The planned $100 million investment to boost train services on the Port Jervis Line is among the $16.5 billion in capital projects recently deferred by the Metropolitan Transportation Agency.
An MTA spokesperson confirmed the delay on July 17.
In response to the sudden halt of the New York City congestion toll and the anticipated revenue that comes with it, the MTA recently reshuffled its capital plan by focusing on essential repair work and delaying some replacement jobs and most expansion projects.
Gov. Kathy Hochul pulled the years-in-the-works toll program weeks before its effective date in June; she said it was an effort to cut the burden on working- and middle-class families.
By the time the toll program was halted, $500 million dollars had been spent on toll infrastructure in the city, according to the MTA.
The program intends to charge most drivers $15 per day for entering the busiest part of Manhattan, with the dual goals of easing congestion and funding MTA capital projects.
The agency’s current five-year capital plan, which includes $55.5 billion worth of projects across its subway, bus, train, bridge, and tunnel systems, had anticipated that congestion toll revenue would cover more than a quarter of the costs, or $15 billion.
In response to the toll halt, the agency put the highest priority on repair work necessary for the safety and functionality of its current transit systems and put $16.5 billion worth of mostly replacement and improvement projects on the back burner, Tim Mulligan, MTA’s deputy chief development officer, said at the June 26 board meeting.
The deferred Port Jervis Line improvement project, with an estimated price tag of $100 million, had been part of the agency’s 2020–2024 capital plan to increase the number of trains per day through new passing sidings, which essentially act as passing lanes for trains, and possibly a new midpoint yard.
The line is part of the Metro-North Railroad, one of five major categories of mass transit assets managed by the MTA across the Big Apple and seven adjacent counties; the other four are New York City Transit, the MTA Bus Company, Long Island Rail Road, and bridges and tunnels.
Operated by NJ Transit under an agreement, the line is the most significant MTA service in Orange County, the northernmost territory west of the Hudson River served by the agency, carrying local commuters through New Jersey to their jobs in Manhattan on workday mornings.
In addition to train tickets, the MTA taps 0.37 percent of the county’s sales taxes and charges payroll mobility taxes on businesses to finance the line’s operation.
New York state Sen. James Skoufis told The Epoch Times in a July 18 statement that although he supports the halting of a congestion toll, he doesn’t think that it necessarily means the loss of the Port Jervis Line improvement, a project that he has long advocated.
“[It] will roll over into the next five-year plan, and conditions for the money will be subject to negotiations,” the Democrat lawmaker, who represents most of Orange County, said.
“In the event the MTA’s more general revenue shortfall is not addressed by then, I will be adamant in negotiations that the passing siding projects not be conditioned on congestion pricing.”
The agency is in the process of putting together its next capital plan for the years between 2025 and 2029, with a draft due to the review board by Oct. 1 under the Public Authorities Law.
Since 1982, the MTA has managed its capital projects based on a five-year plan, although the agency faces challenges in delivering its plan within the original time frame.
According to an analysis by the Citizens Budget Commission, by August 2022—about halfway through its current five-year capital plan—the MTA still had more than $50 billion of uncommitted projects carried over from three previous cycles, dating back to 2010.
