Residents glad to see rail cars being moved
Improvements
will remedy rail noise, storage behind homes

JEFF GRANIT staff Helen Monaco stands in her Sayreville back yard, where freight trains have been parked on and off for as long as she has lived there.

BY JOLENE HART

Staff Writer

When their trees begin to bud next year, residents of Sayreville’s Green Valley neighborhood may finally enjoy a peaceful, unblemished scene in their back yards.

A $1.9 million agreement with the state Department of Transportation that will fund improvements to the CSX/Conrail rail tracks adjacent to many local homes was celebrated in an Oct. 27 ceremony at the tracks. The agreement will allow for the relocation of the existing rail storage facility to a more remote section of the borough, far from residents who have dealt with what some have described as a loud, unsightly nuisance for more than 30 years.

"The storage of rail cars behind Zaleski, Oak Tree and Creamer Drive has been an ongoing problem," state Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-19th District) said in a statement. "In less than three weeks, Conrail will begin the process of tearing up the secondary tracks, which will end this incompatible use."

State Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere, Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien, CSX/Conrail Vice President Bim McGheehan and Wisniewski were among those who joined residents to pull the first spike from the existing rails after the announcement, foretelling the changes to come over the winter.

"We are working toward an improvement in the quality of life of our residents," O’Brien said at a meeting of the Borough Council later that evening.

"This is long overdue," said council President Thomas Pollando.

Last week’s ceremony took place at the home of Helen Monaco, a resident of Oak Tree Road who has long appealed for the removal of the cars.

According to Monaco, the storage of rail cars has gradually become a more serious problem over the past few decades.

"When we moved here 26 years ago, there was a ‘mom and pop’ type railroad that ran through, maybe two times a day at 10 miles per hour," Monaco said. "When Raritan Valley Railroad took over, then Conrail, car storage began. At first it was only brief, and then it lasted longer and longer. It has really been an ongoing problem."

Monaco explained that she and other residents of the neighborhood were most concerned for the safety of children who would play on and around the rail cars, and they often wondered what exactly was stored in the cars and tankers.

"Today I look out my window and can see at least five cars in my back yard," Monaco said on Monday, "but there have been times that all three tracks were full."

The storage area will be relocated to the end of CSX/Conrail’s Sayreville Secondary line, near Route 1 in North Brunswick. CSX/Conrail, in an agreement with the state DOT, consented to close the end of the line so that additional storage would be available for train cars currently housed in Green Valley.

The removal of the cars and extra tracks from the Green Valley area is expected to be completed by the spring, according to Wisniewski’s office. The anticipated date of completion for the North Brunswick portion of the project is unknown.