All Aboard!

Officials want train service into Cape May
Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007
By BRIAN IANIERI

Inside the historic Tuckahoe train station, public officials on Friday afternoon pitched NJ Transit for $27 million in track repairs for an excursion line from Richland to Cape May.

More than a dozen elected officials from Cape May and Atlantic counties took a ceremonious train ride on the Cape May Seashore Lines to meet NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles in Tuckahoe.

Meanwhile, inside a white Ford Explorer at the station parking lot, two Middle Township officials made their own pitch to Sarles, one with a significantly different tone.

They showed him photographs of decrepit trains and asked him to forgo any possible funding until Cape May Seashore Lines moves vandalized trains from tracks in Rio Grande.

The trains have been a sore spot for Middle Township officials for several years.

The concept of sweeping passenger railroad coverage down the shore has excited some southern New Jersey officials who want to increase tourism without increasing traffic jams and parking nightmares.

“There is a real interest to build this rail line,” Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello said inside the quaint Tuckahoe train station. “The infrastructure is around here. We're just looking for the missing link.”

The tracks run from Richland to Tuckahoe through Woodbine down to Cape May Court House and Cold Spring, terminating in Cape May.

But Cape May Seashore Lines owner Tony Macrie has been in a contentious relationship with Middle Township officials for years about vandalized trains stored on the tracks along Route 47 in Rio Grande.

Middle Township Solicitor James Pickering said the township did not want to stop rail line improvements, but wanted its issues addressed.

He and former Mayor Michael Voll, a vocal opponent of the trains in Rio Grande, met with Sarles before officials gathered in the Tuckahoe train station.

In March, Middle Township Committee even passed a resolution requesting it be notified of any federal, state or county government funding requests by Seashore Lines.

Officials estimate about $27 million is needed to repair train tracks, particularly those between Woodbine and Cape May Court House.

Dennis Township is seeking federal funding for a train station to be built in Dennisville, Dennis Township Administrator Jody Alessandrine said. Also needed, he said, is about $6 million in infrastructure for the tracks in the township.

This week, the state Department of Community Affairs announced it is lending $435,000 to Woodbine for track repairs, a parking lot and a new rail platform for the Cape May Seashore Lines excursion.

Chiarello sees a boon to the communities and businesses located alongside the tracks. He objected to the way Middle Township officials approached Sarles at the event Friday.

“Obviously we had a group of 25 folks that were there for the betterment of the project,” he said. “That was our mission today. I was a little blindsided, and I think it was inappropriate for Mike Voll to use that opportunity to bring up an issue that's totally unrelated to that project we’re working on. “It was more of an embarrassment. I felt it was an embarrassment to Middle Township to attempt to become a spoiler to what otherwise was a positive day.”

Meanwhile, Middle Township will probably start citing and fining Cape May Seashore Lines shortly for trains stored in Rio Grande, said Township Administrator James Alexis, who did not attend Friday's event.

“It's literally come to a boiling point with the residents affected by the sight of the cars and the level of deterioration they’ve reached, and we feel we’re not getting the cooperation of the rail operator,” Alexis said.

Township officials said they are concerned about the unsightly trains and the criminal element attracted to them after dark.

Township officials have said that, despite being assured the trains would be relocated, they have remained unmoved for several years.

Macrie said he is being vilified for an issue beyond his control.

The trains were in pristine condition when he first stored them in Rio Grande but have fallen victim to serious damage and vandalism, he said.

The trains are sprayed with graffiti, windows are cracked and doors are missing.

Macrie said moving the trains now requires fixing damage done to the tracks following storms in April.

“If you owned a car and someone was vandalizing it, and you had the opportunity to move it, wouldn't you move it?” Macrie said Friday. “We’re a small company. We’re not a gigantic operation.”

“Look at the stuff here,” Macrie said, pointing to the shiny silver and black trains on the tracks in Tuckahoe. “This is the way it looked when we placed it there.”

Meanwhile, the trains can be a lure for tourism, history and transportation, he said. In 2005, about 16,000 people took the train in and out of Cape May, he said.

“Our position is, here we would love to see mass transit coming into Cape May. We have significant traffic and parking problems,” said Lou Corea, Cape May City manager.

The train had run into Cape May previously but has not done so recently due to bridge repairs over the Cape May Canal, Corea said.

Inside the train station, Sarles told officials gathered that the project was on his radar, but that there were many other priorities in New Jersey as well. He stressed that federally earmarked money could move the project along.

Chiarello said he found the meeting encouraging

The large scale of the project could be done in pieces over several years.

“We can get this done, town by town, section by section. Rome wasn't built in a day,” he said.

On Friday, Voll and Pickering's presence and statements on Friday irked some who had gathered to pitch NJ Transit for funding.

After Sarles left, Voll and Pickering were arguing with Paul Mulligan, of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.

“You guys have a lot of nerve,” Mulligan said inside the train station, adding their statements could hurt the recent funding requests.

“If you think they're going to give that guy (Macrie) $27 million,” Voll yelled, “you must believe in the Easter Bunny.

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:BIanieri@pressofac.com