New Jersey Transit

Nexis4Jersey · #1 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 3:32 AM**

Its one of the Largest Commuter Bus/ Light Rail / Rail agencies in North America. About 360,000-450,000 ppl use NJT Rail each day. So i thought its time i start a topic about it on here. We have 536 miles & 162 stops of Rail for commuter services on 11 lines , that are mostly in the North Except the Atlantic line in the south. Only 2 lines is completely electrified that is the Northeast Corridor & Gladstone Branch. There are 5 Electrified lines in total, they are the North Jersey Coastal form NY-Penn or Hoboken Terminal to Long Branch, future to Asbury park. The Morris & Essex line is Electrified east of Dover , and future west to the Lackawanna line. The Montclair - Boonton line is electrified form Montclair Univ - Hoboken Terminal. The rest of NJT lines are diesel , although NJT plans to electrify 2 more lines over the next 10 years. NJT has 107 miles of Light Rail and 60 stops spread out on 3 Light Rail networks, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Network servicing 60% of NJ Gold Coast , in 6 years it will all of the NJ Gold Coast with 3 more extensions on the way. The Newark Network has 2 lines , and 4 Extensions in the near future , one day it will connect to EWR and Elizabeth , and Paterson via the Essex Inland Empire. The Riverline was the first Diesel Light Rail system in US and Second in North America. There are plans to extend it south about 15 miles form its current terminus. It runs form the Trenton Transit Center to Camden Waterfront, it is the lightest used Light Rail in NJ with 5,000-8,000 ppl daily. Currently NJT is building a New Tunnel to NYC , and new Terminal it will increase capacity and improve safety. Then Current tunnel is 100+ years old and has problems that cause breakdowns. The New Tunnel will also although one-seat rides into NYC form the Diesel lines near me via Dual-Mode Locos NJT is buying.

I happened to take pictures at NJT major hub last week with a Friend so i share a few pictures and videos form the 2 of us.

Hoboken Terminal , turned 100 years old , a few years ago.
It is undergoing massive renovations in the old Ferry terminal which reopen early next year. There is a PATH subway terminal in the basement and 9 of the 11 NJT lines terminate here. It also serves the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail network via a Terminal on the south side of the Complex. There is a bus terminal as well , 140-60 ppl daily use this Terminal.

inside the waiting room

Gladstone Branch Train Departing

Main/Bergen Line Train Departing

Bi-Level Train

Main Concourse

Hoboken Yard

Light Rail Terminal form the Hudson-Bergen LRT network 2 lines terminate here.

The Terminal as a whole

The old ferry slips that will one day reopen

Here are some videos form that day form me and him

Gladstone Branch Train departing - i know its a bit shaky , i need a tripod

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Main Line Train Departing

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Montclair - Boonton Line Departing

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The HBLR departing , he blew the horn and me & him weren't expecting it

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I hope you enjoyed it, i will post more about NJT future Projects and show our sleek equipment later

~Corey

hammersklavier · #2 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 3:43 AM**

Good idea and good thread. NJT and LIRR are easily the best commuter railroads in the nation!

P.S. This will give me a place to complain that NJT short-shafts South Jersey by not providing adequate commuter operations at all to Camden/Philadelphia.

Thundertubs · #3 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 4:42 AM**

I grew up in Bergen County and used to ride the Main and sometimes Pascack lines regularly. It's a great system. North Jersey is blessed with excellent transit. Hoboken Terminal is one of the nation's great transit hubs, linking subway, commuter rail, light rail, ferry, and bus lines. Newark Penn is a very busy hub as well.

miketoronto · #4 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 4:46 AM**

Correct me if I am wrong, but is the NJ Transit Commuter Rail system not a tad slow in parts? It seems like in some areas, like the North Jersey Coast, the stations are really close together, and the train takes forever to get into Manhattan.

volguus zildrohar · #5 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 5:12 AM**

North Jersey Transit, hammer?

Hey, do we not have scores and scores of buses from South Jersey into Center City?

Anyways I do find NJT an interesting system - they double decker cars are a neat ride into Penn. If they'd give South Jersey residents more rail options to Philadelphia and double track the AC Line I'd have nothing to complain about. Isn't something happening with a branch to Hillsborough that would run from the end of SEPTA's R3?

