LRT Demonstration Run To Tout HBLRT (Hotline #230, 3/20/99)

NJ-ARP will be on hand with numerous political officials on Monday, March 22, for a demonstration run on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit (HBLRT) system. The test run will occur on HBLRT trackage between the system's maintenance base, near Liberty Science Center, south toward the Bayonne border. Catenary wire over this segment has been energized.

Meanwhile, contractor 21st Century Rail Corp. is pushing to get HBLRT physical plant to Harborside, just north of Exchange Place, in time for service to begin in March, 2000, serving Exchange Place and points south. From NJ-ARP's point of view, access to Exchange Place is critical -- in fact, a basic requirement -- for any substantial initial LRT ridership, and any practical intermodal transit transfer (to PATH, ferries and buses).

Two problems remain in reaching Exchange Place, though neither appears insurmountable. The first is the need to complete a one-block stretch of double-track through Jersey City's Paulus Hook neighborhood, which has contested the route; and installing turnback switch track at the northern temporary terminus, to allow LRT vehicles to reverse direction and switch tracks.

Beyond that, right-of-way problems remain between Harborside in Jersey City and New Jersey Transit's Hoboken Terminal. But work equipment between those two points has begun preliminary right-of-way preparation.

Indeed, rails have been laid through two blocks of Paulus Hook, with accompanying Belgian-block street paving and granite dividers, curb and trim on one block. The relatively mild winter has allowed the project to advance, making the March 2000 start-up date still within reach -- albeit only as far north as Exchange Place.