Matawan pushes rail line for western Monmouth
BY JACQUELINE HLAVENKA Staff Writer
MATAWAN — After citing concerns about the potential for additional railroad development in town, the members of the Matawan Borough Council passed a resolution supporting the Lakehurst to Monmouth Junction route for the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) passenger rail line on Oct. 5.
The council’s resolution requests that NJ Transit staff give weighted consideration for the development of passenger rail service in western Monmouth County as opposed to reactivating a freight line to allow access from Lakehurst in Ocean County to the Matawan-Aberdeen train station on the North Jersey Coast Line.
“There are three separate ways this (rail line) can go,” said Councilman Tom Fitzsimmons. “The most obvious place for it to go is through the western part of Monmouth County because that is where the growth has been. The two other alternatives actually are for Red Bank and for Matawan, (and) all we are doing is just adopting a resolution suggesting that the westernmost (option) is supported.”
This year the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded NJ Transit $534,375 for the development of an Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (AA/DEIS) for the MOM passenger rail project, Matawan Mayor Paul Buccellato said.
The money will fund research and development for transportation improvements and the rebuilding of railroad infrastructure along existing freight lines in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties.
The MOM study proposes several service alternatives for three North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) train lines in Red Bank, Matawan and Monmouth Junction (South Brunswick), which would connect areas of western Monmouth, northern Ocean and portions of Middlesex to direct routes to points north, such as Newark and New York City.
According to NJ Transit, the Matawan commuter rail alternative would use a 32- mile route that runs on the existing NJ Transit and Conrail-owned southern secondary and Freehold secondary freight lines, via new connections at Farmingdale and Freehold Borough, as well as on the NJ Transit-owned right of way of the former Freehold Branch to Matawan.
If this plan were to be selected, new railroad track would be constructed on the former railroad right of way, which would necessitate the relocation of the Henry Hudson Trail Extension in parts of Marlboro and Freehold Township.
The route would pass through the communities of Lakehurst, Manchester, Dover, Jackson, Lakewood, Howell, Farmingdale, Freehold Township, Freehold Borough, Marlboro, Matawan and Aberdeen.

In Freehold Township and Marlboro, the proposed rail line is approximately parallel to and to the east of Route 79 as that state highway runs from Freehold Borough to Aberdeen Township.
Monmouth, Middlesex and Ocean counties are projected to have a total population of 2.4 million people by 2030, according to the Matawan resolution.
Matawan maintains that mass transportation alternatives are slim in western Monmouth County, other than bus service on Route 9. The borough’s resolution states that the passenger rail line from Lakehurst to Monmouth Junction “would relieve traffic from routes 9 and 18 and therefore provide the most traffic relief of any of the other proposed MOM routes,” based upon concerns about traffic congestion, rising gas prices, overcrowded buses and highways.