Thundertubs · #6 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 5:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Correct me if I am wrong, but is the NJ Transit Commuter Rail system not a tad slow in parts? It seems like in some areas, like the North Jersey Coast, the stations are really close together, and the train takes forever to get into Manhattan.

Well, it's not the TGV, but it gets you where you're going, and very reliably. In the hundreds of rides I've taken the only delays I experienced were once during a blizzard and once when the train hit a guy. The line down the shore does have a lot of stops and is a little pokey. I've only used it on the weekends though, and not for commuting.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that the commuter rail is a very old system, and the towns grew up around the stations. Most of the stations are in historic downtowns of varying sizes, rather than park-and-ride type environments. The historic downtowns, train stations, and heavy tree cover (NJ suburbs were built in the forest, not on cornfields) are what made suburban NJ a great place to grow up.

Nexis4Jersey · #7 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 6:37 AM**

Most of the network is old goes back to the 1920s , in NJ we kept some of ROW so newer passenger lines don't require a buyout form a Freight company. The MOM project will consist of 2 Rail lines in Middlesex-Ocean-Monmouth Counties. One would feed into the NEC and that line would require a Bridge or the NEC lines , since Express Tracks can't be halted. And the other line would feed into the North Jersey Coastal line. Plans also call form BRT line down US 9. There are plans to build a LRT line in New Brunswick.

Here are some more Clips and pics form me & other ppl in my NJT network

Pascack Valley Line @ Hillsdale Station , the second oldest NJT station after Ramsey it was built in 1869 , Ramsey was built in 1868

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Newark Broad Street Station , recently renovated , it serves Montclair -Boonton , Gladstone Branch Morris & Essex (diesel & electric trains) & Newark City Rail is below

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Newark Penn Station our second Buseit after Hoboken , and our Buseit for Amtrak boardings. Serves : NJT Northeast Corridor line , Raritan Valley line , & North Jersey Coastal. Aswell as all Amtrak operations on the NEC. It will undergoing a second face lift soon , to fix the Southern Platforms and rearrange Traffic patterns outside to make them safer for PEDs.

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North Jersey Coastal line @ a Little Silver Crossing

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~Corey

McBane · #8 Posted **Jan 27, 2010, 3:29 PM**

My dream would be a SEPTA/NJ Transit partnership that would see the end of the R3 (as a means to get to Trenton to take NJ Transit to NY) and the beginning of one seat service from 30th Street to NY Penn with stops at Temple, Cornwall's Heights Park & Ride, Trenton, Princeton, and maybe a couple other stops.

NJ Transit/SEPTA should do something to stay proactive - I would assume that the bus companies are having some kind of impact on ridership (Bolt, Chinatown, etc.).

Cheap and fast transit between NY and Philly should be improved. Overall however, I think most SEPTA users are quite envious of NJ Transit - if nothing else they have machines at EVERY station! Woah what a marvelous concept!

EDIT: Kick me if I'm being greedy, but is a PATCO connection to 30th St too much to ask for?

Nexis4Jersey · #9 Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 1:08 AM**

Heres NJT 2020 map, this is form 2000 , but all the yellow projects have been completed, and a few pink projects have been completed NJT hopes to have at least 600,000 ppl daily use there trains by 2015.

Heres sum of my Hudson-Bergen Light Rail photos

Tonnelle Ave Terminal : North Bergen,NJ - will become North Bergen JCT soon , for 2 more extensions , one line to the Meadowlands and another along US 1/9 to Tenafly , which has expressed the Usually Nimby Bs , but the New Governor said he likes the new extension, over widening other highways.

22nd Street Terminal : Bayonne,NJ , in a few weeks the 8th Street Extension opens, its the first elevated station on the HBLR , but not the last.

Exchange Place Station : Jersey City

I will post some more pictures later and some videos of my HBLR adventures.

~Corey

volguus zildrohar · #10 Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 4:02 AM**

McBane, a westward extension of PATCO is a dream of several agencies - there are few things that would make CCD happier - but that's up to PATCO, not NJT.

hammersklavier · #11 Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 4:58 AM**

I wish that some extensions could get built in South Joysey and Southeastern PA...

