ALTERNATIVES QUICKLY DWINDLE IN WEST SHORE RESTORATION By Robert Knight           Ten of 14 possible configurations for restoration of passenger rail service on the old West Shore route have been eliminated by professional planners as being too expensive or too difficult to achieve, officials explained at the fourth community liason committee meeting last week.           The meeting, held Wednesday at the Clinton Inn in Tenafly, NJ, drew nearly 100 people from Rockland and Bergen Counties, many of them county, town , city, and village officials who are keenly interested in the eventual outcome of the study, which could lead to resumption of passenger service after a 50-year absence on the freight-only West Shore line. For Rocklanders, all options remain open which would directly affect the county and three of its five towns: Orangetown, Clarkstown, and Haverstraw.           The alternatives which were eliminated last week were all at the southern end of the proposed revised service, according to James McKenna of New Jersey Transit and representatives from the consulting firm of Edwards and Kelcey, who are doing the actual work on the study, funded with a $4.2 million federal-state grant.           The Rockland alternatives include using the West Shore route as it currently exists, from the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack south to Hoboken; using the long-abandoned Northern Railroad of New Jersey route instead, further east by about a mile; and extending the terminus from West Nyack to West Haverstraw.           North Rockland officials are keenly interested in that last alternative, and have attended all of the four planning meetings so far. Haverstraw Mayor Bud Wassmer attended the previous meeting, and last week's session included Town Supervisor Thomas Lawless and Haverstraw County Legislator Howard Phillips.           If the study concludes that extension of the route into North Rockland is financially feasible, it would include stations at both Haverstraw and West Haverstraw, which would become the new northern terminus of the line.           There are at least two major problems to overcome first, though, officials explained.      To even begin the study, they need money from New York State, and there's the question of how to get the trains through the Haverstraw tunnel.           So far, all of the money has come from Washington and Trenton, which is why the focus so far has been on the Bergen County portion of the project. Officials said New York has promised to kick in $200,000, but so far, the check hasn't arrived.           The tunnel is even more problematic. Carved through solid rock in the 1880's, it originally carried two rail lines for the West Shore, one northbound and the other southbound, when the railroad carried both freight and passengers.           Passenger service ended a half-century ago after being deemed unprofitable. Years later the West Shore, under Conrail ownership, tore up one of the two rails, and moved the other to the center of the right-of-way. This allowed them to run double-stacked freight cars through the low-ceilinged tunnel, which runs between Congers and Haverstraw along Route 9W.           So far, Conrail refuses to allow New Jersey Transit, Metro-North, or any other commuter rail system to use their tracks, saying it needs it exclusively for freight service, in which trains typically 150 cars long use the route 24 hours a day.           If the route was double-tracked again, it would mean losing headroom through the tunnel, prohibiting their freight trains from passing through, on what is described as the busiest freight rail line in the eastern United States.           The only other alternative to get to Haverstraw would be to blast the tunnel away, or construct an entirely new route around the tunnel, Edwards and Kelcey officials said, noting that either option might be prohibitively expensive, and thus not feasible.           Orangetown and Rockland County officials, in the meantime, have been campaigning against any use of the old Northern Railroad of New Jersey route.           They favor restoring passenger service on the West Shore, County Planning and Public Transportation Commissioner Dr. James Yarmus told the meeting last week, but they are unalterably opposed to any use of the abandoned Northern route, which in Orangetown has become a hiking and biking trail owned by the town.           Orangetown Parks and Recreation Superintendent Richard Rose brought that point home strongly at the meeting, distributing copies of a town board resolution to that effect which were quickly gobbled up by information-hungry officials from other communities.           The Joseph B. Clarke rail-trail was dedicated just this June 6, he noted, after the town spent years in the process of purchasing the abandoned route from the defunct Erie Railroad Corporation, which previously owned it.           The trail runs from Tappan to Orangeburg, following the old rail route, and is exactly the same route transportation planners are eagerly eyeing to restore for the new passenger service, so that it would not have to compete with the nearby West Shore, and avoid a showdown with that powerful and rich corporation. (Conrail)           Whatever entity ends up owning and/or running the passenger service would have the right of eminent domain, meaning they could condemn the land back from Orangetown, planners said at last week's meeting, which would put them in direct confrontation with Orangetown officials and residents who live near the old rail line.           