Red Bank may be about to lose its potential as an expanded transit hub
Red Bank is about to lose its weekly southbound rail freight movement from Sayreville, over NJT lines through to the old CNJ link and onwards towards Lakewood due to a new route being rehabilitated through Freehold.
Movements east of Red Bank ceased a couple of years ago with the cessation of newsprint deliveries to APP.
Of course, residents of the ironically named “The Rail at Red Bank”, may be delighted that there are just a couple fewer disturbances to their afternoon reveries, but the potential loss of the right-of-way toward Atlantic City and links to Camden and Philadelphia would be a big reduction of possibilities to any forward-looking transit network. There is the potential for up to 2 million customers on a route like this.
In the meantime, the area around the rails between the station and the rail crossing on Newman Springs Rd could be an important commercial development zone, a premium asset in a town of just two square miles. And while the thought of just ripping it up and turning it over to a bike/walk trail may be tempting it is also possible to combine the two quite safely as a major new entry into the town.
Imagine, Red Bank as the Gateway to the Shore for up to two million people… Well. It’s about time some imagination was used around here.
