New Jersey provides an interesting contrast in this regard. Since 1991, NJ Transit has successfully built commuter rail track connections to introduce two new "Midtown-direct" services, and tied its entire north Jersey rail network together at the new Secaucus Transfer station (its opening is delayed until downtown PATH service is restored), which will create a variety of new service options. It has also built two new light rail lines (Trenton-Camden will open this summer) and has a Federal Transit Administration full-funding agreement for a third (Newark-Elizabeth).

Even more impressive looking forward, New Jersey is pulling together around a single major project for the pending federal funding bill. Senators Lautenberg and Corzine and Governor Jim McGreevey all agree that winning funds for a second NJ-Midtown commuter rail tunnel is the state’s top priority for "TEA-3." They said as much at a press conference late in June announcing the start of the project’s environmental impact statement. Their display of leadership is already making a difference: last week, editorials in the Star-Ledger, the Asbury Park Press, the Trenton Times and Courier-News weighed in in support of the project and the state’s leaders. "The real progress could well be the governor’s high profile support" for the tunnel, the Ledger wrote.

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