MOUNT OLIVE (12/03/06) – Cynics at the time scoffed at then mayoral candidate David Scapicchio’s campaign promise that he would seriously look into extending a direct train line from the International Trade Zone here to New York City if he was elected.

He was elected last month and before the month was out he was asking the Township Council to approve a resolution requesting New Jersey Transit look into providing a Midtown Direct Service from the Trade Zone to New York.

The Council acquiesced this week passing the resolution. And, before the week was out The Daily Record was reporting an encouraging response in today’s newspaper.

A spokesperson for NJT, Penny Bassett-Hackett, said direct service to New York from Mount Olive could be considered in the on-going study called Access to the Region’s Core (ARC).

The study, according to its Web site, is examining the physical needs, impacts and benefits associated with expanding trans-Hudson rail capacity from New Jersey to midtown Manhattan.

The study has been on-going since the 1980’s. It’s a $6 billion project, the centerpiece being a track connection along the Northeast Corridor from the main Bergen/Pascack Valley lines, a new two track rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River and a new rail station underneath 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

According to Bassett Hackett the study could consider modifying the northwestern rail lines to allow for the use of dual powered, diesel-electric trains.

The line to Mount Olive is not electrified, which means, according to Bassett-Hackett’s response in the Daily Record, that "physically we would not be able to run Midtown Direct trains as they currently exist to Mount Olive."

There is a train station at the junction of Waterloo Road and International Drive North in the Trade Center. Passengers who take the trains there to travel to New York must first get to Dover, Montclair or Newark to change to trains for New York.

Mayor Scapicchio said a resident proposed the idea to him when he was door to door canvassing and it had immediate appeal to him he and promised to look into it.

If a commuter wants to get to New York by driving to Dover it takes at least 45 minutes in rush hour traffic, he said.

"If there was a rail line to and from Mount Olive it would not only make it easier for commuters and communities west of Mount Olive it would be a great asset in attracting new commercial ratables to the township which in turn would lead to significant property tax relief.