THE ISSUE: The latest proposal by two NJ senators for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson.
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“Legally blind” is the best term to describe Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and their tunnel plan (“Plan for $13.5B NJ-NY Rail Link,” Feb. 8).
Their idea is to partner with Amtrak, which operates at a loss on 93 percent of its routes, and the MTA, which is operating with a $10 billion deficit, while offering a plan that is 39 percent more expensive than the last one and provides about half the service.
As if this is not bad enough, these senators are looking to find funding from New York, New Jersey and other organizations that all have one thing in common — they have no money.
Who elected these idiots?
M. Patracuolla
Bloomfield, NJ
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Amtrak is offering to front $50 million for a preliminary study to build this hole in the ground.
That’s a lot of money for a study, and a preliminary one at that. No wonder Amtrak and the government are going broke.
Gary Cella
Cos Cob, Conn.
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New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie had the guts to kill off a cost-bloated, $8.7 billion tunnel that would have been our country’s largest transportaion project.
So how does the money-loser Amtrak respond? By considering a similar, but even more outrageously expensive, $13.5 billion boondoggle. Amtrak has all the arrogance of an unlimited government — and all of the inefficiency, too.
Mark Kalinowski
Clifton, NJ