New Jersey Transit

New Jersey Transit Corporation, known as NJ Transit (NJT), is a state-owned public transportation system that serves New Jersey. It operates bus, rail, and commuter rail services throughout the state. It connects New York and Philadelphia.

NJ Transit

NJT services samples rail bus and light rail.jpg
Info
LocaleNew Jersey (statewide), New York, Rockland and Orange counties in New York State, and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania.
Transit typeCommuter rail, light rail, bus
Number of lines11 (commuter rail)
3 (light rail)
871 (bus)
Number of stations162 (rail)
60 (light rail)
27 (bus terminals)
18,000+ (bus stops)
Daily ridership940,877 (weekday)
392,613 (Saturday)
216,375 (Sunday)[1]
(2007 figures, all modes)
Chief executiveDennis J. Martin
Headquarters1 Penn Plaza East, Newark, NJ 07105
Operation
Began operationJuly 17, 1979
Operator(s)Commuter rail: See rail article
Bus: See bus article
Light Rail: See light rail article
Number of vehicles2,477 (bus)
1,078 (commuter rail)
93 (light rail)[1]
(2007 figures)
Technical
System length536 miles (863 km) (rail); 107 miles (172 km) (light rail)

NJT is the largest statewide system for public transporation and the third largest provider of bus and rail.[2][3]

History

 
hauls a commuter train into South Amboy in 1981.

NJT was founded on July 17, 1979 by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). It was to address many transportation issues.[4]

In 1983, NJT assumed operation of all commuter rail service in New Jersey from Conrail. It now operates most passenger and commuter rail lines in the state. The exceptions are Amtrak; the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH), which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the PATCO Speedline; two SEPTA Regional Rail lines, the West Trenton Line and the Trenton Line; and a handful of tourist trains in the southern and northwestern parts of New Jersey. Since inception, rail ridership has quadrupled.

During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the rail operations center of NJ Transit was flooded by 8 feet (2.4 m) of water.[5]

Governance

The Governor of New Jersey appoints a seven-member Board of Directors.[6]

Current operations

 
Headquarters at Penn Plaza East in Newark

NJT's operations are divided into three classes: bus, rail, and light rail.

Bus

NJT operates 871 bus routes using 2,477 buses [1]

Light Rail

NJT operates three light rail lines:

Rail

NJT has 11 commuter rail lines:

Their rolling stock consists of GE/Avco Arrow III EMUs, Bombardier/Alstom Comet series coaches and Bombardier multilevel coaches. Their electric locomotive fleet consists of Bombardier ALP-46 locomotives, while their diesel locomotive fleet consists of EMD GP40, EMD F40PH, Alstom PL42AC, and Bombardier ALP-45DP locomotives.

 
Whitehouse Station on the Raritan Valley Line
 
A map of the NJ Transit rail system

Security

The New Jersey Transit Police Department (NJTPD) is the transit police force for NJT. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction with the primary focus on policing the numerous bus depots, rail, and light-rail stations throughout New Jersey. It employs 240 sworn police officers.

Projects

Ongoing projects

Repair, recovery and resiliency projects

Superstorm Sandy, on October 29, 2012, caused a 13-foot tidal surge that damaged many coastal communities..[7][8][9] The storm's aftermath left damaged tracks, moved bridge girders, and flooded rail stations.[10] [11][12] NJT has proposed the construction of a new generator in the Kearny Meadows that would be flood-proof.[13] and support an electrical "micro-grid" that would be exclusively for train service.[14]

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit in New Jersey is plentiful.

Northern Branch

NJT is planning to extend the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to Englewood or Tenafly .[15]

Glassboro–Camden Line

The Glassboro–Camden Line is a 18-mile (28.97 km) diesel multiple unit (DMU) light rail system planned for southwestern part of New Jersey in the United States. At its northern end in Camden it will connect with the River LINE with which its infrastructure and vehicles will be compatible. At the northern terminus, the Walter Rand Transportation Center, paid transfers will be possible to the PATCO Speedline.[16][17]

Proposed projects

West Trenton

The West Trenton Line is a proposed service connecting Trenton to Newark. NJT's estimate of the cost was $197 million.[18] To date, no money has been given.[18]

Passaic-Bergen Rail Line

The Passaic-Bergen Passenger Rail Project would reintroduce passenger service on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway right-of-way between Hawthorne and Hackensack using new Diesel Multiple Unit rail cars.[19][20]

Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM)

The Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex[21][22] line is a proposed south and central New Jersey commuter rail route to New Brunswick, Newark and New York's Penn Station. This would restore service previously provided by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It would run on a 40.1-mile rail train line. It would providec service from Monmouth Junction (South Brunswick) to Lakehurst .[23]

From Monmouth Junction the line would continue southeast to Jamesburg, Monroe, Englishtown, Manalapan, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell and Farmingdale. Passengers for New York would transfer at Newark. Eight new stations and a train storage yard would be constructed.

