Extending PATH train service to Newark Airport will be delayed for at least 10 years after it was left out of the new capital plan to cover higher costs to replace the aging airport monorail system.

The long-sought extension of PATH tracks south of Newark Penn Station to the airport was conspicuously missing from the 2026-2035 Port Authority Capital plan that was approved on Dec. 18.

The extension was in the 2017 to 2026 capital plan but was among projects deferred in 2023, primarily due to the COVID revenue losses when the pandemic brought travel to a halt in mid 2020.

The bi-state Port Authority lost $3 billion in revenues during the pandemic from the resulting drop in travel volumes at the agency’s airport, PATH system and bridges and tunnels.

One reason for not including it is the cost to replace the airport monorail which increased by more than $1 billion, said Derek Utter, the authority’s chief development officer.

The Air Train was estimated to cost $2.5 billion in the 2017-2026 capital plan. Ground was broken for the Air Train on Oct. 7.

“The AirTrain cost increase ended up being $3.5 billion and we needed to use that (PATH extension) funding,” he said.

The other reason is the increased cost of the PATH extension since its proposal in 2017, he said.

“The airport extension will cost more than the $1.7 billion estimated, it is complex, impacting a number of major roadways and projects undertaken by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit,” he said.

“Today we would expect that to be much higher due to general inflation and construction projects have outstripped the cost of inflation,” Utter said.

In 2023, the PATH Rail Extension, as proposed in the previous Capital Plan, relied on over $700 million in grants that hadn’t been secured, officials said.

“Airport users have multiple mass transit options, albeit not a one-seat ride to the airport ” Utter said.

NJ Transit and Amtrak offer rail service to Newark airport in addition to less direct NJ Transit local bus service.

The $160 million Newark Station Access project broke ground in June. Officials said it will provide access for residents and airport employees who live in Newark’s South Ward and fill some of the demand for a PATH extension.

Newark officials had lobbied for the extension to spare airport workers who lived in Newark a long bus commute to an airport that some could see from their neighborhood.

The new station allows pedestrian access to the station and airport, and has parking and bus stops intended to reduce the travel time to Newark Liberty International Airport from 40 to nine minutes for residents in Newark’s South Ward neighborhoods.

Elevators and escalators will take people to the overpass section to the airport train and monorail stations.

“The Newark Station Access has been designed to deliver many of the same community benefits that Newark Airport PATH would achieve,” Utter said. “Given the construction of the (PATH) project would be so costly, we recommend keeping the proposal we have which does not include it.”

The Access project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026, and be used by an estimated 400,000 people a year. Growth is expected from new developments such as the Lionsgate Film Studios in the South Ward.

“The Newark Station Access project doesn’t preclude the extension of PATH in the future,” Utter said. It is designed to leave space for future PATH tracks.

Supporters of the extension said it would provide a one-seat ride from lower Manhattan to the airport on PATH’s Newark-World Trade Center line

One supporter urged the Port Authority to keep the airport extension alive on Dec. 18.

“I ask that you prioritize the airport extension, even if there is no ground breaking, so that at the next capital plan there will be another place for it,” said Jack McKee, an organizer for Hudson County Complete Streets.