This week, New Jersey Transit released their prices for trains to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup: $150.

The reasoning from NJ governor Mikie Sherrill is the cost of providing transportation for fans will be $48 million. The crazy high $150 fee will even out the cost: 40,000 fans paying $150 equals $6 million per game day. Across eight game days, that’s $48 million. Without such high pricing, Sherrill says this cost will fall on NJ taxpayers.

I delved deeper into what the underlying costs in running trains for this event could be. I am not a transit expert, but I tried my best to look at the resources available through NJ’s public records, budget breakdowns, and other media coverage. At every step, I opted for the most conservative estimate possible. My numbers are not an exact cost, but an upper estimate of what the cost should look like.

There may be some inaccuracies, which is why I aimed for the highest estimate on each individual expense. If there’s anything I got wrong numbers-wise, it should save money, not spend it. I’m sure there’s also some expenses I didn’t factor at all. However, I don’t expect any missing expenses to be so large that they move the needle by more than a few million dollars.

TL;DR: Unless there are enormous expenses outside of labor, security, losses from lost riders, and other regular operating costs, there is no way the cost of operating trains for 50,000 fans should be even close to $48 million. Total costs - even at the most conservative estimates - should not be over $8-12 million.

The plan:

New Jersey is planning on shipping 40,000 people per game by train to MetLife. These will likely be on the Multilevel III trains, which can carry 1,550 people per train.

The trip from Penn Station (first stop) to Meadowlands (MetLife Stadium) is interrupted by a stop at Secaucus Station. It can take, conservatively, 15 minutes for a train to get from Meadowlands to Secaucus, and 15 minutes from Secaucus to Meadowlands - 30 minutes total.

NJ Transit plans on shipping passengers four hours before every game, and three hours after. This means that to ship 40,000 people in four hours, you need to take 10,000 people every hour. So, you need seven rides (carrying 1,550 people per ride) to the stadium per hour. The stop at Secaucus means you need two separate trains per ride, so fourteen trains total. Each one needs to be staffed, taken care of, and secure.

To run a train, you need a couple types of workers. A train engineer to operate the train. Conductors to manage the passengers, check fares, and communicate with off-train crew. Dispatchers to organize the train routes. Yardmasters that oversee all of this. Maintenance workers clean the tracks and keep the trains stable. Paying the wages (and benefits) of all these workers is a big part of the cost.

You also need fuel for the train. You need to pay the power bill so the lights don’t go out. Other expenses according to the 2026 NJ Transit budget are ‘services’, ‘purchased transportation’, ‘materials and supplies’, ‘tolls, trackage, and fees’, ‘claims and insurance, and ‘other expenses’. Nevertheless, wages and benefits make for almost 60% of the operating budget.

Labor costs:

Given this is a special event, let’s conservatively assume there’ll be a train engineer and up to five conductors per train (the usual amount is one or two). Train engineer salaries are set at $53/hr. Keep in mind that benefits are, according to NJ transit’s general budget, 85% as costly as wages. This means that, benefits included, NJ transit spends $98/hr on these workers. Assuming they’ll be making overtime (which is hourly wage and a half according to NJ law)%2C%20with%20certain%20exemption), NJ will be spending $124/hr on each train engineer.

As for the conductors, starting pay is $26/hr and top pay is $40/hr. According to Indeed, average pay is $31/hr. With overtime and benefits, a conductor’s hourly cost becomes $73.

If there is one engineer and five conductors per train, the hourly wage + benefits cost for these on-train staff is $489 per train. If there’s fourteen trains total, that’s $6,846 per hour. Doing some more guesswork here, I’d assume each worker is paid at least an hour before the earliest train leaves until an hour after the latest train leaves (I’m using this timetable to measure the cost of other workers too). If this is the case, each on-train worker is being paid for eleven hours each day to manage World Cup traffic, making the daily cost $75,000 for on-train staff.

Let’s imagine there’s also a backup pool of five engineers and twenty five conductors on standby, all being factored into the budget at the same rate as those working, which would add up the cost by $21,000 per day. **This means that the daily cost of hiring on-train staff is approximately $96,000. **

Multiply this across all eight game days in New Jersey, and the total cost for on-train staff for the entire tournament is approximately $635,000.

Now, there’s other staff to take care of too. For NJ train dispatchers, the upper end of salaries approaches $67/hr. With overtime and benefits, this is $157/hr. If there’s just one for the area, plus two backups, that means **you’re paying dispatchers approximately $42,000 throughout the tournament. **

Moving on to NJ Yardmasters; they, on average, make $36/hr. With overtime and benefits, that’s $85/hr. Let’s say there’s four yardmasters per station (given the increased traffic) directing MetLife-bound and returning trains - so twelve yardmasters over the three stations, dedicated solely to the World Cup. That’s $1,020/hr for all the yardmasters. For the entire tournament, that’s approximately $90,000 going to yardmasters.

Then look at maintenance workers.Typically, 4-5 people make up a ‘track gang’ on one section of commuter track. On AmTrak, plans are to place crews at various key points on the track. Assuming NJ Transit is taking a similar approach, let’s be conservative and say one track crew for every mile of track. That means there’s 90 trackmen over 18 miles. This feels like an absurd number, but remember I’m accounting like a bureaucrat that wants a fat check.

New Jersey Trackmen salaries top out at $39/hr. With overtime and benefits, this is $91/hr. Across 90 trackmen, this is $8,190/hr. Across the entire tournament, this is approximately $720,000 for trackmen.

We also need station personnel. Hundreds of these workers will be scattered at Penn Station, Secaucus Station, and Meadowlands Station to direct fans towards the venue and assist with any questions. Considering that in Moscow, 340 of these personnel were deployed across 76 stations, let’s assume NJ will be deploying 100 personnel at each of the three stations (300 total).

