Light rail on the Rahway Valley

I was just wondering why they have not considered using the R.V. for light rail service?
They could go Cranford(or Cranford Jct.) to Summit with stops in Kenilworth, Union(RT.22),
Springfield, etc....and also go Cranford(or Cranford Jct.) to at least Elizabeth with stops in
Roselle Park/Roselle and Elizabeth Station where you could connect to the N.E.C.. Maybe
extend it to Jersey Gardens. Roselle Park has 2 abandoned car dealerships on Westfield Ave.
right on the CNJ R.O.W. where either one could be converted to a park and ride.Plus couldn't
the light rail also be used to provide freight service( if there were any customers)?

There was some brief consideration to the notion of light rail on this currently-dormant short line back during the 1990s, when some fervor for the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link was starting. It came concurrent with proposals to have light rail running all the way to Plainfield along the former CNJ, presumably side-by-side with the Raritan Valley Line. Apparently some NIMBY resistance to the notion put it to a rapid death.

Then during the 2000s, there was the half-hearted push by Union County to rebuild the Rahway Valley as a freight line, to suit the purposes of the Morristown & Erie Railroad. The county "ran out of money" reportedly, after rebuilding the Staten Island Railway successfully and laying (but not ballasting) some track on the portion of the Rahway Valley from Cranford partway into Kenilworth.

Given the fact that the state of New Jersey has a bad habit of spending more on light rail than ought to be spent, it will be highly unlikely that anything will be built in the future. Incidentally, the only part of the Newark-Elizabeth proposed light rail was the "MOS-1", currently running from Penn Station to Broad Street Station.

The track was also rebuilt from the wye in Union up to to the Rahway River bridge near Meisel Ave. in Springfield. For a while there, it really looked as if the RVRR would operate again.

You'd have to reactivate the old CNJ ROW between Aldene and Elizabeth if you wanted that connection with the NEC, frogging across the RVL at Aldene so the line could move east under the LVRR trestle toward Elizabeth.

It'd probably still be quicker for someone in Summit or Springfield to take the M&E to Newark Broad and take light rail to Newark Penn for a connection with the NEC.

JasW wrote:
It'd probably still be quicker for someone in Summit or Springfield to take the M&E to Newark Broad and take light rail to Newark Penn for a connection with the NEC.

Correct if you assume all riders want to go to Newark/New York. I'm sure there might be some intra-county ridership as well, especially to Elizabeth, the county seat.