What’s All the Hoopla About the Trains? – An Op:Ed

In recent weeks, I’ve been tracking the progress being made around the county with the West Shore Feasibility Study. This study was proposed by AllAboardHudson, a local lower Hudson Valley activist you can find on Instagram who understands the dire transit needs of our area. Municipalities in both Orange and Rockland, including the counties themselves, have voted to request such a study be conducted. A budget for the study has recently been included in the New York State Senate budget proposal with many anxious as to what this means for the transit future of Rockland and Orange County. 

To recap, and I’m sure I must sound like a broken record at this point, Rockland County residents have the “luxury” of being able to ride into Secaucus and other areas in the region via five train stops on two lines of NJTransit (technically considered Metro-North on this side of the border), of Nanuet, Pearl River, Suffern, Sloatsburg, and Spring Valley. Compared to the forty-two train stations in Westchester, it’s almost a joke that these five train stations have allowed the MTA to justify taxing the life out of Rockland residents. This has led to an over $40 million value gap between how much Rocklanders give in taxes and how much we receive in funding and, frankly, attention. 

In days long past, Rocklanders were able to boast an interconnected commuter rail network with forty-one train stations making stops across the county. These days, your best bet is unfortunately skipping the Rockland trains all together and going across the bridge to Westchester to ride one of their trains directly into the city. Tarrytown is my station of choice in that regard. Rockland trains are notoriously unreliable, do not provide a single seat ride, and only arrive at a given station once an hour due to the mess that is the Gateway tunnel from New Jersey to NY Penn. 

The feasibility study proposed would see New York State finally take an interest in West of Hudson regional rail. According to James Skoufis, a NY State senator representing parts of Orange County, whose actions lead to the study’s inclusion in this year’s Senate Budget Proposal, the proposed budget would allocate $200k dollars toward the study. 

Past studies can take one or two years to fully complete, as seen with the Interborough Express study that was conducted in 2020 and reached its conclusion in 2022. The study we care about, however, has no cap on how long it could take and could very well conclude that the project is unfeasible. CSX, the company who currently owns the West Shore rail line, has already signaled its unwillingness to hand over these tracks to the MTA, and the logistics of having to collaborate with the New Jersey State government and NJTransit represent more hurdles for the project’s ability to move forward. 

I feel the need to bang this drum so hard because of the many ways New York State has ignored the will and wishes of Rockland County. The updates on the Tappan Zee Bridge were designed to support transit infrastructure, but in order to complete the new bridge faster, the state government axed the rail infrastructure citing the cost and time that would go into building it. They made this decision despite the fact that it would’ve been a major boon for our economy, would have given commuters the ability to get into the city without as much of a headache, and would have facilitated our interconnectivity with the rest of the NYC metro area. Instead, Rockland elected officials had to fight for alternative programs like the Hudson Link Bus System, which while good, is no train. 

Then governor Andrew Cuomo decided to add insult to injury by erasing the traditional name of the bridge, the Tappan Zee, and naming it solely after his father instead. He might as well have flipped all of us the bird with that. A series of broken promises culminating in a state sponsored ego stroke. Incredible job, Andy. 

This proposed study is shaping up to be our last hope in a long and tired battle with NY State and the MTA. With congestion pricing crushing Rockland commuters, who have been forced into car dependency by an uncaring state government, the need for an easily accessible commuter rail has become clearer and clearer to all those who live in the county. As of the last census, it was reported that just over 13% of Rockland residents commute into the city for work everyday. Between congestion pricing and the cost of existing public transit options (TOR buses, Hudson link, and Metro North), Rocklanders are very quickly being priced out of regional interconnectivity. Unless something changes, and fast, Rockland’s anger will only continue to grow. 

In Rockland we have four different state assemblymen representing our interests. They are Chris Eachus (NY-99), who represents parts of North Rockland including Stony Point, Karl Brabenec (NY-98), who represents parts of Ramapo including Suffern, Aron Wieder (NY-97), who represents parts of Ramapo and Orangetown including Spring Valley and Pearl River, and finally Patrick Carroll (NY-96), who represents parts of Clarkstown, Haverstraw, and Orangetown. Bill Weber and Peter Harckham represent Rockland in the State Senate via the NY-38 and NY-40 districts, respectively. Call them. Email them. Let them know this matters to you. Call Governor Hochul’s office even, make her listen  to you. She, and all the rest of them, get paid off your dime. It’s time they stopped ignoring Rockland and started building us a damn train.