New Jersey Transit

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NJ Transit logo
Headquarters of NJ Transit in Newark
An Arrows III multiple unit and an ALP-44 in Elizabeth

New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) is the state-owned transportation company of the US state of New Jersey . This operates suburban railways , light rail vehicles and bus routes throughout the state, with a focus on the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas . NJ Transit operates a network of 760 kilometers, mostly on its own tracks, with 163 train stations. More than 900,000 passengers are carried every working day.

The origins

NJ Transit also operates bus routes

NJ Transit's origins date back to the 1960s when the state Department of Transportation (NJDOT) began subsidizing high - deficit mass transit operations for the financially troubled US railroad company Central of New Jersey (CoNJ). A short time later, the commuter trains of Erie Lackawanna (EL), Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL) and Penn Central (PC) were subsidized.

Many of the suburban lines are electrified to this day. Most of them end at the Hoboken Terminal train station (across from Manhattan ), and most of the electric trains on the Northeast Corridor , the New Jersey Coastline, and the Essex and Morris Lines run directly to Penn Station in New York.

At the same time, the partly private bus traffic in the state was taken over by the Commuter Operating Authority, as was the tramway in Newark, which partly ran in the tunnel .

With the establishment of the US freight railway company Conrail in 1976, the suburban rail traffic of the CoNJ, EL, PRSL and PC was taken over by the latter.

On the way to the railway company

NJ transit trains with Comet V and Comet I - Cabcars (front) in Hoboken Terminal

All local transport tasks were coordinated from 1979 by the newly established New Jersey Transit Corporation. In 1982, today's NJ Transit Railroad was finally founded as a subsidiary of the Corporation. This was done in view of the fact that the "Northeast Service Railroad Act" passed by the US Congress in the same year allowed the Conrail to separate from all local transport services and to transfer these regional transport authorities. From the beginning of 1983, NJ Transit operated all previous Conrail regional train lines with its own staff.

This also includes the section of the former EL in the US state of New York, which is formally managed by Metro-North Railroad , a subsidiary of the New York transport company MTA, but operated on behalf of NJ Transit with vehicles from Metro North.

The first step taken by NJ Transit in 1984 was the conversion of the electric railways from 3000 volts direct current to 27,000 volts alternating current, a project that Conrail had already started.

The first new route from NJ Transit was the takeover of the Atlantic City-Lindenwood route from the long-distance operator Amtrak in 1989. Further route openings were in 1991 (New Jersey Coast Line), 1994 (Netcong - Hackettstown) and 1996 with the route from Dover, which also since then led to Penn Station.

Almost all routes NJ Transit operates are owned by this company. Exceptions are the Northeast Corridor (Boston - New York - Philadelphia - Washington) and the Atlantic City Line, both of which belong to Amtrak, the lines in the state of New York (to Metro-North) to the Pascack Valley, and the line to Port Jervis (New York) which is now owned by the Norfolk Southern freight railroad.

In Trenton , the capital of the US state New Jersey, you can transfer to the SEPTA local trains from Philadelphia.

A significant improvement in traffic conditions in New York's commuter traffic was the opening of the new Frank-R-Lauterberg station in Secaucus in 2001, called Secaucus Junction on timetables, network maps, tickets and signage. This means that you can freely switch between the individual lines to Hoboken and Manhattan.

Railway lines

NJ Transit currently operates the following railway lines:

New projects

Hudson Bergen light rail of the NJ Transit

A more recent NJ Transit project was the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Hoboken and Bergen, which runs partly directly along the Hudson River within sight of Manhattan . It was opened in 2000.

In addition, the Newark light rail was expanded to include a route from central Penn Station to Newark Broad Street Station . This extension went into operation in 2006.

