In letter, Christie blasts Amtrak

Orders N. J. transit to halt all payments after derailments

Gov. Chris Christie directed New Jersey Transit late Wednesday to halt all payments to Amtrak because of a train derailment Monday and subsequent delays that have ensnarled Garden State commuters this week, according to two letters.

In a letter to Anthony Coscia, the chairman of the Amtrak board, the governor said that he had directed New Jersey Transit “to cease making any payments to Amtrak” until there had been a “thorough and independent examination of the tracks, signals, switches and other equipment maintained by Amtrak” on the Northeast Corridor and verification that the equipment was “in a stateofgood- repair.”

As part of a longstanding agreement, New Jersey Transit pays Amtrak for its use of both the Hudson River tunnels and the Northeast Corridor rail lines, which Amtrak owns. According to the letter, New Jersey Transit pays Amtrak $ 2.5 million to $ 5 million a month for operating expenses and recently paid an additional $ 62 million for capital investments in the Northeast Corridor as part of the agreement. Christie is directing that these funds be withheld in future payments.

In a second letter, sent to his attorney general, Christopher Porrino, Christie also sought to “consider initiating appropriate legal action as necessary” to recover the $ 62 million and other money New Jersey Transit paid Amtrak under the agreement.

The letters, sent out Wednesday night, represent a sharp rebuke of Amtrak by the governor’s office. Early evidence suggests that the Amtrak rails were to blame for the derailment of a New Jersey Transit train at Pennsylvania Station in New York on Monday that has caused delays and cancellations across the region.

A spokesman for Amtrak could not be reached for comment late. But on Wednesday, Charles Moorman, Amtrak’s president, said the agency was undertaking a “thorough review of infrastructure at Penn Station to evaluate current conditions.”

Steven Santoro, the executive director of New Jersey Transit, said at a news conference Wednesday that the fault lay with Amtrak because his agency’s safety inspections on the train cars that derailed were up to date. “The bottom- line message is Amtrak needs to step up to the plate,” he said.

Christie also cited a derailment from two weeks ago, when an Amtrak Acela train derailed in the same area as Monday’s accident, causing delays for New Jersey riders who were directed in and out of neighboring stations in Hoboken and Newark.

Christie had faced criticism for remaining largely silent on the commuting nightmare since it spilled into his state Monday as he was delivering a speech in Florida. Until late Wednesday, his only public comments were to instruct New Jersey Transit executives to travel personally to stations Thursday to address commuters’ concerns.

But in his letter to Amtrak late Wednesday, he was sure to indicate, multiple times, his frustration.

He wrote that the recurring derailments at Penn Station “indicate Amtrak does not take its obligations seriously and has not effectively applied N. J. Transit’s considerable payments to the proper maintenance of these assets, which are absolutely essential to its customers. Amtrak’s apparent disregard for N. J. Transit’s customers is entirely unacceptable to me.”