Bergen County Officials, for the most part, seem to favor the Northern route over the West Shore, however. Not only does it avoid conflict with Conrail's West Shore over sharing their line with passenger trains, but much of the route is still operating in Bergen County, up to Norwood. It was only abandoned from Northvale through Rockland County, they note, and could therefore be easilly reactivated with little difficulty. Originally, the Northern ran north to Nyack, along the cliffs of the Palisades. A branch at Sparkill went west, following Route 340, and crossed the West Shore at Orangeburg, continuing west to Nanuet, where it continued to Suffern as part of the old Pascack Valley Line, which now terminates at Spring Valley.           The entire route in Orangetown is now a series of hiking trails, the biggest part owned by the town and smaller sections owned by Piermont, Grandview, South Nyack and Nyack.           NJT and Edwards and Kelcey planners would like to reactivate the route from Northvale to Sparkill, and then west to Orangeburg, there they would connect it to the existing West Shore line, running north to West Nyack.     Officials also said they are not contemplating making any studies of potential passenger service north of West Haverstraw, even though they have heard complaints from Orange County that they would like service extended as far north as Newburgh, and then west to Stewart International Airport. To get to Newburgh would require negotiating a much longer tunnel at West Point, they said, and constructing and entirely new line from Newburgh to Stewart, involving condemnation of property and demolition of buildings.           Instead the planners said they have been telling Orange County officials that they would be much better served restoring passenger service on the Erie Mainline between Port Jervis and Hoboken, utilizing the old Maybrook branch.           The ten proposed routed in southern Bergen County that were eliminated by Edwards and Kelcey between the last two meetings were all either too expensive, or not operationally or physically compatible, engineers said.           The four remaining routes which are still being studied, and on which more in-depth reports will be presented at the next meeting, include the following: * If the West Shore Route is used, have a branch serve the Meadowlands sports complex in Secaucus. This could cross, and therefore be easilly connected to the existing Pascack Valley Line. It would also connect to the new Secaucus transfer station, now under construction, offering direct linkage to Manhattan, and the new Mills shopping complex planned for Secaucus, which would be even larger than the Palisades Mall. *   Using the Northern Railroad in its entirety, but for light rail rather than commuter trains. Light rail cars look more like trolleys than traditional passenger cars, and usually run in combinations of two or three, rather than eight to ten. This would be in combination with the existing Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Train (HBLRT) in southern Bergen / northern Hudson Counties, and would actually be a northern extension of that route. The southern terminus would be both the Weehawken ferry terminal and the Hoboken Terminal. *   Also using the Northern route, for light rail service, but not connecting with the HBLRT. Instead, it would run directly to the transfer station in Secaucus. *   The fourth proposal doesn't involve Rockland at all, but contemplates putting passenger service back on the now freight-only New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (known as "Suzie-Q"), between Hoboken terminal and the Vince Lombardi park and ride to whatever route is eventually selected, because of the thousands of commuters to New York who park there each day. *   Figuring out how best to connect to the Meadowlands sports complex, where huge evening and weekend ridership is anticipated. *   Having a commuter bus connection from southern terminuses to mid-town Manhattan, instead of or in addition to connecting train or ferry service. *   Making a connection at Saddle Brook with the Pascack Valley Line, which could then offer round-the-clock hourly service, instead of just morning and evening service, as it does now in Pearl River, Nanuet, and Spring Valley. *   Establishing a commuter ferry between Rockland Lake and mid-town Manhattan, which would avoid the need to extend the line beyond Congers into Haverstraw. * Having several spur lines, which would connect to the main line to not only the sports complex but the Secaucus transfer station, the New Jersey waterfront, Hackensack, Hoboken, and Rockland waterfront points such as Nyack and Haverstraw *   The potential for what is termed "inter-corridor" ridership, of people who want to travel within the region, by transfering from one line to another, rather than just going to and from Manhattan. This could involve not only rail lines such as the West Shore, Northern, Pascack Valley, Erie mainline, HBLRT and Suzie-Q, but also buses and ferries.           Martin Robbins, a consultant for Rockland County, said he felt the possibility of overlapping services and stations was a good concept, and not a bad one as engineers had intimated, because it offers potential riders more choices and more options, and is therefore more likely to capture them as customers.           The biggest problem he sees, he told the group during a public comment session at the end of the presentation last Wednesday, was lack of sufficient parking at each of the potential stations in Rockland County. Some, such as the Palisades Mall, have plenty of parking, he noted, but others, such as Sparkill, Blauvelt, and Haverstraw, have very limited areas that can hold only a few dozen cars, at most. Jeff Zupan of the Regional Plan Association said many criteria have yet to be studied at all, but he was assured that eventually all of the items he ticked off would be included.           Joe Santori of Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman's office congratulated the planners on their work so far, but wanted to know who would pay for the new rail service, if it is eventually undertaken, and how much it will cost.           The basic service will probably cost between $400 and $600 million to construct.