block enlargement of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to serve the region’s commuters and interstate travelers,” said Senator Weinberg, vice-chair of the oversight panel. “Why would we expect a New York Penn Station controlled by the New York governor to consider the interests of New Jersey rail riders any more than he has the needs of our bus commuters?”

Senators Gordon and Weinberg both reiterated their support for the “One Penn Station” plan under which NJ Transit, the Long Island Railroad and Amtrak would jointly share the ownership and management of New York Penn Station in the same way that the railroads that use Union Station in Washington, D.C., share responsibility through a private corporation. The “One Penn Station” concept was proposed by respected transportation policy experts Martin Robins and D.J. Agrawal last month.

“We plan to talk to leaders in Congress about the merits of the ‘One Penn Station’ model,” Senator Gordon said. “This approach does not preclude NJ Transit, Amtrak and the Long Island Railroad from deciding jointly to contract with private firms for management of part or all of New York Penn Station operations. But continued public ownership guarantees that the public interest of rail passengers will take precedence over the profit motive of a private owner.”

“Having the Port Authority run New York Penn Station, as Governor Cuomo has suggested, also does not make sense because the Port Authority’s PATH line does not run to New York Penn Station at all,” said Senator Weinberg. “The Port Authority already has enough on its plate running bridges, tunnels, airports, the port, the bus terminal and the World Trade Center, as well as coordinating planning for the Gateway Tunnel project.”

Senators Gordon and Weinberg also urged Governor Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to tone down their vitriolic attacks on Amtrak management over conditions at New York Penn Station that are largely a result of years of disinvestment in the nation’s rail infrastructure by the federal government – especially when both governors have been blamed for breakdowns on NJ Transit and the New York subway system that are partly due to their past failures to adequately fund infrastructure at the state level.

Amtrak’s New York Penn Station repair schedule and NJ Transit’s contingency plans to move displaced rail riders during the upcoming summer’s track closures are the subject of a joint hearing of the Senate Legislative Oversight and Assembly Judiciary Committees to be held Wednesday, May 31, at 10 a.m. at the Shelia Y. Oliver Conference Center on the 14th floor of the Leroy F. Smith Jr. Public Safety Building in the Essex County Government Complex, 60 Nelson Place, Newark.