Proposed commuter rail line would benefit few, harm many

It’s easy for an East Brunswick resident to write a letter to the Sentinel in support of the proposed high-speed railroad through Monroe, Jamesburg and South Brunswick, as Bob Ahlers did ("Proposed Rail Line Would Be Beneficial for Area, Not Detrimental," Letters to the Editor, Aug. 8). But how would he feel if 42 diesel trains chugged by his neighborhood every day?

The rail lines don’t "serve a much greater common travel need," as Ahlers claimed when he criticized the Jamesburg Borough Council’s opposition to the "Monmouth/Ocean/Money-Loser" line. The half-billion dollar boondoggle would benefit only about 1,000 commuters from the Lakewood-Howell area to Manhattan. Thousands more residents in three counties would suffer. And all taxpayers would pay $1 million a month to subsidize its operating losses.

Very few Middlesex County commuters to New York would give up their NJ Turnpike express bus rides for less-frequent, more-expensive trains. The park-and-ride bus station on Route 130 is very popular. The majority of us who work in New Jersey need our cars to get to work, anyway. More trains wouldn’t "take many cars off congested highways."

If the Monmouth/Ocean/Middlesex (MOM) railroad "will undoubtedly help many businesses," then perhaps Mr. Ahlers also favors zoning variances for every fast-food restaurant and gas station proposed for residential neighborhoods like his. That would "help many businesses" too.

The letter writer reasoned that our current rail lines were there long before us, and "hundreds of miles of railroad tracks have little or no usage." That’s true, but the railroad barons built them with little regard for their neighbors.

Homeowners who now live near tracks have chosen to do so because the tracks have "little or no usage." We have the right to protest when a detrimental change in usage is proposed.

East Brunswick, South River, Milltown, Spotswood, Helmetta and most other Central New Jersey towns have little-used railroad tracks that are adjacent to residential areas. Think of what would happen to your property values if high-speed diesel trains came through your neighborhood.

I urge local taxpayers to participate in the public hearings on the MOM scheme in the fall. Your town might be in NJ Transit’s future plans.

Richard Wieland

Monroe