Reader’s Letter, Re: Adam Garvey’s The Future of Rockland Transit is Happening in Orange

I would like to thank Adam Garvey for his article covering recent developments regarding the feasibility of restoring west shore passenger rail. I agree with Garvey, that the time has come for the state and other responsible authorities to “give us our train back.” On the west side of the river we pay into the MTA but see little of the institution’s transit investments come back to us. This inequality in services is now even more starkly felt in Newburgh, following the devastating closure of the ferry. Enough is enough. The time has come for our region to pursue a bold vision for our transportation future – we must revisit rail.

The sad reality is that we used to have better public transportation one hundred years ago. Newburgh alone was served by three passenger train lines, a twenty-four-hour ferry, and an electric trolley system stretching all the way to Walden. Regional towns and cities were inter-connected via a network of rail lines. This network has now all but vanished thanks to decades of short-sighted development favoring the automobile. Most of the old rail lines, long abandoned, have been pulled up for scrap or neglected, but there remains one line still active and it is an essential north-south transportation artery. The west shore line, currently owned and operated by CSX, is this critical link. While freight is important, there is little to justify it getting priority over passenger service in one of the most population dense areas of the country. And, as is evidenced in current projects in Massachusetts and Virginia, we can do both. In these states, CSX is working with Amtrak and the FRA to add passenger service on portions of their existing freight lines.

All we need to make this happen in New York State is sufficient political will, and momentum is growing fast. Across our region county legislatures, municipalities, lawmakers, and citizens are stepping up to request the state revisit restoring west shore passenger rail service. Thanks to the efforts of local organizations like All Aboard Hudson Valley, run by rail-advocate Dan DeFalco, a resolution requesting the state government fund a feasibility study for west shore passenger rail is working its way through local agendas and being swiftly adopted. Albany will have no choice but to take notice of what is fast becoming a region-wide consensus in support of west shore passenger rail. It is also imperative that rail be put at the center of the state’s upcoming West of Hudson Transit Study.

In the city, major rail infrastructure upgrades are already underway. The Hudson Gateway project will double track capacity from north Jersey to New York City and potentially eliminate the Secaucus Junction choke point where current passengers on the Port Jervis line must transfer to get on Manhattan-bound trains. The possibility of a one-seat train ride from Rockland County to Penn station is within our reach. With a governor supportive of public transportation initiatives we are at a time, now more than ever, to bring west shore passenger rail service back. I encourage the reader to contact your local representatives to voice your support for this effort.

Malachy Labrie-Cleary

Newburgh