Latest news with #KrisKolluri
CBS News
01-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
NJ Transit 3% fare hike takes effect. Here's where the agency's CEO says the money is going.
If you use NJ Transit, you probably noticed you are paying a bit more on your train and bus tickets. That's because fares went up by 3% on Tuesday, an increase that follows last year's 15% hike, which was the first of any kind in a decade. NJ Transit CEO addresses the state of the agency On Tuesday, CBS News New York's Christine Sloan asked NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri about delays and cancellations that have plagued the system. "What is happening now is that these massive weather systems, these massive thunderstorms that are going through, happen in such a burst," Kolluri said. Kolluri added the system is antiquated and Amtrak's responsibility because that agency owns the lines. He said the cost to upgrade is in the billions of dollars. Kolluri said the 3% fare increase will go toward NJ Transit's budget. "Pays for Access Link, which has gone up by $40 million this year, and new bus service and replacing private carriers that no longer provide bus service ... that has gone up by $20 million," Kolluri said. Here's what state and federal funding is paying for As for the more than $760 million earmarked for NJ Transit in the state budget just signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, Kolluri said that money will go toward COVID-era loss. "The corporate transit fee the Legislature and the governor are now giving us is merely replacing the money we used to get from the federal government until this year," he said. However, Kolluri says federal money will pay for other upgrades. "That's why the governor and I said before the end of this year we will order all the trains and buses necessary to modernize the system," Kolluri said. Kolluri said the fear was the agency would get less funding under the Trump administration, but added NJ Transit is getting exactly what it wants. "Everything is going up except our salaries" Despite what the CEO says, NJ Transit riders are forking out more on train and bus tickets and some are not happy about it. "No, it's too much! They just went up on the fare," Newark resident Gail Goodson said. "How often do they go up? Everything is going up except our salaries," Newark resident Geraldine Cooley said. "I think it's fine as long as they put the money to upgrading the trains and some Wi-Fi," commuter Aaron Schlam said.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NJ Transit starts key phase of new Raritan River rail bridge
PERTH AMBOY — The second phase of a massive three-phase project to rebuild NJ Transit's Raritan River Bridge began on a sweltering Tuesday, June 24. "So many of the coastal towns, of which I live in one, are going to be impacted positively by this," Gov. Phil Murphy, a Red Bank resident, said at a groundbreaking ceremony for the project. "We have to remember, this is a bridge that was built when William Howard Taft was in office. "To say that it's overdue to get this sucker into the 21st century is, I think, probably the understatement of the year," he said. This swing bridge is a key crossing, as it connects 17 of the 20 stations exclusively on the North Jersey Coast Line before it meets up with the Northeast Corridor on the way to New York Penn bridge was originally built in 1908 and is two years older than the notorious Portal Bridge, which is being replaced through a $2.3 billion project currently underway in Kearny. About 11,500 commuters use the North Jersey Coast Line on any given weekday, and some 2 million tons of Conrail freight also traverses this route annually. The bridge was shut down for 18 days after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 when it suffered substantial damage from flooding and debris, requiring the deck to be realigned. "That's why when the governor and the Legislature and the [Transportation Department] chairman all got together and said, 'What is the most important project after Portal?' this was the one that was identified," said Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit. Skanska Koch Inc., of Carteret, was awarded a $444.3 million contract in December 2024 to do the second phase of construction on this project, which includes building the lift portion of the bridge and the flanking spans, as well as installing the communications, signal and overhead catenary wire. Skanska — also the lead contractor on the Portal Bridge replacement project — was one of three contractors whose bids were reviewed for the Raritan River Bridge project's second phase, which is expected to be finished around October 2029. George Harms Construction Co. Inc., of Farmingdale, was the contractor on the first phase of the project, which began in May 2020 and wrapped up last year. When that project got started, it was estimated to cost about $248 million. Hardesty & Hanover and Gannett Fleming are the joint venture behind the design of the bridge. AECOM/Mott MacDonald is the joint venture construction management consultant, which was approved for a contract of nearly $34 million in October 2019. The replacement bridge will include a lift feature, instead of swinging open to marine traffic as it does now. It will be 10 feet wider than the current bridge and will be elevated higher than the current one so its profile will be above the 100-year floodplain. Trains will be able to go up to 60 miles per hour on this bridge; currently, they slow to 30 miles per hour. NJ Transit secured a $446 million federal grant for the program, through the Federal Transit Administration's Emergency Relief Program for resilience projects in response to Superstorm Sandy. NJ Transit also said last year that it transferred about $240 million from the canceled Transitgrid power project and put it toward the Raritan River Bridge program, but a question about how that money fits in with the project's financing was not yet answered by an agency spokesman. The third portion of the program will demolish the old bridge. So far, the price tag for the first two phases is more than $692.3 million, well over the entire three-phase original estimate of $595 million. "The biggest variable in this project is cost of steel," Kolluri said. The superstructure will be made of steel, and the concrete piers will also be reinforced with steel. "The cost estimate was developed pre-pandemic and the contracts were awarded post-pandemic, and through the interim period, the cost of steel went up by a substantial amount," he added. This article originally appeared on NJ Transit starts key phase of Raritan River rail bridge
