NJ TRANSIT Monitoring Rail Repairs, Says Amtrak 'Doing Everything Necessary'
ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- As Amtrak continues to fix the power problems blamed for several recent delays on the rails, NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Ronnie Hakim says her agency is watching the work "very carefully."
"They're doing everything necessary," Hakim told WCBS 880's Jim Smith. "That's our engineering judgment."
She added she hopes to "never see that kind of a repeat again."
The New York Times reported that Amtrak had finished repairs Friday on one of two damaged power cables that had caused delays.
With the focus shifting to longer-term solutions, such as new tunnels under the Hudson River, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said it's a fight on Capitol Hill to secure the investment needed to improve transit infrastructure. He said this Congress is the first since the 1970s that can't pass a bipartisan transportation bill.
"This Congress is stuck in the mud," Pascrell said.
"Are we ready for another bridge to fall down on somebody's head?"
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sent a letter last week to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging them to meet with him in the next two weeks to put together a strategy for building new tunnels.
Christie said he has spoken to Cuomo and that the two were trying to coordinate their schedules. Both have said the federal government needs to contribute more to the project.