West Windsor Mayor Hemant Marathe criticized Amtrak this week for months of delays that have stalled repairs to the closed Clarksville Road bridge.
The bridge, which carries Clarksville Road over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line, was taken out of service Nov. 2 after inspections found severe corrosion in several structural elements. It remains closed between Meadow Road and Everett Drive.
In a public statement released this week, Marathe said progress has been hindered by Amtrak’s failure to issue a required permit allowing the state Department of Transportation to inspect the bridge.
“Unfortunately due to slow responses by Amtrak to NJ DOT there has not been much progress,” Marathe said. “I have been actively at work with both NJDOT and Amtrak, as well as the County, to make everyone understand the urgency of moving this project forward.”
Marathe said meetings involving the township, NJDOT, Amtrak, and Mercer County were held Nov. 10, Jan. 7 and Jan. 28. A separate meeting with NJDOT was held Jan. 23.
During the Jan. 7 meeting, Marathe said Amtrak initially indicated it would take three weeks to issue a permit to inspect the bridge.
“When I challenged their plan, they agreed to expediate it and issue it in one week by Jan. 14,” he said.
The permit had still not been issued as of Jan. 28, according to Marathe.
“Now I have been told that the permit will be issued on Monday Feb. 2nd almost three months after the bridge was taken out of service,” he said.
Marathe said the permit is required only for the inspection phase and noted that bridge work over active rail lines is routine.
“There is nothing unique or special about the Clarksville Road Bridge,” he said. “I can’t understand why it takes Amtrak over 3 months to simply issue a permit.”
Marathe also criticized Amtrak for not sending senior operations staff to coordination meetings and said representatives declined to attend a Feb. 2 Township Council meeting to answer questions.
“Amtrak is funded by taxpayers and has shown complete disregard to them,” he said.
According to Marathe, NJDOT informed him Jan. 30 that it expects to receive the permit by Feb. 2 and complete its inspection by Feb. 6.
“They will then let me know what our options are to get the bridge open, how long each option will take and what exactly is involved,” he said.
Marathe said he has also been told that Amtrak may limit track outages needed to complete repairs once a plan is finalized.
“I am very frustrated with the ‘business as usual’ attitude displayed by Amtrak,” he said.
Marathe said he has contacted Gov. Mikie Sherrill, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, and Amtrak leadership to press for faster action.
Marathe encouraged residents to contact federal officials regarding Amtrak’s role in the delays, including Sen. Kim at andykim.com/contact and Sen. Cory Booker at booker.senate.gov/contact/write-to-cory.
Marathe also urged residents to contact state officials to support NJDOT’s ability to complete repairs, including Gov. Sherrill, state Sen. Shirley Turner, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, and Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli.
“I want to make sure that they give us the necessary outages to get the bridge fixed as fast as NJDOT possibly can,” Marathe said.