[24]

In August 2010, NJT received $534,375 in Federal Funds to see if there are possibilities of a MOM line.[25] Since that time there has been no further advancement of the project.[26] [27]

Lehigh Valley

In November 2008, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation started a study to explore making the Raritan Valley Line to the Lehigh_Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It could lead to stops in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.[28] These cities were last served in 1967.[29][30][31]

Cancelled

Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link

It was planned to connect the Downtown portion of Newark with Elizabeth via Newark Liberty International Airport. NJT is no longer pursuing the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "NTD filings for New Jersey Transit" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  2. Vantuono, William C. "New Jersey's innovators: New Jersey Transit's billion-dollar capital budget is focused on creating a unified, statewide network of commuter and light rail lines. New technologies are a key part of that strategy", Railway_Age, April 2004. Accessed August 22, 2007. "In late 2003, 20 years after portions of the Pennsylvania, Erie-Lackawanna, Jersey Central, and Lehigh Valley railroads or their successors were combined to form the nation's third-largest commuter rail system, Secaucus Junction opened."
  3. "Jersey Transit Strong". Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  4. "New Jersey Transit 2004 Annual Report, Page 6" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  5. Sandy pummels West Virginia as grueling recovery begins on East Coast. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html. Retrieved 31 October 2012. 
  6. "Board". NJ Transit. Archived from the original on 2 September 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  7. New Jersey Transit Corporation's After Hurricane Sandy Action Report. Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. December 2013. http://superstormsandyrecovery.com/img/documents/TEEX%20After%20Action%20Report.pdf. Retrieved 2013-01-07. 
  8. McGrath, Matthew; Hayes, Melissa (December 24, 2013). "NJ Transit ignored flood warning before Superstorm Sandy, report confirms". The Record. Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  9. Frassinelli, Mike (December 24, 2013). Review of NJ Transit's response to Sandy finds need for more coordination, places to shelter trains. The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/review_of_nj_transits_response_to_sandy_finds_need_for_better_coordination_more_places_to_store_trai.html. Retrieved 2014-01-07. 
  10. Superstorm Sandy Recovery. NJT. http://superstormsandyrecovery.com/documents/mmc-roc.html. Retrieved 2013-12-24. 
  11. Rouse, Karen (January 9, 2014). NJ Transit hires firm to design train haven. The Record. http://www.northjersey.com/news/239377681_NJ_Transit_hires_firm_to_design_train_haven.html. Retrieved 2014-01-15. 
  12. Frassinelli, Mike (January 8, 2014). Scarred by Sandy, NJ Transit to get permanent home to store trains. The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/01/scarred_by_sandy_nj_transit_to_get_permanent_home_to_store_trains.html. Retrieved 2014-01-15. 
  13. Duger, Rose (March 7, 2014). NJ Transit proposal to build South Kearny generator 'chills' development hopes. The Jersey Journal. http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2014/03/nj_transit_proposal_to_build_s.html. Retrieved 2014-03-10. 
  14. Meadows redevelopment ratables at risk. The Observer. Retrieved on 2014-06-23.
  15. Rouse, Karen (2009-07-19). Going with electric trains. The Record. http://www.northjersey.com/news/transportation/bridges_tunnels/Going_with_electric_trains.html. Retrieved 2009-07-19. 
  16. "Fact Sheet 2013" (PDF). Glassboro-Camden Line. DVPA & PATCO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-19. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  17. New Jersey Transit (December 9, 2009). "NJ Transit Board Advances South Jersey Transportation Projects". Press release. Archived from the original on 2011-10-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20111019082545/http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=2571. Retrieved 2012-04-08. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 West Trenton Line Archived 2009-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 21, 2006
  19. "New Jersey Transit". Njtransit.com. 2007-04-18. Archived from the original on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  20. "NJ Transit to expand passenger train service". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  21. PETOIA: It's time to fast-track MOM line | The Asbury Park Press NJ. app.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-23.
  22. "DEIS-MOM Map of Alternatives". ocean.nj.us. Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  23. "New tunnel may add riders to MOM Line - eb.gmnews.com - East Brunswick Sentinel". gmnews.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  24. New Jersey News | The Asbury Park Press NJ. app.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-23.
  25. "Federal dollars to fund rail study - nt.gmnews.com - News Transcript". gmnews.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  26. Once-proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line gathers dust. NJ.com (2014-01-22). Retrieved on 2014-06-23.
  27. Robbins, Christopher (January 22, 2014). Once-proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line gathers dust. NJ.com. http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2014/01/proposed_monmouth-ocean-middlesex_rail_line_gathers_dust_under_christie_administration.html. Retrieved 2014-04-14. 
  28. "County eyes N.J. rail extension to area," The Morning Call, November 7, 2008.[dead link]
  29. Joseph Corso, The Central Railroad of New Jersey http://www.jcrhs.org/cnj.html
  30. "Jersey Central: Coal, Commuters, and a Comet" Classic Trains, Winter 2011 http://ctr.trains.com/~/media/Files/PDF/CNJ-Winter2010.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  31. "The Central Railroad of New Jersey, The Big Little Railroad" AmericanRails.com http://www.american-rails.com/central-railroad-of-new-jersey.html

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