@CCulter:
I hope Toms River citizens never need to endure such a grueling commute.Loads of Toms River area people commute to NYC/North Jersey jobs every day. If you wish to see for yourself go to the Asbury service area on the Parkway at 5:30am and watch the northbound traffic flow for the next two hours. The same thing happens on Rte-9. Passenger rail service from Toms Rver to the North would help take some of the traffic off the highways. The problem is the entire rail lines to the north would need complete re-building to allow reasonable speeds. Currently the railspeed is 10mph due to track condition. (Viable passenger rail traffic needs to move at 80mph.) Additionally there currently is no connection between the TRIT and the Southern Secondary. The cost to re-build the entire route and upgrade the crossings is way too high to ever pay for itself. Back in the early 1900s trains powered by steam roared through the area at 70mph, but there has been little or no maintenance since.
Harry