ASSEMBLY TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION No. 24

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

      The Assembly Transportation and Communications Committee reports favorably Assembly Resolution No. 24.

      This resolution memorializes Congress to provide funding to the New Jersey Transit Corporation to restore passenger service on the West Trenton rail line.

      Passenger service on the West Trenton rail line, with stops at West Trenton, Hopewell, Belle Mead and Bound Brook, was available from the nineteenth century until 1983 and since that time the line has been used only for rail freight operations.

      The sponsor states that restoration of passenger service on the West Trenton rail line would provide cost effective congestion relief to the highway system, in particular to Routes 31, 27, 1, 206 and 22 and would help the State meet the mandates of the federal Clean Air Act.

      Further, restoration of passenger service would provide new transit service to southern and central Somerset County as well as the northern and western portions of Mercer County, areas which have recently experienced increased rates of population growth, leading to a current population in excess of 100,000.

      Technical review was performed on this prefiled bill, as required under Joint Rule 18A of the Senate and General Assembly.