APP.COM --- Candidate says he's for MOM rail line --- Congressman MICA AWOL THURSDAY IN SOUTH JERSEY, CAMPAIGING FOR REPUBLICAN in 3rd

Candidate says he's for MOM rail line
Gets backing in Amtrak bill
By Erik Larsen • TOMS RIVER BUREAU • October 3, 2008

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TOMS RIVER — A news conference held by Republican congressional candidate Chris Myers and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., on the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line, was interrupted Thursday morning by a telephone call from U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters.

Mica, the ranking Republican member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, stepped away from the podium to answer his cell phone and returned a few moments later with an announcement.

"That was the secretary of transportation, who just informed me that the president is
going to sign the Amtrak reauthorization bill," Mica said. "It's the first bill in 11 years. And what's interesting is the MOM line will connect into the Northeast Corridor."

The new initiative will encourage private sector development of high-speed rail corridors and authorize $2 billion in grants to states for rail projects and money for Washington's metro system.

"The private sector will have the opportunity to put together a finance plan to construct and operate true high-speed rail service on the Northeast Corridor and 10 other corridors across the United States," Mica said. "The Senate passed this just last night before the bailout provision was brought up. It is a very historic time."

The bill passed in the Senate by a 74-24 vote Wednesday night. Safety technology required by the legislation would have prevented the Sept. 12 commuter rail disaster in Los Angeles that killed 25 people, the Federal Railroad Administration has said.

The bill caps the hours per week that rail crews can work and prohibits shifts longer than 12 hours. It adds 200 new safety inspectors for the Federal Railroad Administration and requires the installation by 2015 of technology that can put the brakes on a train if it runs a red light or gets off track.

It also calls for Amtrak to receive $13 billion over five years in subsidies, though
Congress will have to separately approve the money year after year.

Mica and Myers appeared outside the Crystal Diner at the intersection of Routes 37 and 166, dubbed "accident alley" by local business owners as it is one of the most dangerous intersections in Toms River. Myers said the intersection illustrated the need for more mass transit in Ocean County and that the MOM line was the way to go.

Myers met with county and township leaders inside the diner before appearing with Mica in the parking lot.

"My opponent, (state Sen.) John Adler (D-Camden), is one of the guys holding up the MOM line," Myers said. "Not only that, his energy plan doesn't even mention the words mass transit in it. It's the typical hand waving that we get from Trenton politicians without specific plans on how we're going to implement something. In my view, again, this is a stark difference between his leadership and my leadership. John Adler has been in the state Senate for 16 years. . . And now he doesn't even support mass transit because he is caught up in the political nonsense. We need people who are leaders and want to focus how we get projects people need."

Myers said politicians who oppose the MOM line, such as those in Middlesex County, fail to understand that there is a compelling public interest to build the line and perhaps should be voted out of office if they fail to get onboard.

"This is just another desperate attempt by Chris Myers to distract voters from his support for George Bush's economic policies," Adler campaign manager Mark Warren said, in a written statement after the news conference. "The Bush/Myers economic policies have bankrupted this country, brought us to the point where the Congress is considering a $700 billion dollar bail-out and have done real harm to hard working middle class families . . . Chris Myers is deliberately misrepresenting John Adler's position on this issue, just as his mentor George Bush deceived the American people on the Iraq war and the economy."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.