To connect the Meadowlands Sports Complex , NJ Transit built an approx. 3.2 km long branch line from the Pascack Valley Line (between the Secaucus Junction and Wood-Ridge stations) to the Meadowlands Sports Complex station. This line went into operation on July 20, 2009. On match days, there are shuttle trains from Hoboken , starting three and a half hours before the start of the game . The trains also stop in Secaucus Junction. In addition, the trains of the New Haven Line of the MTA Metro-North Railroad , which usually end in Grand Central Terminal, will also be extended. Metro-North advertises these trains under the brand name Train to the Game .

The River Line, part of the New Jersey Transit, has been running between the capital Trenton and Camden since 2004 .

The most recent project was the construction of another, double-track tunnel tube under the Hudson River between Newark and Manhattan to relieve the Amtrak tunnel. This project called Access to the Region's Core (ARC for short) was completed in 2010 and opened by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie . As a reason, he cited that New Jersey would have to bear any additional costs of the project alone. With the Gateway Project, Amtrak has submitted a proposal for a follow-up project to eliminate the capacity bottlenecks between New York and Newark. This project is still at a very early stage. In addition, the financing has not yet been secured. Initial estimates assume a cost framework between 15 and 20 billion US dollars.

Vehicle fleet

ALP 4408 in front of a train made up of Comet II (rebuild) cars

NJ Transit maintains a colorful and diverse fleet of vehicles for rail traffic. In addition to multiple units , locomotive-hauled push- pull trains are also used on the electrified routes .

The first electric locomotives used by NJT were GC1 taken over by the PRR on the coastline to Long Branch and the E 60 PH and E44 from General Electric, all of which have now been retired. Today the ALP-44 from ABB (now Bombardier) and the ALP-46 developed from the German 101 series are used. In addition, NJ Transit ordered 26 new dual-power locomotives of the ALP-45DP series for use on electrified and non-electrified routes from Bombardier in order to avoid locomotive changes on routes such as the North Jersey Coast Line, which is only electrified as far as Long Branch .

Push-pull trains also predominantly run on the non-electrified routes. They are hauled by different versions of the F40PH, which Amtrak also used for years, and different versions of type GP40 freight locomotives that have been modified for passenger train service .

The newest diesel locomotive design from NJ Transit is the PL42AC from EMD and Alstom, which is similar in structure to the old F40PH from Amtrak.

The Arrow III railcars from Budd and General Electric , which were procured from 1978 onwards, dominate the north-east corridor route New York – Trenton . Some units of the previous Arrow type are still in use. The Arrow railcars are to be replaced by Bombardier double-decker multiple units from 2023.

The passenger car park today consists of vehicles of the " Comet " type from Pullman-Standard , Bombardier and Alstom, including matching control cars, both with only end and with additional middle entrances and double-deck cars .

GTW diesel multiple units are now used on the route from Trenton to Camden . The light rail lines in Hoboken and Newark are operated by six-axle low-floor light rail cars (similar to the Cologne type K 4000) from Kinki Sharyo from Japan. The buses customary in the USA are used in the bus sector.

  • NJ railcar 1327, Arrow III series

  • The youngest diesel locomotives in the NJ transit fleet are the PL42AC series

  • Winter operations at Hoboken Terminal Station

Incidents

On September 29, 2016 morning rush hour on off drove Spring Valley coming from a diesel locomotive and four Comet V cars existing commuter Pascack Valley Line in Hoboken with the control car ahead of virtually unrestrained in the railhead terminal Hoboken one, broke through the buffer and came only to stand on a wall. Part of the station roof collapsed. One person died and over 100 were injured.

Web links

Commons : New Jersey Transit  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NJ Transit Rail System Map. (PDF; 1.1 MB) New Jersey Transit, November 2011, accessed May 12, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Mike Frassinelli: All aboard: First 'one-seat ride' to NYC leaving Raritan at 8:43 am on March 3. The Star-Ledger, February 24, 2014, accessed February 25, 2014 .
  3. ↑ NJ TRANSIT BOARD APPROVES PURCHASE OF NEW RAIL CARS. NJ Transit, accessed December 14, 2018 .