Who would pay for a railroad that crossed the Hudson?
A regional rail plan reached the state legislatures. Why did the new transit district never exist?
Explore the caseRegional governance timeline
THE HISTORY OF DECISIONS NEW YORK · NEW JERSEY · CONNECTICUT
Follow the decisions that shaped a divided transportation region.
Regional transportation institutions took shape through agreements and disagreements over money, jurisdiction, representation and operating control. This chronology follows those decisions across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with links to the reporting and records behind them.
Begin with a historical conflict below, or use the complete timeline to trace events by date. The companion newspaper archive preserves the reports themselves. Event dates describe when something happened; publication dates describe when its sources appeared.
THREE PATHS INTO THE RECORD
Start with a consequential question.
Read the history, follow dated turning points, then examine the original evidence.
How did a regional planning commission lose its region?
Why could eleven affirmative votes fail to approve a regional plan—and how did the commission disappear?
Explore the caseWhat did a through train at Penn Station actually prove?
What did the football train demonstrate about coordinating railroads—and what remained untested?
Explore the caseArticles and other sources, arranged by publication date. Undated items appear separately.
43 items
1952
March 3, 1952
Planners Back Transit Study
RPA endorses the New York and New Jersey bills creating a metropolitan rapid-transit commission. Paul Windels argues that highway improvements cannot solve congestion without comparable rail investment and a region-…
August 2, 1952
Transit Commission Named By Driscoll
TRENTON, Aug. 1—The membership of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission was appointed today by Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll before his departure on a Maine vacation. State Senator David Van Alstyne, Republican of Eng…
1953
August 12, 1953
State Transit Unit Accused Of Inertia
The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission was sharply criticized yesterday by City Planning Commissioner Goodhue Livingston Jr. for "dragging its feet." Mr. Livingston indicated that the transit agency, set up by th…
August 12, 1953
November 12, 1953
December 1, 1953
Regional Planning
The hearings held before the New York Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission, with a twin commission from New Jersey sitting in, renewed interest in the desirability of seeing the region's mass transportation needs w…
1955
February 21, 1955
Transit: There Is A History
Editor, Bergen Evening Record. Dear Sir: In your section entitled “Voice of the People” of the Saturday edition, February 12, there was a very interesting letter by a Mr. Walter Zullig Jr. of Maywood. In my opinion,…
August 2, 1955
Studying Rapid Transit
Governor Meyner's announcement that he will approve a $150,000 appropriation for the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission apparently clears the way at last for the completion of a well-financed study of New York-Ne…
August 25, 1955
Monmouth County Planning Board
The Monmouth County Planning Board has announced that it has adopted a resolution on the recommendation of their railroad transportation advisory committee, headed by Irving Feist of Shrewsbury, urging the newly-cre…
October 4, 1955
October 4, 1955
Norton Is Leader in Transit Field
Profile of Henry K. Norton, author of an aerial-transit plan presented to the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission. The clipping includes a Manhattan loop map, suburban feeder network, overhead-rail illustration an…
October 5, 1955
The New Transit Plan: Thinking Big
It is difficult with only brief opportunity for reflection to grasp the whole significance of the proposed aerial rapid transit plan for the Metropolitan Area. It is big: it is revolutionary; whether it would work i…
1956
May 16, 1956
August 24, 1956
12 Point Program For Queens Submitted To Transit Committee
The Queens Chamber of Commerce will present its 12-point Queens Transit Program, designed to meet the boough’s requirements for the next 50 years, to the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission on Sept. 10th, accordin…
October 10, 1956
Narrowing Down The Transit Question
Neither the proposal for a regional transportation authority nor the proposal for community-supported rapid transit is new. Indeed, it seems almost a foregone conclusion that the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commissio…
October 10, 1956
Rapid Transit Costs Cut, Real Estate Board Told
Jersey City, Oct. 10 – Towns and cities of the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area will have to pay part of the bill for a new rapid-transit system, but they may find that the bill will be far less than they expec…
1957
June 4, 1957
Rapid Transit Loop Expensive But Officials Say It’s Needed
Teaneck - It looks expensive, but we really need it. This was just about the sentiment of 100 County leaders and other interested persons as they listened intently at the Town House to an outline of the proposed rap…
September 5, 1957
Funds Limit Port Authority Operation
Many a commuter leader, watching rail service deteriorate from year to year, has sometimes bitterly asked: “Why can’t the Port of New York Authority take over and give us a workable rapid-transit system? The Port Au…
September 5, 1957
Rapid Transit Loop Opposed By Merchants
Jersey City, NJ – The Jersey City Merchants Council today claimed that the Page plan for a rapid transit loop into New York is a threat to the entire business community of Jersey City. A Council transit study commit…
September 23, 1957
Rapid Transit Plan Assailed
HARRIMAN (AP) — Robert Moses has attacked a proposal for a new bi-state agency to set up a unified rapid transit system between New York City and New Jersey. Moses told the regional conference on metropolitan areas…
October 9, 1957
October 11, 1957
Symposium To Discuss Transit Plan
A symposium on the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission’s report on the proposed $400,000,000 transit loop will be held at noon Oct. 29 in the grand ballroom of the Sheraton-Astor Hotel, New York. It will be under…
October 14, 1957
October 30, 1957
Jones Labels Rapid Transit Priority Work
Hackensack – State Senator Walter H. Jones said today a positive and workable program for providing northern New Jersey with a rapid-transit system must be a priority project of the 1958 Legislative session. The Rep…
December 23, 1957
Proposed Subway To Jersey Scored
The reaction to a new proposal for a Manhattan-New Jersey subway loop was almost unanimously unfavorable yesterday. The $500,000,000 plan is scheduled to be recommended this week by the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Co…
1958
January 2, 1958
If Not This, What?
