Several New York state legislators from the Hudson Valley haves signed onto a letter imploring the MTA to provide Orange and Rockland commuters with a one-seat ride to New York City’s Penn Station.
Democratic Assemblyman James Skoufis says the letter to chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority requests that the MTA include construction of a Secaucus Junction loop in its 2015-2019 Capital Plan. Skoufis says now is the time to give the under-serviced and over-taxed West of Hudson lines a one-seat ride into New York City. Skoufis notes that Amtrak’s Gateway Project offers the possibility of the same loop at Secaucus Junction, but the project’s estimated completion year of 2025 is too far away. The Assembly is holding a public hearing in Manhattan Thursday morning on the upcoming MTA Capital Program, which is expected to be unveiled in the fall. Other assembly members, two state senators and Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney have signed on to the letter.
