Gov. Phil Murphy has pledged that service on the Atlantic City Rail Line which has been shut down since September will resume. But he and NJ Transit officials can’t say when that will happen because of the ongoing federal shutdown.

Atlantic City Line, Princeton Shuttle and direct Raritan Valley Line service has been shut down for four months while a federally mandated safety system has been installed. Now that a Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to do the first phase of that work has been met, commuters are demanding they get trains back.

“I am 100 percent certain the Atlantic City line will reopen,” Murphy said. “Because of the federal shutdown, it’s not happened.”

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“We need FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) approval of a reboot (of the rail service),” Murphy said.

NJ Transit officials also said they want to make sure they have the trains and crews available before those rail services resume to avoid putting commuters through a false start.

“The goal is to make sure the service that’s restored is reliable,” said Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit executive director. “We’re evaluating factors in restoring (rail) service around the state.

While FRA safety inspectors are working during the shutdown, the legal department, which would process NJ Transit’s PTC paperwork is not, he said.

Some transit advocates questioned why NJ Transit hasn’t resumed the rail service that doesn’t need FRA approval. They also said the current systemwide 10 percent fare discount should be extended as long as service remains suspended.

“Such inspections are only needed on the Atlantic City line and the Dinky lines, reduced service on other on RVL and elsewhere should be happening as soon as staff is available,” said Sally Gellhart, Lackawanna Commuter Coalition communications director. “If this doesn’t happen by Feb 1, we’re expecting an extended an increased discount, perhaps 25 percent system wide, until all trains are restored.”

NJ Transit officials they want to wait for an FRA decision.

“We work closely with the FRA…until we get confirmation it (the PTC application) doesn’t needs to be tweaked, we don’t want to go to full restoration of service, only to find we may have to make alterations,” Corbett said.

Another issue affecting the resumption of service is a backlog of trains that had to be inspected that officials blamed for a spike in canceled trains this month. Corbett said that backlog is expected to be reduced by the end of the month.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters