Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop is co-chairing a panel of Hudson and Bergen County mayors, along with Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle III, created to push the light-rail train line further north, Huttle announced today.

The Mayors’ Hudson/Bergen Light Rail Commission is comprised of officials where the line runs and where officials want it extended. Others on the panel will include Mayors James Rotundo of Palisades Park, Anthony Suarez, Ridgefield, Vincent Bellucci, Jr., Fairview, Nicholas Sacco, North Bergen, Felix Roque, West New York, Brian Stack, Union City. Richard F. Turner, Weehawken, Dawn Zimmer, Hoboken, John DeSimone, Leonia, and Mark Smith, Bayonne .

Mayor Steve Fulop

Huttle's release says: " . . . the commission will coordinate ground-up planning and consultation between the local government entities within each municipality, both counties and amongst stakeholders while providing a direct conduit to NJ Transit, the lead agency in the project. The move comes on the heels of the city’s recent adoption of a comprehensive new master plan that places a high priority on extending the light rail line through Bergen County and ending in Englewood in order to foster economic development and smart growth in one of the most densely- populated areas of the state."

Fulop said: “We have seen the success the Light Rail has had in stimulating residential and commercial development in Jersey City and Hudson County, and know that a full expansion into Bergen County will only benefit Jersey City and add to commerce in our region. Providing more northern New Jersey residents access into Jersey City and Hudson County is good for development, job growth and small business alike. This Commission will allow mayors along the route to have a more active role in this important transit system and its future growth.”

Rail service could return to the long-dormant Northern Branch corridor. This is the original route. Line's northern terminus now would be in Englewood.

Englewood Hospital and Medical Center has proposed that its facility be the last stop on the line be and that there be two other stops in the city at Englewood Town Center and Route 4.