"Sadly, I’m not surprised this governor’s administration was micromanaging a state agency," Wisniewski said. "He did that at the Port Authority." John Wisniewski, a state assemblyman who unsuccessfully ran for governor and led the legislative investigation of Bridgegate, said the Christie administration had turned NJ Transit from an agency where people wanted to come to work to a place where they had no future. The promotion of Christie allies at NJ Transit also overlaps a tumultuous period that included close scrutiny of the agency by federal regulators, canceled trains, broken-down equipment and its first fatal rail accident in 20 years. Dozens of Christie loyalists were placed at the Port Authority, allowing the administration to wield significant influence over the powerful bi-state agency. The promotion of political appointees at the agency has echoes of how the Christie administration operated the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Christie, as governor, has great influence over NJ Transit, holding the ability to veto its actions simply by refusing the sign its minutes. The agency denies that any Christie administration worker was given special preference over career NJ Transit employees or other qualified candidates for any senior position. NJ Transit carries more than 500,000 riders on an average weekday. The agency was once considered a model for mass transit, but after years of lackluster state funding, it struggles to fully fund its operations and capital improvement program. Most of the promotions occurred since 2014. The median salary for a state worker in 2016 was $72,953, according to the state Civil Service Commission.Īll but one of the 10 employees with Christie connections wound up making more than $100,000 at NJ Transit. The salary bumps range from $13,000 to as high as $70,000. Wildstein pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, leading to the conviction of two other Christie aides. One, Jared Pilosio, was a protege of David Wildstein, the admitted mastermind of the Bridgegate lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. They include a chief of compliance who makes more than her ousted predecessor and a deputy executive director who made more than the interim executive director at the time. The jobs at the nation's third largest public-transit agency all came with raises - some bumps as high as $70,000 - and ranged from the agency's chief of staff to positions in charge of planning and procurement to those managing Superstorm Sandy resilience projects. Chris Christie's administration as it hemorrhaged staff needed to operate safely and reliably, The Record and found after reviewing months of legislative testimony, court documents and state employee salary data. NJ Transit hired or promoted 10 employees connected to Gov. In comparison, when NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett took over the agency nearly three years ago, one locomotive engineer graduated in the first six months of that year.Watch Video: Video: New train bridge over Hackensack River There are now five locomotive engineer classes running concurrently, with 75 students, and three more are planned to start before the end of the year. "New Jersey commuters demand and deserve a safe, modern and reliable rail network." "We made a commitment to restoring NJ Transit to the place it needs to be and where we know it can be," Murphy said. In the past three years, 103 rail engineers have graduated, something once believed to be "impossible," Murphy said. Reaching a full roster was a top priority of the Murphy administration. More: Gateway commissioners are 'extremely optimistic' about future of long-stalled tunnel plan More: Here are NJ projects that could get help from Biden's infrastructure plan (including Gateway) "The best way to describe it is if the military academy and a university graduate school program had a baby," Tyler Morris, one of the locomotive engineer graduates, said during the commencement.
NJ TRANSIT TRAIN ENGINEER SALARY FULL
The nine recruits will still need to pass a final "check-ride" test before starting full time. Recruiting and training people to become locomotive engineers is a rigorous process that takes 20 months. The ideal number of locomotive engineers on the NJ Transit roster is 390 to 400. Phil Murphy said at a ceremony marking the completion of classroom training for the new engineers. "For the first time in years, if someone calls out or has a sick day, NJ Transit won't collapse into a litany of train cancellations," Gov. ISELIN - For the first time in over a decade, NJ Transit has a full roster of locomotive engineers after nine new graduates joined the ranks Thursday. Watch Video: Passenger Rail Lines in New Jersey
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