Nexis4Jersey · #12 Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 7:35 AM**

I think what will happen is NJT will focus on the North & Central areas of NJ, rather then the south, which is mostly rural. With the Exception of the Riverline Ext to West Trenton Septa Station and Form the Camden Waterfront to Glassboro , i doubt you'll really see anything over the next 10-15 years.

Heres some of my Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Videos

Hudson Bergen Light Rail : Jersey City-Hoboken : 22nd-Hoboken Terminal Line, notice the slower then Usually driver and creaky train

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Hudson Bergen Light Rail : Hoboken Terminal to Port Imperial : Hoboken Terminal to Tonnelle Ave line , notice the announcements weren't working right

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Palisades Tunnel, with NJT deepest station, Bergenline Avenue @ 183 feet below the Palisades Cliffs and Downtown Union City,NJ

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I will post more , later and i will try to find some more news.

~Corey

hammersklavier · #13 Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 6:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

I think what will happen is NJT will focus on the North & Central areas of NJ, rather then the south, which is mostly rural. With the Exception of the Riverline Ext to West Trenton Septa Station and Form the Camden Waterfront to Glassboro , i doubt you'll really see anything over the next 10-15 years.

Which is precisely the problem. North Jersyites think that everything south of the NEC is unbroken pine wastes, but in actuality, about a third of Philadelphia's suburban population lives within the counties immediately adjoining the Delaware between Trenton and Gloucester City, particularly in the densly-built-up area surrounding the city of Camden. There were once commuter rails criss-crossing all of New Jersey, but NJT funds railroads in North Jersey to the detriment of what's available in South Jersey, and PATCO's no LIRR.

volguus zildrohar · #14 Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 1:39 AM**

I've always thought PATCO acted more like PATH than LIRR. It's no big secret that South Jersey takes a backseat to the counties and towns in the NYC area which is why PATCO is doing more of the proposing for service expansion in that part of the state than NJT is. Bus service is extensive throughout South Jersey, though. I'm unware of how well covered by railroads much of that part of the state is but if the infrastructure never existed than it's easy to see why it doesn't exist now. That still doesn't excuse NJT from almost completely forsaking rail transit of any kind there.

Nexis4Jersey · #15 Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 8:29 AM**

Maybe PATCO could extend itself to Glassboro instead of phase 2 of the Riverline Ext.?

More of my Hudson-Bergen Light Rail video

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail : Newport Mall -Hoboken Terminal : Jersey City - Hoboken

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Hudson-Bergen Light Rail : Palisades Tunnel-Port Imperial - a suprise Ticket inspect

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Hudson-Bergen Light Rail : Port Imperial-Hoboken JCT

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I will post more later ,

~Corey

hammersklavier · #16 Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 12:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Maybe PATCO could extend itself to Glassboro instead of phase 2 of the Riverline Ext.?

Dude, they're already doing that.
http://www.patconjexpansion.com/

Although your new Guv doesn't seem to like the idea:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20...r_changes.html

By the way, your railfan videos are excellent! Although I must confess I prefer still photography...

Nexis4Jersey · #17 Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 2:06 PM**

I thought those proposals were for the RiverLine , but i'm more Happy they are PATCO extensions.

Many of my pictures of trains where taken via my Road Adventures last year, this year it will be taking on my Rail Fanning Adventures. Heres sum of my Hudson-Bergen Light Rail photos

HBLR Trax facing Southbound next to the Powerhouse Restoration project.

HBLR @ Hoboken Terminal

HBLR turning onto Essex Street

HBLR trax on Essex Street which is a one-way in North Liberty Harbor : Jersey City

HBLR @ Newport Mall Station

~I will post sum more later

~Corey

tdawg · #18 Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 8:26 PM**

Great system and Hoboken terminal is a real gem of a building. The inside is spectacular.

Nexis4Jersey · #19 Posted **Jan 30, 2010, 12:02 AM**

Indeed Hoboken Terminal is a gem ,One day Trains form Scranton will enter into the Station.

heres a few more videos form me

NJ Transit : Pascack Valley NB Train - Through the Meadowlands