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NJ Transit set to borrow $500M to replace old trains and buses

NJ Transit is about to take out the mother of all new vehicle loans -- $500 million to purchase new trains and buses to rid the fleet of the old ones that break down and cause delays.

The financing could come from the state Economic Development Authority, scheduled to decide on Tuesday whether to issue tax exempt transportation revenue bonds. NJ Transit’s board could vote Wednesday to authorize spending the $500 million to replace aging trains and buses.

The financing would allow NJ Transit to retire some of its oldest GP40 diesel locomotives, which were built in the 1960s and rebuilt in the early 1990s. NJ Transit has 52 of those locomotives. Twenty-nine would be replaced and 17 rebuilt and remain in revenue service, under the agency’s 2014 fleet plans.

That plan also calls for replacement of 1,338 NABI city-style buses starting in 2021. Those buses would be purchased over six years under the plan.

The purchase would come on the heels the agency’s ongoing $100 million replacement of NJ Transit’s aging 1,200-cruiser bus fleet, happening over five years, and its $75 million plan to build and purchase 113 electric-powered, multi-level rail cars, which will replace the 40-year old Arrow III cars in use now. Another 17 dual-mode locomotives are included in the fiscal year 2020 budget.

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https://www.nj.com/traffic/2019/12/n...and-buses.html