There was a time, perhaps, when the South Jersey Light Rail Line could be described as a good idea. That time is long gone. Now the $1 billion, 34-mile Camden-to-Trenton rail line goes by a different description - boondoggle. It's a waste of time and tax dollars.

But it's a waste that South Jersey is stuck with. No amount of complaining will bring back the squandered money or make the virtually useless train go away.

Instead, South Jersey residents - and, more importantly, NJ Transit - need to find a way to make the rail line work. That won't be easy.

However, a new proposal to link the S.J. Light Rail Line to the Atlantic City Line, running from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to Atlantic City, is a good start.

The idea, of course, should be looked at in depth before any final decision is made. The last thing anyone needs in this is more money being thrown down the drain.

But for now, this plan makes sense. One complaint about the South Jersey line is that it doesn't really go anywhere. For example, it stops one mile short of the State House in Trenton. Extending the line that final mile, though, likely would cost about $100 million - far too high a cost with far too low a projected benefit.

Connecting the S.J. line with the Atlantic City Line in Pennsauken, however, is expected to cost less than $10 million. That's still a steep price, but it would greatly extend the reach of the line while offering a genuine destination to passengers.

It's not a certain winner, of course. A station in Pennsauken would have to be a two-story structure allowing passengers to get off the S.J. line and reboard the A.C. line, which passes about 20 feet overhead.

A second possible station, in Delair, could provide a "seamless" ride to the shore. But that plan would entail changing the full Atlantic City Line to light rail and eliminating service to Philadelphia, because light rail and freight trains are not allowed to run on the same tracks.

Neither plan is perfect, but NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington has the right idea.

"We're going to do this right, not on the back of an envelope," he said. "We'll look at the layout, the demand, the cost, the engineering challenges, then we'll make a decision." If only they'd put this kind of thought into the light rail line in the first place.