These workers will be hired temporarily - due to the need for multilingual workers in specific - so they won’t be making overtime or receiving benefits. It’s hard to get a benchmark for their salary, but considering it’s a temporary, well-populated position, let’s assume they make as much as the average NJ station agent: $28/hr. This means NJ Transit is spending $8,400 an hour on these workers. Across eight game days, that’s $740,000 for station personnel.

Given all these expenses, total labor costs for running trains all tournament should be around $2,227,000.

Other train-related expenses:

Of course, gas is expensive. However, the Multilevel III’s are hybrid trains, which means they are way cheaper to fuel. A study on California commuter rail in 2018 measured the cost of diesel fuel for hybrid trains at about $4 per train mile. Translating this to New Jersey in 2026, it would be about $5.90 per mile to run the Multilevel III.

The train ride from Penn Station to Meadowlands is 18 miles. Keep in mind trains are going back and forth, so you’re paying to fuel each train to the next stop and back. Given there’s fourteen trains going about 36 miles every hour, NJ transit would be spending approximately $3,000/hr in fuel. Multiply this across seven hours of service, you get $21,000/day. Across eight game days, NJ transit is spending approximately $168,000 on train fuel.

As for power, the Multilevel III has 16 powered axles (rods that transfer power from the engine to the wheels), which make it a very power-hungry vehicle. Estimating the power this train uses depends on so many factors that make my head spin, so I decided to opt for the upper estimate of 160 kwh/mile. According to government records, NJ transit pays about $0.13/kwh for power, so they pay about $21/mile. Across eight game days, these trains cost approximately $600,000 to power.

For all the other associated costs with running trains, I just used the NJ transit budget breakdown again to gauge rough estimates of peripheral costs like leasing the trains, gathering supplies, and other expenses. Wages and benefits make up 60% of NJ transit’s annual budget. So, I calculated the other expenses by making them a fraction of their expenditure on wages and benefits for this tournament, assuming the spending ratio for the World Cup is proportionate to their regular budget. I came up with approximately $1,400,000 in additional expenses.

Given everything above, my upper estimate for the total cost of running these trains for the World Cup is approximately $4,230,000.

Security:

Of course, New Jersey is not just paying for a regular train journey. They’re also paying for everything associated with hosting a special event.

That should include security. Up to 1,000 troopers are expected to handle security on game days. However, the state of New Jersey is not alone in footing the bill for security. **The federal government is granting $26 million in federal funding to pay for increased security, as part of a larger World Cup funding package for host cities. **New Jersey State Police Superintendent Jeanne Hengemuhle confirmed this by saying, “The money that we will be receiving will cover the overtime costs and the cost of this project.”

What NJ Transit is spending on is their own police force, who will be working in conjunction with over 400 law enforcement and security-related agencies. There are about 250 officers in the NJ Transit Police Department, on average making $43/hr. With overtime and benefits, that’s $101/hr. Let’s assume all 250 of these officers will be patrolling the stations. For 250 officers, that’s approximately $25,000/hr. **Across eight game days, that’s about $2,220,000 on transit police. **Remember that NJ Transit is not alone in ensuring the security of this journey. Much of the cost will be assumed by other agencies (and the federal government).

Losses:

Another addition to the cost of World Cup transit are lost fares. Penn’s Station NJ-bound trains will be restricted to World Cup travelers four hours before games. Two games at MetLife are right around the afternoon rush hour. The other six are either on weekends or less busy times on weekdays.

According to public records, 64,000 people board NJ Transit from Penn Station on the average weekday. 31,000 people board on the average Saturday. These trips can be anywhere from $2 to $23 in fares each. To get a benchmark, let’s assume an average of $15 fares.

For the two games during peak hours on weekdays, let’s assume NJ transit is losing 60,000 commuters worth of fares each day. That’s $1.8 million in lost fares. On the other days, let’s assume they lose something closer to 20,000 people. That’s a $300,000 loss.

Overall, NJ Transit is losing approximately $2,100,000 in lost fares.

Combining lost fares and security with overall train costs, the total cost of running trains all tournament comes up to approximately $8,600,000!

How to make up the cost?

So, if $8.6 million is the actual cost, how high a fare would actually make that up? Remember, there’s 40,000 travelers, multiplied over eight game days. **So if the fare is set at $28, NJ transit would make almost $9 million, fully recouping the costs and then some. **

However, let’s assume my calculations are off by a few million. Maybe there’s added overhead that brings the total cost to $10 million. If this is the case, then a $32 fare would recoup the costs.

The ultimate point here is that the $48 million number is a complete facade. The $150 price tag is complete nonsense, even with FIFA making New Jersey cover the costs. If you double the costs I mentioned here, you can’t reach half the cost New Jersey is citing. There’s no other reason for this pricing other than to shake down fans for everything they have.

All of that said, I’m sure there’s some train experts on here shaking their heads going, “You got this and that wrong.” If there’s anything I missed that may increase the budget by $30 million, please clarify. Otherwise, I feel confident saying that New Jersey is using FIFA’s extortion as an excuse to make easy money off fans.

Some may say this price-gouging is a good thing, considering only rich assholes are going. Fleece them for everything they’re worth! However, what this transit plan does not include is the private transportation being organized by commercial partners for 20,000 hospitality ticketholders. So, while wealthy fans get their own route, fans on public transit will likely just be ordinary people making financially reckless decisions to follow their passion (outside of the final, where tickets are thousands of dollars at the cheapest). All this price increase will do is put those fans deeper into the hole, and box any other fans out who were even thinking of going.