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By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
It's beginning to look like a railroad, particularly in Camden, where trolley-like tracks embedded next to brick sidewalks and refurbished townhouses seem to herald progress.
But as the South Jersey Light Rail Line heads down the home stretch, not everything looks as bright as a new rail.
Consider:
•The 34-mile, Camden-to-Trenton passenger line is at least three months behind schedule, maybe more.
•Plans to extend the line another mile to reach the State House complex in Trenton and its mother lode of potential riders have been shelved because of the state's budget woes.
•The contractor on the line, megabuilder Bechtel, has filed claims with NJTransit asking for another $140 million, a 30 percent increase in the original contract.
•And everywhere, from street corner to ivory tower, people continue to ask the same question about the line: Who's going to ride it?
"I wish them well," said Richard Elliott, a PSE&G retiree working in his Riverside yard one day last week, "but I don' t think they have the ridership to support it. I think it's going to turn out to be a waste of money."
"It's hard to see why you need a diesel light rail line to get from Camden to Trenton," said James Dunn, a Rutgers professor who has written extensively on transportation.
The contract that NJTransit signed Dec. 31, 1999, with a a consortium of builders and manufacturers headed by Bechtel specified that the line was to be ready to roll by the last day of 2002.
NJTransit now says that has been pushed back to "the second quarter of next year."
Bechtel's claims of $140 million in cost overruns have been declared unfounded by NJTransit, setting off a process of negotiation that could wind up in court.
The original contract was for $453 million to build the line and another $151 million to maintain and operate it for 10 years.
NJTransit has had little to say about the claims made by the consortium, Southern New Jersey Rail Group, other than to categorize them as "invalid."
Howard Menaker, a spokesman for Bechtel, said the extraordinary costs stemmed from delays and changes in design, both of which it lays at NJTransit's feet.
"There were some things when the contract first began," Menaker said. "We didn't have access to the rail because they (NJTransit) were still trying to work things out with Conrail."
Conrail, a freight line, sold the Camden-to-Trenton track to NJTransit and worked out a deal to continue using it at night.
Delays early on meant an accelerated work schedule later, Menaker said.
Among the design changes, Menaker said, were shifts in station location and complications in dealing with the various utility lines near the tracks.
Extending the line to the State House in Trenton could cost up to $100 million, Assemblyman Jack Conners, D- Camden, said.
"Everybody would like to see it (the extension) happen," said Conners, a member of the Assembly's light rail panel.
But given the state's budget problems and the number of other rail projects competing for funds, the Legislature is unlikely to fund the Trenton spur at this point, Conners said.
Problems at the Camden end of the line also remain unresolved. NJTransit has to be off the line by 10 p.m. to make way for freight traffic. That means no passenger runs can start after 9 p.m. and no trains home for patrons of the Tweeter Center or the Riversharks' ballfield.
Residents along the route continue to question its usefulness and worry about safety, traffic delays and crime.
"I think it's mostly for college kids," said Ellie Ortega, a Cinnaminson resident who runs a computer store there.
Jeff Kahanna, a lifelong resident of Palmyra, estimated that public opinion there is running about "75 percent negative."
The 38-year-old cabinet maker sees traffic delays at the numerous crossings and safety problems with kids.
Menaker, the Bechtel spokesman, said that work on the line is about 80 percent complete.
Key elements still to be completed include the Federal Street Bridge in Camden; a section of track in Burlington City; and grade crossings and track in Trenton.
In deciding to build the light rail line along the Burlington County waterfront on the basis of a 45-day study, NJTransit abandoned other routes that had been considered for decades, including a spur out to Moorestown, Mount Laurel and the heart of Burlington County and another into Gloucester County to relieve congestion on Routes 42 and 55.
The transit agency also decided not to apply for federal funding, a process that would have involved rigorous scrutiny by federal and regional agencies.
To fund the project itself it had to borrow, issuing bonds through the state Economic Development Authority. Interest on the bonds will bring the cost of the line to approximately $1 billion, a study done by Rutgers' Transportation Policy Institute concluded.
Dunn, the Rutgers professor, said the line has already done some good.
"You spend a billion dollars and it's going to have some positive impact, like jobs," he said.
"But the real issue is `opportunity costs,'" he continued. "Is there a better way to spend a billion dollars to enhance mobility?"
Dunn believes there is, one option being to improve the bus service that already serves the Camden-to-Trenton corridor.
NJTransit plans to retain service on the two bus routes that now serve the corridor. One is on Route 130, and the other is along River Road and follows almost the same route as the light rail line.
Together, the bus routes generate about 5,000 fares a day.
Sharon Brown, 43, of Camden, gets a ride to her job in Cinnaminson in the morning, then takes the bus home.
She is pleased the light rail is coming, as she figures it will save her time. The buses run only every hour during the off hours she travels home, while the trains will run every half-hour.
"I think it's going to help a lot of people," she said, in both the cities and the suburbs.
How many people remains to be seen.
Projections done before the line was approved estimated it would carry 9,300 fares, or one-way trips, when it opened and that ridership would climb to 16,300 fares by 2020.
By comparison, the PATCO Hi-Speedline carries 39,000 fares a day, a figure that has remained virtually constant since the line opened in 1969.
Reach Richard Pearsall at (856) 486-2465 or rpearsall@courierpostonline.com