Community Corner

Hearing on Dinky Today in Trenton

A hearing is scheduled before the New Jersey Historic Sites Council.

 

Princeton University is moving forward with plans to move the Dinky train and will appear before state historic preservation officials today for permission to remove the track and abandon the public rights in the station.

New Jersey’s Historic Sites Council will consider the application today at 10 a.m., in the DEP Hearing Room at 401 East State Street in Trenton.   

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The Dinky, which runs between Princeton Borough on University Place and the Princeton Junction train station in West Windsor, has been running since May 29, 1865. It takes four minutes for the train to travel 2.7 miles and is popular among daily commuters to New York, university students and residents.

The University plans to move the Dinky about 500 feet south of its current location in order to make room for its new $300 million arts project.
The Dinky buildings, track, and infrastructure to operate the train service, were placed on the state Register of Historic Places in March 1984, said Anita Garoniak, a member of the citizens group known as “Save the Dinky.”

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She said state preservation officials found that the Dinky move constituted an encroachment on the historic site and referred the proposal to the state’s Historic Preservation Council for review.    

“The Council can approve an encroachment if the benefit to the public justifies it and if there are no feasible alternatives,” Garoniak said in a statement. “The Dinky tracks are in the way of a parking garage. This is not a reason to abandon the historic train station.  It is a reason for the University to rethink its plans.”  

Meanwhile, four Princeton residents- members of “Save the Dinky- filed suit in October against Princeton University, Trustees of Princeton University and NJ Transit, claiming there is no legal basis to move the Dinky and seeking a court judgment barring them from doing so.

The plaintiffs argue an Oct. 30, 1984, agreement between Princeton University and NJ Transit allowed the university to move the Dinky terminus south from the north end to the south end of the existing platform and that New Jersey Transit, at the University’s request, has already made this move.  


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