Name: Static Interactive
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The-New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region has an opportunity to support sustainable and equitable economic growth for future generations by building on a unique asset —the region’s extensive commuter rail network. This network, if optimized, can boost job and population growth both in the region’s core and in major centers throughout the region that have both the capacity and need for growth. Unfortunately, the commuter rail network we have today is aging, and not configured to adequately meet the evolving needs of the region’s residents. Today’s network leaves many parts of the region poorly served or without rail service at all. The system wasn’t designed to serve today’s travel patterns and has little capacity for future growth. Without a new design, substantial upgrades and governance changes, New York will fall farther behind the metropolitan areas that are investing in fully integrated metro systems, and fail to capitalize on this region’s global economic strengths.

RPA T REX F17 Service Map Regional Express

The new system would address immediate priorities, including creating through service at Penn Station and relieving congestion across the Hudson River, while incrementally expanding the network and creating a modern regional rail system that could serve the tri-state area for a century or more. The resulting system, which we call Trans-Regional Express (T-REX), would provide frequent, consistent service, directly connect New Jersey, Long Island, the Mid-Hudson and Connecticut, and allow the region’s economy to continue growing.

The region has outgrown its commuter rail network. The region’s three commuter railroads share an amalgamation of rail lines built largely by private railroads more than 100 years ago. This aging system was designed to get people in and out of Manhattan when the metropolitan area was less than half the size it is today. It poorly serves job centers outside of Manhattan, leaves many places without any rail service at all, isn’t configured to serve today’s 24-hour, multi-directional travel patterns, and is straining to serve the number of riders it has today, much less tomorrow. More specifically: ⊲ Many assets—from stations and signals to tracks and interlockings—are well past their useful life or don’t meet modern standards. ⊲ All service stubs end in Manhattan, preventing trains from traveling through from one part of the region to the other, and reducing the capacity of the system overall. ⊲ While ridership is growing the fastest outside of morning and afternoon rush hours, service continues to be infrequent on most lines during those times. ⊲ Reverse service into many job centers with strong growth potential, such as Bridgeport or Hicksville, is poor—and limits the ability of those downtowns to grow into major economic hubs. Some large downtowns such as Paterson have no direct service at all. ⊲ Many residential areas with densities to support commuter rail service don’t have it, including much of Bergen, Passaic, and Monmouth counties. ⊲ Service is too infrequent and/or too expensive for many residents in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Hudson, and Essex counties.