Bill Text: NJ AR26 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges AG to take action to recover from Amtrak costs NJT will incur to address service disruptions resulting from Amtrak's New York Pennsylvania Station repairs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-14 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee [AR26 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-AR26-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT AUTH
District 39 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Urges AG to take action to recover from Amtrak costs NJT incurred to address service disruptions resulting from Amtrak's New York Pennsylvania Station repairs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Assembly Resolution urging the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey to take action to recover from Amtrak the costs incurred by the New Jersey Transit Corporation to address service disruptions resulting from Amtrak's repairs to New York Pennsylvania Station.
Whereas, The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) owns, and is responsible for maintenance on, much of the railroad infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor, including the railroad infrastructure at New York Pennsylvania Station (Penn Station); and
Whereas, The New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) operates rail passenger service on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, including at Penn Station, and has agreed to pay to Amtrak at least $83,000,000 per year beginning with federal fiscal year 2016 for capital investments in the Northeast Corridor and at least $90,240,000 per year beginning in federal fiscal year 2016 to cover Amtrak's operating expenses; and
Whereas, On March 24, 2017, an Amtrak train derailed in Penn Station and on April 3, 2017, an NJ Transit train derailed in Penn Station, both of which caused significant delays and were caused by defects on Amtrak's tracks at Penn Station; and
Whereas, Speed restrictions resulting from the derailments resulted in only a 46.2 percent on-time performance rate for NJ Transit AM peak trains bound for Penn Station in May of 2017; and
Whereas, The derailments encouraged Amtrak to accelerate repair work at Penn Station by compressing repair work that was scheduled to take place over several years into a period of several weeks in July and August of 2017; and
Whereas, The accelerated repair work required each railroad that operates in Penn Station, including NJ Transit, to implement schedule changes in July and August of 2017; and
Whereas, As a result, the NJ Transit Morris and Essex lines, providing a one-seat ride to Midtown, Manhattan, were diverted to the City of Hoboken during Amtrak's summer repair work at Penn Station and passengers were required to transfer to the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) transit line or ferry service to finish their commute into Manhattan; and
Whereas, As a result of this schedule change, NJ Transit provided reduced fares to Essex and Morris line passengers, cross honored fares with PATH and ferry service, and provided additional bus service to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Bus Terminal; and
Whereas, During a joint committee meeting of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee on August 25, 2017, the Executive Director of NJ Transit explained that NJ Transit's preliminary estimate of the cost to provide "the robust summer schedule with maximum travel options," including cross honoring fares and providing additional buses during the summer repair work at Penn Station totaled approximately $25,000,000; and
Whereas, On April 5, 2017, Governor Christopher J. Christie wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey (Attorney General), Christopher S. Porrino, to ask that Attorney General Porrino consider initiating appropriate legal action to recover payments made by NJ Transit to Amtrak under the Northeast Corridor Services Agreement; and
Whereas, Governor Christie also wrote a letter to Anthony R. Coscia, Chairman of the Board of Amtrak on the same date, explaining that he directed NJ Transit to cease making payments to Amtrak under the Northeast Corridor Services Agreement until certain conditions are met and to explain that he requested the Attorney General to consider initiating appropriate legal action to recover certain payments made to Amtrak; and
Whereas, On January 16, 2018, Philip D. Murphy became the 56th Governor of the State of New Jersey; and
Whereas, Gurbir S. Grewal was nominated and confirmed by the New Jersey State Senate as the 61st Attorney General of the State of New Jersey; and
Whereas, The current Governor and Attorney General should continue endeavors to recover from Amtrak the costs that NJ Transit incurred to address service disruptions in July and August of 2017; and
Whereas, It is in the interests of the residents of this State that the Attorney General take action to recover from Amtrak the costs NJ Transit incurred to address service disruptions in July and August of 2017 resulting from Amtrak's Penn Station repairs; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey to take action to recover from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation the costs incurred by the New Jersey Transit Corporation to address service disruptions in July and August of 2017 resulting from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation's repairs to New York Pennsylvania Station.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Governor of the State of New Jersey, the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and the Executive Director of the New Jersey Transit Corporation.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey to take action to recover from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) the costs incurred by the New Jersey Transit Corporation to address service disruptions in July and August of 2017 resulting from Amtrak's repairs to New York Pennsylvania Station.