The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission is reported to be considering a plan notably different from one presented its project director, Arthur W. Page. The new plan is said to follow Mr. Page's idea for a loop sys…
January 6, 1958
January 6, 1958
March 23, 1958
June 20, 1958
Metropolitan Transport
Position Regional Council Took on Recommended Legislation Outlined The writer of the following letter is Deputy City Administrator, City of New York, and executive secretary, Metropolitan Regional Council. The New Y…
October 24, 1958
Misleading Information Against Transit Bill
IT should not be necessary to have to say this again, but in a letter to Governor Meyner and the Legislature released today the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission carefully emphasizes that: "The transit district…
October 24, 1958
October 24, 1958
November 7, 1958
Pesin Warns Transit District Means ‘Loop’ About Hudson’s Neck
When the New Jersey State Legislature reconvenes on Monday, the General Assembly will have before it a bill by Sen. Walter Jones (GOP-Bergen)--backed by the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission and passed by the Se…
November 12, 1958
New Jersey’s Careful Plans To Stop Trying
Senator Jones's (R., Bergen) comment that the public hearing is a good weapon with which to kill legislation is acceptable within his specifically intended context. He refers to the hearing scheduled in Assembly com…
November 18, 1958
Rapid Transit Bill Passage Is Urged
Paramus – North Jersey transportation problems won’t be solved with vague talk about a giant new authority or by hopes that the Port of New York Authority will take on the job, said a Metropolitan Rapid Transit Comm…
November 19, 1958
Jersey Move Urged In Bi-State Transit
PARAMUS, N. J., Nov. 18–Frank H. Simon, executive director of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission, asserted today that the Port of New York Authority would not undertake the development of interstate rapid tra…
November 25, 1958
Ask Assembly To Act On Transit Problems
Trenton – New York and New Jersey cochairman of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission stood side by side in the State Assembly Chamber yesterday and asked for action instead of everlasting talk on the Metropolit…
December 3, 1958
Remedy For Confusion: Regional Groups Defined
December 3, 1958 Any one who tries to understand metro problems in the New York City area runs into an alphabet soup of initials and nicknames given to agencies or groups working toward goals that sometimes appear t…
December 12, 1958
Council To Study Transit
Jersey City Mayor Witkowski has called the traffic and transportation committee of the Metropolitan Regional Council into session to consider new commuter plans in the wake of Assembly failure to approve a metropoli…
1959
January 6, 1959
Bi-State Transit District Proposed Commission, in Final Report, Also Urges Commuter 'Loop'
New York — (AP) — The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission has recommended the creation of a bi-state Metropolitan Transit District to implement any general transit plan for the New York-New Jersey area. In its fin…
January 9, 1959
$500,000,000 Rail Loop Linking Jersey-Manhattan Now Urged
NEW YORK CITY — The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission (MRTC) Monday recommended to the governors of New York and New Jersey the construction of a 500-million-dollar rail loop system to speed commuter traffic and…
January 19, 1959
Crisis in New Jersey: Improving Commuter Service A Must, But No One Wants Job
By Frederic Cassin (First of a series on the rail commuter crisis) Preserving and improving commuter transit service in New Jersey is one of the more pressing problems facing the state these days. Most everyone agre…
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