Removal of 460 feet of train tracks approved

Opponents of the University’s plan to move the Dinky further south suffered another setback Thursday morning. In a 5-1 vote by the state Historic Sites Council, the University and New Jersey Transit received approval to remove 460 feet of train tracks.

The train tracks, which go from Princeton Junction to the University, are owned by NJ Transit but are operated through an easement in the portion of land that belong to the University. The easement also allows NJ Transit to operate the University-owned Dinky train stations.

The Council’s approval will now allow NJ Transit to abandon the easement before its expiration date, and consequently, the University will be able to develop the underlying land and train stations earlier in order to build its proposed $300 million Arts and Transit Neighborhood.

The University has said in the past it wishes to turn the current train station into restaurants while preserving the exterior look.

Officials argued that, had they not approved the proposition, the easement would nevertheless have expired five years from now, letting the University develop the land anyway, according to Planet Princeton. In addition, the easement stops the University from removing the train tracks but not from moving the train station, in coordination with NJ Transit, to a new site 460 feet south of the current station.

“Our position is that NJ Transit could cease using the existing station without any approval by us,” said Dan Saunders, acting administrator for the NJ Historic Preservation Office, according to Planet Princeton.

However, NJ Transit will not be able to abandon the easement before the new transit service to Princeton Junction is in operation.

NJ Transit Regional Manager of Government and Community Relations Thomas Clark and University Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69, spoke as the applicants before the Council. The public was also allowed to speak.

Operations research and financial engineering professor Alain Kornhauser spoke at the meeting and noted in an interview that he did not understand the reason to remove the train tracks.

“It just would be nice to know why the University is so adamant about wanting to move the train. Is it really that uninviting?” he said in the interview. “It’s an enormous amount of history, and it’s an enormous part of this campus.”

Township Mayor Chad Goerner spoke in favor of the removal of the tracks.

Borough Mayor Yina Moore ’79, Borough Councilwoman Jenny Crummiller, Save the Dinky and Occupy Princeton member Josh Shulman ’13 and Kornhauser all spoke against the early abandonment of the easement.

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Around 50 people attended the meeting, Kornhauser said. The gathering followed an original meeting in February where the Historic Sites Council had tabled the discussion.

Contributor Warren Crandall contributed reporting.

Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Township Mayor Chad Goerner attended the Historic Sites Council meeting in February. He did not attend the meeting. The 'Prince' regrets the error.