CBS News
10-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
New Jersey Transit train engineers OK tentative deal that ended 3-day strike
New Jersey Transit's train engineers have overwhelmingly approved a tentative deal that ended their three-day strike last month that halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the results Tuesday. They said the seven-year agreement, covering the years 2020-2027, was supported by 398 members, while 21 voters rejected it. NJ Transit's board of directors is scheduled to vote on the agreement when they meet Wednesday. Details of the contract have not been released, but the union said it includes a "significant pay raise" and addresses other issues for the roughly 450 engineers who serve the agency. The main sticking point during negotiations had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency. The walkout that began May 16 was the state's first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. It came a month after union members had overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. Stefan Jeremiah / AP NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said the deal represents "a fair and fiscally responsible agreement for our locomotive engineers, NJ Transit, our customers, and the taxpayers of New Jersey." Union leaders voiced similar views. "All along we've said we didn't want to be the highest paid engineers, we only wanted equal pay for equal work," said Tom Haas, who works as an NJT engineer and serves as BLET's general chairman at the commuter railroad. "This agreement brings us close to what our peers make for doing the same type of work with the same levels of experience and training. This agreement gives us the pay raises we needed, but also was done without a major hit to NJT's budget and should not require a fare hike for passengers." NJ Transit — the nation's third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halted all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City's Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
The Independent
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
New Jersey Transit train engineers OK tentative deal that ended strike which had halted NYC routes
New Jersey Transit's train engineers have overwhelmingly approved a tentative deal that ended their three-day strike last month that halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the results Tuesday. They said the seven-year agreement, covering the years 2020-2027, was supported by 398 members, while 21 voters rejected it. NJ Transit's board of directors is scheduled to vote on the agreement when they meet Wednesday. Details of the contract have not been released, but the union said it includes a 'significant pay raise' and addresses other issues for the roughly 450 engineers who serve the agency. The main sticking point during negotiations had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency. The walkout that began May 16 was the state's first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. It came a month after union members had overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said the deal represents 'a fair and fiscally responsible agreement for our locomotive engineers, NJ Transit, our customers, and the taxpayers of New Jersey.' Union leaders voiced similar views. 'All along we've said we didn't want to be the highest paid engineers, we only wanted equal pay for equal work,' said Tom Haas, who works as an NJT engineer and serves as BLET's general chairman at the commuter railroad. 'This agreement brings us close to what our peers make for doing the same type of work with the same levels of experience and training. This agreement gives us the pay raises we needed, but also was done without a major hit to NJT's budget and should not require a fare hike for passengers.' NJ Transit — the nation's third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halted all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City's Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
Associated Press
10-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
New Jersey Transit train engineers OK tentative deal that ended strike which had halted NYC routes
New Jersey Transit's train engineers have overwhelmingly approved a tentative deal that ended their three-day strike last month that halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the results Tuesday. They said the seven-year agreement, covering the years 2020-2027, was supported by 398 members, while 21 voters rejected it. NJ Transit's board of directors is scheduled to vote on the agreement when they meet Wednesday. Details of the contract have not been released, but the union said it includes a 'significant pay raise' and addresses other issues for the roughly 450 engineers who serve the agency. The main sticking point during negotiations had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency. The walkout that began May 16 was the state's first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. It came a month after union members had overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said the deal represents 'a fair and fiscally responsible agreement for our locomotive engineers, NJ Transit, our customers, and the taxpayers of New Jersey.' Union leaders voiced similar views. 'All along we've said we didn't want to be the highest paid engineers, we only wanted equal pay for equal work,' said Tom Haas, who works as an NJT engineer and serves as BLET's general chairman at the commuter railroad. 'This agreement brings us close to what our peers make for doing the same type of work with the same levels of experience and training. This agreement gives us the pay raises we needed, but also was done without a major hit to NJT's budget and should not require a fare hike for passengers.' NJ Transit — the nation's third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halted all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City's Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
